Sorry but if the explanations given above aren't enough, I can't do better. And I'm sorry to inform you but I don't have the patience of a saint either, hence calling you an idiot.

People already made a big effort in explaining you how this works and I'm starting to think I'm feeding a troll here, so see you around.

ok, this is getting silly.

Every business has to identify its customers in it's business plan - its essential to identifying your business model. these customers will vary from one company to another. Sony is the manufacturer of electronic goods, it is not a retail service, so therefore; Sony's main customers are retail outlets - the shops on the high street and internet. This is who Sony will sell their goods to and who they monitor when they use the term "sold to customers".

Retail outlets have different customers as identified in their business models. manufacturers (such as Sony) are their suppliers. For retailers, their customers are the public (it's who buys the good off them). that's you, me, your friends and families, everyone. this is who retailers will monitor in order to assess their sales figures when they say 'sold to customers'.

This site monitors these 'retail customers', or, more simply put - 'members of the public who buy from retailers'.

of course their is some correlation, if retail demand is high, then supply demand on the manufacturer will be high, so Sony (and other manufacturers) can measure their level of success through their customers (the retail chains/shops). this is why they use these figures when we, the general public, do not.

Classy statement by someone who is a mod here.   No wonder people stop coming to this site to read about things.   I just come here to discuss videogames and systems that I am interested in.  And my opinion that this site is controlled by many who are wii fanboys is accurate as there are several who are constantly bad mouthing Sony.  DKII has always seemed to be the one that I do respect the most here.

I know what you are talking about and yes, I do agree that it is easier to track Wii sales as they generally don't have a back stock built up or it's at least fairly small.   The others you could be off by quite a bit, and yes, even 100k is alot to be off by in the grand scheme of things.

Still waiting for your argument on why every tracking agency in the world is wrong about Sony jjseth.

This really should explain it, and it does. The problem is jjseth doesn't understand it, so he's calling it fanboyism. It's kind of like that scene in 40 Year Old Virgin:

Jay: "Now you being condescending."
Smart Tech Customer: "Mm-hmm."
Jay: "You've been warned, alright? Let's move forward amicably."
Smart Tech Customer: "Okay, well, check this out. First of all, you're throwing too many big words at me. Okay, now because I don't understand them, I'm gonna take them as disrespect. Watch your mouth, and help me with the sale."

Just replace Jay with TheSource, and the Customer with jjseth, who doesn't understand this fancy shroud of Math and Logic we are trying to cover up what he knows to be the facts.

jjseth you started everything by saying things like this site is run by wiifanboys for no particular reason. You are the hostile one, the troll. People offered very good, clear explanations and you still don't get it, in fact you still continue with your doubts and attacks despite the clear explanation.

Why is it only Sony fanboys that complain about this stuff?

maybe your personal assistant can help you understand.

What grand scheme?

If they tacked on another 100K, how does this help "you" unless you work for one of those companies?

Are you going to lose a bet or something?

It's clear to me that the mods here are jerks who love to rip the users of this site if they happen to question how they arrive at their numbers. All I would expect is an answer that is given to me without being a smug pompous jerk and talking down to me. Talonman, there are better ways to say things without coming off the way you just did.

Honestly, I don't have the time for this kind of treatment by the staff and members of this site and it's time for me to leave and go home for the day from work.

I'll check this again tomorrow if you guys care to explain things in a manner that isn't condescending or designed to put down someone. Trust me, I do understand business and more and am college educated. But I don't treat people like crap and would expect the same in return.