Does anyone else think Nintendo is really careless with the demand of amiibo cards and figures?

[nightglow]

I believe it is intentional to make their brand name more valuable. (Maybe even something to do with stocks?)

Pre-orders give ability for counting for production, an idea of demand, however they are putting limits on pre-orders so it fails to do this. Poor decision in my opinion because well, this is a way to make money, and you have people willing to pay for amiibos, lots of amiibos.
Some businesses that concerned about producing something that may not get sold go about a method of doing pre-orders for a time span. Then after they have the orders, they do production and that is the end of that. No additional release until they want to do another pre-order thing.

I feel like just because there was an over print in the past is not a reason as to why they are doing things as they are now, especially considering the sale numbers of New Horizons.

 

[KittenNoir]

Where I am from we have no more than 10 packets per customer limits for the Saniro/Animal crossing amiibo cards. This to me makes no sense why would someone need 10 of them? Just to sell them? I still have'nt been able to get my hands on one due to it being in store only and there are none in my area

 

[kemdi]

Where I am from we have no more than 10 packets per customer limits for the Saniro/Animal crossing amiibo cards. This to me makes no sense why would someone need 10 of them? Just to sell them? I still have'nt been able to get my hands on one due to it being in store only and there are none in my area

Well the Sanrio cards I understand the limit, since all of those come in a single pack. But the regular cards, are all blind packs. And if you wanna collect them all, then just buying a few won't do it. Like even with series 5, it'll take a minimum of 22 separate packs just to complete the whole card set.

 

[Marshmallows]

I think I'm done with amiibos at this point... at least chasing after limited supply. It's ridiculous. The least Nintendo could do is say if supply runs out, they'll be reprinted soon. I think they will keep printing the series cards, but the Sanrio cards were a fiasco. Selling out in an hour? Make more.

For once I wish a company would stick it to the scalpers. Leave them holding stock for a loss. Amiibo cards are cheap enough that it should be easy to make sure everyone who wants a pack is able to buy it. Would also help a lot if people wouldn't buy from scalpers...

 

[VanitasFan26]

Scalpers are the ones to blame for the reason why amiibo cards are so hard to get these days. I was able to get a good deal on Amazon last year to get a lot of amiibo cards for only $23.99 (I live in America) and I managed to get the Sanrio amiibo cards for only $12.99 back in May this year. As far as the new ones I am just going to hold off until the scalpers ease off on buying out those amiibo cards because there is no way I am going to spend that much money for those new amiibo cards. If Nintendo was smart they would put amiibo cards for sale on their website and making it harder for scalpers to get their hands on them, but they just didn't seem to care all that much.

 

[Tiffany]

I am in the US and it seems like the preorders are much harder to get here. The preorder has been up on Best Buy Canada for a while but here it was up and gone in no time. After the target Sanrio fiasco and now this I am inclined to think Nintendo is working with scalpers. Why else would they release so few knowing the scalpers will buy them up and price gouge? I think Nintendo is getting a cut somewhere. At this point retailers need to announced when preorders will be up and give us a chance. I did try to buy from Best Buy Canada but when I put the cards in the cart and then click on the cart it says it’s empty. I can only assume this means they won’t let anyone outside Canada buy from the site. I think all the frustration this is causing is going to make people stop buying official cards. I bought fan made Sanrio cards and at this point it seems like I’ll be doing the same with the series 5s. Nintendo is making it not worth it to try to get the real ones.

 

[your local goomy]

This is the same company that's charging $50 for a heavily flawed online service that no one wants in the first place just for two virtual consoles, which were free on every other console they released. All you had to do was buy the games. Nintendo is seriously just all money at this point. I hate supporting them, but pretty much every game I enjoy is either their IP or more convenient on Switch because I have a Chromebook rather than a good PC.

 

[maria110]

Yes and it's super annoying. I will just buy fan made items from eBay or Etsy if Nintendo doesn't want to make enough products to supply the demand.

 

[Etown20]

That Nintendo didn't have cards in stock for the first year of NH and let the scalpers and homemade Etsy shops gobble up all the sales demonstrates they have not been prepared for the demand.

