UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCanada

 by user_113925 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:27 pm

How is this possible?

PlayCanada has over 220 copies of the Wizard Edition, and has sold each of them for $400: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-NI-NO-KUNI-WRATH-OF-THE-WHITE-WITCH-WIZARD-S-EDITION-CLUB-NAMCO-EXCLUSIVE-/280933846873?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item4168f64f59

How is it that PlayCanada has over 220 copies, while people who preordered can't even get a copy legitimately? Isn't that kind of the point of preordering?



There's some theories out there right now, one of which is that DR (being based in Minnesota, not too far from Canada) conspired to work with PlayCanada to sell the Wizard Editions at higher profit margins.

Sounds suspicious, if you ask me. I preordered my copy at 10:04AM PST on January 17th, and just got the cancellation email last night. I tried calling DR, but was put on hold for over 30 minutes.

Namco, please fix this!

BBB Complaint: http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/internet-shopping/digital-river-in-minnetonka-mn-38000919
Facebook Campaign: http://www.facebook.com/NiNoKuniWizardEditionPreOrderComplain

UPDATE: According to a Facebook post, PlayCanada obtained their copies from Digital River. This would essentially mean that this screw-up deprived many legitimate customers who preordered, and now forced to buy from a scalper. WTF? Weren't preorders limited to 1 per customer? Very fishy!

Re: PlayCanada has sold over 200+ Wizard Editions for $400 -

 by user_115034 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:37 pm

Really...? That's bullshit I think. You know a Digital River employee probably worked out a deal with PlayCanada. Conincidence...PlayCanada = Canada and Digital River = Minnesota...what to say they got the entire stock of Wizard Editions, huh? Charging $400 bucks is ridiculous!!! I could see $30-50 bucks more but they are a major online retailer. I hope Namco-Bandai pulls all their products.

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_114530 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:07 pm

1. It's suppose to be a club namco store exclusive.
2. I am 100% sure I remember seeing it says 1 per person when I ordered.

How did PlayCanada get 200+ copies? There's some shady **** going on. It's as if DigitalDriver has a deal with PlayCanada to collect half the profits from selling em on ebay. The entire thing is just does not sit right. Can we get someone from Bandai Namco to comment and clear this up?

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by bedoflamb » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:09 pm

Make this more public, send it to game journalist websites or post it in aggregate news sites like reddit.

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by ThePuppeteer » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:13 pm

Don't deserve our support. Namco and Digital River can die!

I feel for factor 5, but get a far more competent distributer next time.

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_113208 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:24 pm

meh garbage. way to screw over fans

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_114059 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:30 pm

Not to defend this in any way but I wouldn't say every one was sold at the current $400 price.

They have been there for awhile and it has gone up and up. After the fiasco last night I jumped on there and paid $279. This morning it had gone to $400. I wondered myself if they were going to be subject to this digital river screw up and asked them as much in an email. I just don't get it. Why would Namco allow another company to order over 200 WE when they can't even satisfy their own pre-orders? This annoys me. Why would Namco assure them on the phone that they would still be getting their copies?

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_113603 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:39 pm

This is just completely saddening by Namco. You sell to an eBay store who is scalping your customers' hard earned money.

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_88347 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:12 pm

PlayCanada could be a physical business with that many "separate address variations" that allowed the 1 per consumer to be waived. Example: having 220 office numbers.

Re: UPDATE: DigitalRiver admits 220+ Wiz Ed. sold to PlayCan

 by user_114059 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:16 pm

This is just a copy/paste from another site where we are discussing this but it is a valid point.

The Wizard's Editions weren't originally limited. They were essentially made-to-order so anyone could purchase as many as they wanted. Play Canada, since they have an online site, decided to pre-order multiple copies for their business to later re-sell. So they ordered 200+ from Namco Bandai directly during the initial time-frame last year. Them purchasing 200 copies for their store didn't limit the chance of anyone else purchasing theirs, since there wasn't a finite amount [at that time].

When Namco Bandai opened pre-orders for the re-stock, only then did they limit the purchase to 1 per customer [likely because the copies were already printed, and thus, they now had a set stock level].

Do I agree with what they are doing and the prices they are charging? **** no. But they just planned ahead well. Their original Ebay price was like $130 plus shipping. It has just gone up and up as it got rarer and has skyrocketed since the fiasco with Digital River on the July 17th orders.