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Amazon now charging on order, not dispatch, for pre-orders across Europe (UP: policy appears to have been reverted)

Winstano

Winstano

Editor-in-chief at nextgenbase.com
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Oct 28, 2017
1,828


I guess they've done it to stop people pre-ordering for nothing, getting any free beta access etc, then cancelling? It doesn't seem to be triggering for retroactive pre-orders (Which is good as I've got about £200 worth), and I'm not 100% sure if it just applies to games at the moment, but it's worth knowing in case you're going on a post-E3 Pre-order spree

Pay me on dispatch if old

This seems to now be happening Europe-wide according to posters in here:

starblue said:
This is happening also in Amazon Spain. No more pre-orders on amazon for me.
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YuSuzzune said:
Amazon.it is doing the same too, but not on every videogame yet.
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LordKano said:
I've heard Amazon fr was starting to do it for certain methods of payment.
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Thanks to Lucifonz who did some digging:

Lucifonz said:
I've been doing some digging and spoke to Amazon who've confirmed this is now the case in the UK but couldn't comment on other regions. Charged 2-5 days after ordering. Apparently the rationale behind the change was due to folks cancelling Limited Editions close to release - not sure I buy that being the sole reason but very well may have been a factor.
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Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

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Oct 25, 2017
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Huh. How does it work in the US? From the sound of it, US doesn't charge until it ships, right? I wonder if the US will follow.

To be honest it never occurred to me that I wasn't being charged as soon as I placed the order.
 
MadMod

MadMod

Member
Dec 4, 2017
2,706
Tbh I prefer it this way, as I rarely pre-order. So if I preorder it, I know 100% i am getting it. I dont keep much in my debit account due to fraud so it's a welcome change for me, instead of running the risk of it getting declined, but i know it'll annoy a load of others and can see why it could be disliked.
 
Soap

Soap

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Oct 27, 2017
15,159
Then one of the few advantages amazon had has vanished. I'd rather just get a game at my supermarket - at least I's Get it before 9pm on release day.
 
Bonejack

Bonejack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,654
Not to offend UK members ... but i hope this stays in UK and doesn't swap over to mainland Europe or even more branches.
 
Dest

Dest

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Finale Fireworker said:
Huh. How does it work in the US? From the sound of it, US doesn't charge until it ships, right? I wonder if the US will follow.

To be honest it never occurred to me that I wasn't being charged as soon as I placed the order.
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Yes. The US does not charge until the game ships. This also means that from the time you preorder 'til the time the product releases, you get the lowest price that the product was at before it ships.
 
Bane

Bane

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Oct 27, 2017
5,904
I'd be surprised if this is just certain branches. Sounds like something that's a company wide change.
 
SuperSah

SuperSah

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
4,079
Thanks for the heads up.

I'm cancelling all of my preorders with them. I don't preorder to spend right *now*.
 
Simone

Simone

Member
Oct 27, 2017
331
Italy
I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but when Amazon launched in Italy, in the first years they used to charge right before dispatch, now they usually charge minutes after an order, and you can wait even one day before dispatch.
 
StoneSarge89

StoneSarge89

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
24
I have a preorder from earlier this month, can confirm I was not charged yet so it seems it's only for new ones.
 
adz2ka

adz2ka

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,034
I hate ordering something a year in advance and then upon release my card is declined because I've got a new one, so I'm not particularly fussed with this change.

Not that I would preorder from Amazon any more but still.
 