It seems like the cards are probably one of the easiest/cheapest things for Nintendo to produce, which makes their lack of supply even more confusing. It's much easier/cheaper to make an nfc card than a figurine, a game, a console, etc.

The best theory I've heard in the past has been mentioned already in this thread - the cards didn't sell well enough during New Leaf/HHD, so Nintendo is hesitant to commit to them in a big way again.

 

[JKDOS]

The best theory I've heard in the past has been mentioned already in this thread - the cards didn't sell well enough during New Leaf/HHD, so Nintendo is hesitant to commit to them in a big way again.

I think part of the reason for that is more than 50% of NL and HHD players didn't own a New 3DS, and probably didn't want to buy an Amiibo reader since it would be unnecessary spending for what it's worth.

 

[littlewing]

yes they are 9,99€ but in other stores they are 4,99€ so thats a little better. but still overpriced for just 3 cards imo

we have the same prices in sweden for a pack (10$), also containing just 3 cards with one of them always being an NPC. i feel your pain.

it's so frustrating, because i want to buy amiibo cards, but knowing i'll have to pay more for less leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. i've been waiting for years now for nintendo to start selling us bigger packs at a fairer price, but i guess it's just not happening...

 

[Dracule]

I sometimes think Nintendo doesn't care that people get upset over scalpers. I think they like printing things in small numbers sometimes to make things feel exclusive and keep up demand. They don't just do this with amiibo cards. They don't print enough of amiibo figures sometimes. They didn't really print enough copies of the NES Classic or SNES Classic mini consoles when they put those out. They do this with other things too, but those are just the examples that come to mind.

I don't understand completely WHY they do this. I mean, some people are getting so frustrated by lack of amiibo in stores and the scalpers charging too much for the official ones that they make their own fanmade ones or buy fanmade ones from others. It seems like Nintendo is losing potential money here by not making them more easily available. I feel like some other companies would take advantage of this demand better and print lots of copies so THEY get the money from the fanmade amiibo sellers.

Yes, I said fanmade amiibo sellers, not scalpers. Nintendo does make money from the scalpers after all, since the scalpers still bought it at the store. Fanmade amiibo sellers are, in a way, more of a problem because the original company gets zero at all from these sales.

But at the same time I do understand one thing: Nintendo is a Japanese company. Japanese culture really enjoys the concept of "gentei", aka limited edition items. There is SO much of this stuff in Japan, for everything. People in Japan lose their minds over limited stuff, and happily line up for hours just to get things.

This is SO true, especially in regards to people going over to purchase fanmade Amiibos. I mentioned somewhere else how I wanted to get Ketchup’s original Amiibo card, but because it was an RV card, the NA version was selling for anywhere from $75.00-$120.00 USD on EBay (AND there was only like 3-4 of them available). I don’t follow when Nintendo distributes the official Series sets, so I’d definitely miss out on getting a pack and trying to get lucky for Ketchup (I don’t even know if they’re reselling the RV Series as well.) Instead, I went ahead and purchased a really high quality fanmade one on EBay (the card is also super thick too, so it’s hard to bend or damage compared to the original cards):

I think this has a lot to do with what you said about Japanese frame-of-mind with “gentei.” Heck, even the US enjoys limited edition and being able to say you’re one of the select few who has this item or product. I guess what doesn’t make sense is why they couldn’t distribute a bit more, at least enough to crack into scalpers’ business and in turn earn Nintendo more money. I know very little about business and economics, so maybe I’m just missing something here.

 

[Amilee]

we have the same prices in sweden for a pack (10$), also containing just 3 cards with one of them always being an NPC. i feel your pain.

it's so frustrating, because i want to buy amiibo cards, but knowing i'll have to pay more for less leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. i've been waiting for years now for nintendo to start selling us bigger packs at a fairer price, but i guess it's just not happening...

i feel you. i only bought the 4,99€ ones and i still feel robbed because i know the american ones are cheaper AND have more. its really weird how different it is

 

[WaileaNoRei]

I kinda get it.
In the past they made more than there was demand for and they ended up selling for dirt cheap.

