Why does Amazon suddenly have no Buffy TPB's?

[AndrewCrossett]

I just went to Amazon.com to order the "Retreat" TPB, only to discover that this book is "only available from third-party sellers." Then I noticed that none of the other Buffy TPB's are available from Amazon either.

Anybody know what's going on?

[wenxina]

An article from CBR HERE. Hope that helped.

[Randi Giles]

That actually kind of sucks cause I have bought all my BTVS/ATS books straight from amazon. I guess I'll go to Borders now. It also really sucks that I missed that buying frenzy. I would have went on a crazy spree.

[Skytteflickan88]

Mar 14, 2010 15:34:22 GMT -5 Randi Giles said:

That actually kind of sucks cause I have bought all my BTVS/ATS books straight from amazon. I guess I'll go to Borders now. It also really sucks that I missed that buying frenzy. I would have went on a crazy spree.

I would need to re-read that article, but doesn't it say that amazon cancelled a lot of purchases, if not all?

[Randi Giles]

Yes many orders were canceled, but it also said some people already paid and had their books shipped.

[AndrewCrossett]

Mar 14, 2010 15:53:43 GMT -5 Skytteflickan88 said:

I would need to re-read that article, but doesn't it say that amazon cancelled a lot of purchases, if not all?

As I understand it, they cancelled the purchases that hadn't yet been charged to a credit card when they discovered the mistake.

I e-mailed Amazon asking them when they plan to have these books available again. I get Amazon Prime (free 2-day shipping), so I don't want to order from a third-party seller. If they don't plan to have this resolved by the end of the week or so, I'll probably just go to Barnes & Noble.

[wenxina]

Depends. I'd imagine that if the orders cleared the warehouse, and the items were actually shipped before the glitch was caught, then no, those orders were honored. The article states that some were indeed shipped. Luck of the draw, I guess.

[Eric]

I'm glad I wandered into this thread. I was going to pick up the fourth Angel: After the Fall HC the other day, but didn't want to buy from a third-party seller.

[AndrewCrossett]

I heard back from Amazon. They say:

Hello,

We're sorry, as you may already know, due to a pricing error the weekend of March 6, we sold a number of graphic novels much faster than expected. In fact, we oversold our inventory before we could reconcile our availability information on the site with our actual inventory.

For the moment, we don't have any of the books in stock. We have truly sold out. We are working to get the titles back in stock so you'll be able to purchase them soon at the regular price. As of now, we do not have information as when exactly we'll be able to get the comic books and graphic novels back.

I'm sorry I don't have any better news. We hope to see you again soon.

So it looks like they cancelled all those orders because they literally didn't have any left.

If this is true, they may need to wait for another print run before they get any more in stock. That could take months.

[Randi Giles]

Of course they sold out faster than expected. I'm getting even angier that I missed out on that.

[AndrewCrossett]

Some of those books were $100 omnibus volumes selling for $15.

I'm quite sure the vast majority of the sales were dealers looking to buy those books at huge discount, then re-sell them at a smaller discount, and make a huge profit.

This really sucks. Probably 75% of the books I've bought on Amazon the last couple of years have been graphic novels. Getting ahold of them is going to be a pain now, and more expensive.

[TC]

Well.

F@#$!

[AndrewCrossett]

I just ordered "Retreat" from BarnesAndNoble.com. I don't get free two-day shipping, but they did have it cheaper than Amazon's usual price.

[AndrewCrossett]

Looks like the Buffy TPB's are back up on Amazon. Wish I'd known they'd be back so soon, before I went ahead and ordered it from Barnes & Noble with $4 shipping.

[Eric]

I've just looked and the Angel HC and TBP are also back up.