MikeHattsu

MikeHattsu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,915
People have been talking about this in the cheap arse thread:


Mass_Pincup said:
Pretty sure Amazon are now charging for pre-order 5 days (or something like that) after the order now. I saw a lot of people complaining about that in France.
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Oldmario said:
people have been talking about it on the blu-ray.com forums and someone got this email about "improvements"

7-C69-A229-0106-434-F-867-A-26-A85-A760-EB8.jpg


https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16430056&postcount=129
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o k said:
If I am reading correctly

If you preorder it and the game is coming out within 5 days, you are charged immediately

If you preorder it and the game is not out for > 5 days, you will be charged on the 5th day after ordering it anyway (even if it's not coming out for a year)

Whereas previously preorders were totally free and only charged you when the item was preparing for dispatch (usually a day or two before release)
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SnowHawk said:
Ah so that's why Amazon charged me for the Iron Man Trilogy 4K boxet. Guess I will never pre-order from them again.
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SnowHawk said:
How come no one has received any email to tell us about these changes. It's very shady.
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pswii60

pswii60

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Oct 27, 2017
26,653
The Milky Way
Winstano said:


I guess they've done it to stop people pre-ordering for nothing, getting any free beta access etc, then cancelling? It doesn't seem to be triggering for retroactive pre-orders (Which is good as I've got about £200 worth), and I'm not 100% sure if it just applies to games at the moment, but it's worth knowing in case you're going on a post-E3 Pre-order spree

Pay me on dispatch if old
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Could still cancel your pre-order and get your refund though?
 
Bonejack

Bonejack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,654
Quick googling didn't show any infos about this for Amazon Germany ... bah this is shit.

I'd have to resort to Media Markt for CE / LE preorders ... and they had the situation of taking too many orders for CEs / LEs a few times where some customers where shit outta luck then.

Also, either shipping fees, or i'll bust out the gas driving to the nearest MM with in-store pick-up. And of course they're days late most of the times then.

This is extremely unpleasing ...
 
Tora

Tora

The Enlightened Wise Ones
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Jun 17, 2018
8,637
Oh man, I would have been fucked if this happened during the Switch launch.

I legit could not decide on which bundle joycons I wanted, cancelled and re-ordered probably 20 times
 
LAA

LAA

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Oct 28, 2017
2,318
Whatever, Amazon have gone downhill for me big time.
They couldn't even keep offering the measly £2 discount for Prime members, their game prices just aren't competitive anymore and now this.
 
Stuart Gipp

Stuart Gipp

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Oct 26, 2017
2,174
Cambridge, England
On the face of it I actually kinda like this because I've forgotten about pre-orders before and got stung. Which is a me problem, sure. But this way I'm paying up front and I'll have to make that decision about whether I can properly afford it at a time that makes sense.
 
Gradon

Gradon

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Oct 25, 2017
7,462
UK
Awful. I stopped pre-ordering from Amazon years ago when they repeatedly used Royal Mail for pre-orders with Prime, and then they got rid of their £2 off pre-orders lol. Its sad they keep getting even worse.
 
Segafreak

Segafreak

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Oct 27, 2017
2,756
Amazon Europe has been gradually getting worse the last few years, wonder where it'll stop, no more international shipping?
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

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Oct 26, 2017
19,571
This is one of those things that isn't really an issue for me in all honesty, and probably isn't for a lot of people, but people will still be up in arms about it regardless.

If I preorder something, it's because I want it, and I have enough money to buy it. I'm not one to preorder something because I may have a slight passing interest in maybe getting day one maybe.
 

Phinor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,236
Dead Man Typing said:
This is my question.

They might give a refund after release which has happened to me with the current set up.
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That's how it has always been for me. Just the other day my Burning Blu-ray pre-order was shipped from Amazon UK. I was charged the original ~£15 the day of shipping and a day later refunded £0.01 because the price had dropped £0.01 at some point after my pre-order. It's a stupid system but that's probably what they'll do in the future. However charging pre-orders immediately (or within 5 days of placing the order) means I won't be doing pre-order business with Amazon (UK and others) anymore, not that I pre-ordered games from them much anyway but this probably extends to movies as well.
 

Slacker247

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,063
That's shit, in my opinion.

I liked pre-ordering early to eventually get the reduced price. I don't want to pre-order and then get refunded on release the difference, because that'd be a difference of a few weeks to a few months. Which will add up quick after every pre-order.
 
Kalor

Kalor

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Oct 25, 2017
19,624
I usually preorder close to release when I know I'm getting something anyway. So it doesn't really change anything for me. Though it sucks that they're changing it.
 
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