Now they're making less than there is demand for, and they will sell every single pack of cards instantly with no fear.

I think it is this, basically. Nintendo is a very conservative company. They don’t mind having shortages (it doesn’t really effect them, I imagine) but they dread having a surplus, so they always are trying to put the cards out in as low as number as possible to meet demand.

of course as a result much of the stock gets scooped up by scalpers. My assumption is just that they probably don’t care too much. They do what they consider reasonable to ration the stock, but at the end of the day, it does not effect their bottom line and they are not as invested in this as us.

I do also agree with @RollingAntony, we don’t know how much the pandemic has effected things. I read that Japan was very much unprepared to enact work from home policies, and this tracks with what I know of Japanese work culture. (And nintendo is a rigidly top down company with the Japan office firmly at the top) Added into the supply chain issues, it could have had a real impact on their business/ productivity

 

[Anj2k6]

At this point I feel the popularity of Animal Crossing after New Horizons has grown so much that they should print them as often as pokemon cards. (Though,.... even those are difficult to come by now)

 

[kiwikenobi]

Nintendo works in mysterious ways. With so many people begging them to take their money in exchange for the products that they don't keep in stock/outright refuse to sell, it seems like they would do better to just offer what the customers want. It seems like they would make a ton of money if they would just put all of their older games on the eShop for people to buy individually, rather than handing them out piecemeal only on a subscription basis. And if they would just make more amiibo cards.

And yet, they're making tons of money the way they're already doing things, so, even if it seems backwards and crazy to us, they must be doing something right. That's not to say that they couldn't be doing better. But probably they see no reason to do things differently if they're already so successful. Maybe. That's my theory, anyway.

It's still frustrating for us on the consumer end of things, though.

 

[mirukushake]

To add a different perspective, perhaps NOA/NOE are more conservative with printing because AC is popularity is lower/more volatile than that in Japan?

Last year when the amiibo cards were re-released here, Nintendo basically did a long preorder where the cards would be sent out to you as they were produced. Due to popularity, it took a few months to get them, but I found it even easier to get them last year than when they first released years ago. Of course, they did stop producing them after several months and scalpers were/are a problem as they have been for while, but I didn't find it too difficult to find cards here after the re-release. I was also able to preorder series 5 directly from Nintendo very easily as well, although they're already sold out on their website. All other series are still available, too.

By the way, Japanese amiibo cards also come in packs of 3, so I think North America is the only region that gets the larger packs.

 

[Khaelis]

No, not really. Nintendo is probably doing the best they can. The fault lies on the retailers who aren't putting the effort in preventing scalpers from buying all the stock.

 

[Raz]

Even when it was most popular they would only have 4 of some of the new ones available in store on release day. I know this because I slept outside of Target in the 6th grade to get the wave 4 amiibo figures. I think whenever they release new amiibos now they are barely ever in stock, and especially now you can see that the preorder situation with series 5 amiibo cards are awful right now. I think they really don't understand that with animal crossing especially, that there is a huge demand for not only series 5, but the previous series and the welcome amiibo series as well. It's really disappointing to me as someone who was never able to even come close to completing a set as they would sell out so quickly.

Nintendo is known for a very disgusting practice called "artificial scarcity". It supposedly makes products feel more desirable, as people need to rush to buy them before it's too late. It's a very effective way to create FOMO and to justify higher prices as well, as products like these will become very sought-after due to perceived scarcity, thus, turning regular products into pseudo-premiuk ones, encouraging price gouging and scalping. Not the most pro-consumer practice in the market.

They did the same with the Amiibos and other products in the recent past (like the NES/Famicom Classic and the SNES/SuperFamicom Classic and it's respective controllers).

I've been dealing with that kind of practice for too many years, being a Magic: The Gathering player (just Google "MTG Reserved List" and you'll see what I'm talking about), and I honestly don't allow myself to have patience with companies like that.

 

[o013 WOLF 130o]

I'm ok with them except for the fact the packs are random. I would rather buy just the ones 1 want. Not have to buy packs with amiibos I dont want. I'm not a collect everything person