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[Rumor] IGN FR: Amazon won't sell any Switch and upcoming Nintendo games in France

Rouk'

Rouk'

Member
Jan 10, 2018
8,151
IGN France Article, by Sylvain Trinel

-You can't buy the switch through Amazon France anymore

-Amazon France was selling the base Switch at 270€, a much lower prices than other third parties (Fnac at 299€ and Micromania at 329€). Nintendo decided to not give them switch stock anymore.

-Neither Amazon nor Nintendo responded to IGN's questions

-With the holydays coming, and many bundles announced, the switch missing from Amazon's stock might become a problem.

[UPDATE]

It seems this is not just about the Switch itself :

-Upcoming games are also concerned, you can't preorder any of the upcoming Nintendo games, such as Smash, Pokémon or Mario Party

-Previously released game are sold with the following warning : "Jaquette en anglais, jouable en français" ("English cover, playable in french")
 
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Anarki

Anarki

Member
Oct 27, 2017
320
Uh, can't they just raise the prices? Or did they somehow negotiated some deal with Nintendo that they can't change them?
 
kennyamr

kennyamr

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,587
New York, NY, USA
Sounds more like Amazon wanted to get rid of the stock for some reason.
Why wouldn't Nintendo keep sending them consoles if Amazon is eating the difference?
They shouldn't care much unless they worry about the complains from other retailers.
 
RobotVM

RobotVM

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Oct 27, 2017
1,416
Why not sell it at the same price as other retailers? Isn't France one of the biggest markets for Switch in Europe?
 
StereoVSN

StereoVSN

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Nov 1, 2017
13,620
Eastern US
A problem for whom? Amazon? yes. Nintendo? Doubt it.

Nintendo is well known for disliking lower pricing from its resellers. Plus Amazon and Nintendo had quite a few runins before.
 
Nocturnal

Nocturnal

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,321
kennyamr said:
Sounds more like Amazon wanted to get rid of the stock for some reason.
Why wouldn't Nintendo keep sending them consoles if Amazon is eating the difference?
They shouldn't care much unless they worry about the complains from other retailers.
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Probably causes problems with the other retailers who distribute Switches in France, on top of potentially retailers in other countries who are also competing with Amazon.fr's low prices.
 
SPRidley

SPRidley

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,238
If this is true nobody tell nintendo you can get all nintendo games 5 to 10 (and even 15 sometimes) euros less on any carrefour or medimarkt in spain compared to buy them on fucking GAME, fnac or corte ingles.
I dont want that taken off from me lol
 
zombiejames

zombiejames

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,934
I don't get it. If Amazon France wants to take a hit and sell them for less, that's their prerogative. Nintendo doesn't get less money.
 
pswii60

pswii60

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,673
The Milky Way
It's price fixing. Nintendo has a history of this.

Sell at MSRP or we'll no longer supply.

If the OP is true then Nintendo could expect another fine if this is investigated.
 
Lite_Agent

Lite_Agent

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Oct 26, 2017
4,572
Somewhere. I think.
I... don't get it. Amazon FR has been known for ludicrous prices when it comes to video games stuff for literally ages (probably even more than any other regional variants of the website). Not sure why that would become an issue now, of all times.
 
Dekuman

Dekuman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,026
Amazon was using the Switch as a loss leader to get sales and repeat customers. Other retailers complained.
 
Atolm

Atolm

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,829
Strange news. Why would Amazon sell at a significantly lower price than MSRP when the console sells well?

I remember the Wii U situation, it was such a failure they cut the price in half by Summer '13.
 

Deleted member 2791

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
19,054
Wouldnt be surprised. MSRP of the Switch in Europe is 329.99€. Amazon somehow managing to sell them at 60€ less can't have gone well with other retailers such as fnac.
 
Wandu

Wandu

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Oct 27, 2017
2,163
ASarafanov said:
What?
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Means that Switch wont be sold on Amazon France anymore. If it is really due to Amazon undercutting other sellers, then I can see why Nintendo would back out. Reminds me of the Amazon US stuff with PS products and some Nintendo ones and how they changed the policies of pre-ordered games with Prime.
 
pswii60

pswii60

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Oct 27, 2017
26,673
The Milky Way
zeknurn said:
The EU should investigate Nintendo over shit like this.
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They did, and they likely will again.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/oct/31/games.technology

Nintendo, the Japanese video games manufacturer, was yesterday found guilty of ripping off its customers in continental Europe for most of the 1990s and fined £94m by the European commission. Edinburgh-based John Menzies, the sole UK distributor of Nintendo products, was also punished for its role in the scam.
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It was a good while ago, but I remember it well.
 
Bazry

Bazry

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Oct 30, 2017
1,536
Nintendo cannot tell Amazon how much they can sell something for, that would be price fixing and is against EU Consumer Law. Amazon could sue them for even not supplying them anymore and claim it is an attempt by Nintendo to price fix
 
Dragoon

Dragoon

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
11,231
violent said:
Those two just cannot get along can they.
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Amazon is pretty much the devil to everything it goes against, so this is good news. I'm happy they're doing this. This has been Amazon's strategy to wipe out competition from existence. They're Galactus.

People that are not in retail don't realize the fuckery that Amazon does to its competition.
 
gordofredito

gordofredito

Banned
Jan 16, 2018
2,992
OOOOOOOOOH. So that's why France was all over the Switch in the PAL Charts!
I was saying, those were some Japanese numbers.
 
Astandahl

Astandahl

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Oct 28, 2017
9,011
Same happened in Italy ( lowest amazon price was probably 280 or 290) but there are no rumors about Nintendo not sending stock to amazon.
 
BaconHat

BaconHat

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
5,104
Wait, amazon sells console lower than mrsp normally in France? Other than during deals, i've not seen them doing something like that in other regions. Is amazon France not big enough that they need to undercut other sellers to even find buyers or something else?
 
pswii60

pswii60

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Oct 27, 2017
26,673
The Milky Way
Saint-14 said:
Why? Is there a law being broken?
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Yes, in the EU (and most first world countries).

If it can be proven that Nintendo is not supplying Amazon directly as a result of their pricing, then it's classed as anti-competitive activity, and it's illegal. If it gets to court though, Nintendo will likely argue that they stopped supplying Amazon for completely different reasons, so they would have to hope there are no email trails.
 
Catshade

Catshade

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Oct 26, 2017
2,198
Isn't France also the country where Amazon by law cannot sell books cheaper than independent retail bookstores?
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
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Oct 25, 2017
61,987
given amazon has to pay Nintendo for stock in the first place, this doesn't make much sense to me
 
Yep

Yep

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Dec 14, 2017
531
There might be some kind of unfair competition against other resellers which have to sell by MSPR, and the target for the holidays being seemingly the casuals, angry physical retailers are a worse problem than amazon.
 

Deleted member 5159

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
1,704
they should just lower the price tbh, its really expensive in europe, it should cost 300€ tops, from the beggining. Im pretty sure they are lefting sales on the table because of it
 
TylerDurden4321

TylerDurden4321

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Oct 25, 2017
1,957
Germany
If I were Amazon, I'd teach Nintendo a lesson and stop selling the Switch worldwide for a while, see how fast Nintendo will get their shit together.
Maybe even put a note on the Switch Amazon offer, that they put it on hold because Nintendo does not want to supply Amazon France any more.
 
super moustique

super moustique

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Oct 31, 2017
8,621
Saint-14 said:
Why? Is there a law being broken?
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Nintendo doesn't get to choose at which price a retailer sells their hardware in Europe.

Yep said:
There might be some kind of unfair competition against other resellers which have to sell by MSPR
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The price is chosen by retailers, not Nintendo. That's why the price for the Switch went from 330€ (when it was announced) to something like 290€ just before launch in France.
 
Lite_Agent

Lite_Agent

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Oct 26, 2017
4,572
Somewhere. I think.
Yep said:
There might be some kind of unfair competition against other resellers which have to sell by MSPR, and the target for the holidays being seemingly the casuals, angry physical retailers are a worse problem than amazon.
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No, there is no MSRP in France (or anywhere else in Europe for that matter). Other retailers are free to set whatever price they want, in fact, OP listed on below the "normal" price. But most don't drop (or not too low), because margins are extremely low for consoles and they can't really afford it. Amazon just don't care because of several reasons (tax "optimisation", repeat customers who just end up buying stuff on Amazon regularly, etc.). In fact, Amazon most certainly sold the Switch at a loss, which is also illegal as it causes unfair competition. Amazon's the dodgy one here, but that's not really new.

Ex-Actarus said:
They don't care, they're making up the margin on the other things as games and peripherals.
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Peripherals... maybe. But certainly not games, ha ha. Another thing they clearly sell at a loss.
 
Boiled Goose

Boiled Goose

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,999
Tough situation.

Nintendo price fixing.

Amazon using scale to undercut and kill off competition

There's no good guys here
 
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