Poll: Amiibo availability around the world.

[CrystalShadow]

So. Every time Amiibos come up, someone inevitably points out they're extremely rare and hard to get hold of.

I, meanwhile, have not found that to be true at all.
Now, to be fair, I live in Australia.
I'm not trying to gloat or anything, I'm just trying to get a clear perspective for everyone of how hard Amiibos are to get hold of, why, and in which places.

Now, I can only account for my own country.
But the conclusion is pretty obvious. Amiibos are really easy to get hold of in Australia.

But don't just take my word for it, allow me to show you:

Spoiler: This is the selection in my local EB games store.

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_03_45_Pro_zps7ceonjix.jpg.html]

What you can see in this picture:
(top left to bottom right)
Lucina, Robin, Ness, Rosalina, Wii fit trainer, pacman, captain falcon, Zero Suit Samus, Donkey Kong, Kirby. (with zelda hidden behind.), Something unidentifiable hidden behind kirby and Zelda. (possibly more marios), and Mario.

I don't live anywhere special or anything. (a moderate size regional city). And the stock in other places I've seen looks similar.

Now, that looks pretty decent right? Well, it gets better.
In k-mart, in the same shopping centre. (again, not a particularly special location)

Spoiler: In K-mart, you find this

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_08_Pro_zpsrpgf4vye.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_42_Pro_zpskztlhm4w.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_46_Pro_zps0c7ihkfv.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_32_Pro_zpsg9dlkkin.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_25_Pro_zps1jm0uvpi.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_20_Pro_zpsfe13oij6.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_17_11_16_Pro_zpsufugalaj.jpg.html]

Now, you'd have to admit, that's quite an extensive collection of them, right?

I can't really go through these in a coherent order, so I'm just going to list everything I see in those photos:
Fox, Kirby, pacman, mario, Samus, the villager, king dedede, toad, peach. Dr mario. Luigi, Captain Falcon, Bowser Jr.
Bowser, Rosalina, Dark pit, Olimar, Gannondorf, Greninja.
Squid girl, squid boy.
Splatoon set (girl/Squid/boy)

(There's some disney infinity and other stuff nearby that muddles things a little, just ignore that. XD)

So, it's not quite everyone, but that's quite a lot. 21 different Amiibos (plus the splatoon set), plenty of stock for most of them...
Doesn't look at all like much of a problem to get them.
Of course, this is Australia. - I have reason to believe this is pretty typical for Australia generally, but it may not mean it's as good in other countries.
That's what we're here though. To find out, right?

Spoiler: And this is my own, tiny, personal collection. Yes, that is Rosalina. And yes, getting one was easy

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_20_16_56_Pro_zpsxpmp6w4k.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_21_24_07_Pro_zps56mwcq5a.jpg.html]

[http://s370.photobucket.com/user/KuraIthys/media/WP_20150803_20_17_08_Pro_zpsfp0shnfg.jpg.html]

Oddly enough, my link and Zelda were in japanese packaging. (suggesting a possible local shortage filled with imported stock)
(if you look closely at my EB games photo you can see more of of them with japanese text. Some, but not all - notice in fact a Japanese Zelda alongside an English one)

Anyway, what are your own experiences? (And just as importantly, where do you live?)
If you've got any pictures to demonstrate the situation (or maybe just show off your collection), feel free to add them.
Just remember to use spoilers. so this thread doesn't turn into a nightmare for people reading it.

Just trying to bring some balance to the idea that Amiibos are impossible to get. Or at least, make it clear that that's not true, everywhere.
But if you do live somewhere where getting Amiibos is incredibly difficult, that's worth knowing too.

It'd be interesting to see if there's any obvious patterns to that.

 

[Hazy992]

TFW you will never have a Wooly Yoshi Amiibo ;_;

Although saying that, they've got a LOT better here in the UK with these last couple of waves. The fact I've managed to get Rosalina, Zero Suit Samus and Charizard just by walking into a store is a good sign, plus I see plenty of figures like Ness, Wario and Greninja knocking about. Oh and a local game store has a bunch of the Splatoon 3 packs.

It was pretty bad at the beginning though, although even at its worst I don't think it was as bad as North America. Seriously what the fuck are NoA doing over there?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yes for the most part since I got Rosalina a month ago and I read about that douche who has been buying them all out of spite (yes I know that was from the US and I'm in the UK but still).

Now I said most part because they tend to shift the old one out to make the new ones in so if you want that specific Amiibo, buy it asap before they take it out!

Granted this is from the only toy store in this town I have seen of doing this so I have no idea if any other stores that got them does the same thing.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Half of those shelves would be empty within 3 hours of the doors opening in the US. All that would be left is Mario's main gang and maybe a couple of the lesser know characters before the scalpers' and collectors' networks informed their members of where there's some stock left. Maybe some places would have the rarer characters, depending on the concentration of Nintendo fans in the region.

Also in my half conscious daze, I saw Nick Fury figure next to Bowser and thought "When did they make a Nick fury Amiibo?" for a minute.

 

[Cryselle]

Where I am, the local EB got over 200 preorders that they took money on for Lucina alone, got 12 figurines in, and attempted to refuse refunds to the people whose preorders got cancelled.

That's the state of availability in my area of Canada.

If I knew someone I could trust in Australia, I'd pay them to buy one and ship it to me in a heartbeat.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Availability in the UK has gotten really great nowadays, probably due to our version of Gamestop GAME putting in a "1 per customer, no shipping outside of the UK" policy. Every wave from the Palutena/Ganon wave has been incredibly easy to get, and with restocks almost every Amiibo is at least £20 in price compared to the £40-£50 it could be before. It's gotten to a point where I haven't even pre-ordered the Retro 3-pack (that isn't a 3-pack) coming out in September, I know I can just get it afterwards.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I have no Amiibos and no interest in purchasing them, as much as I love Nintendo. But every time I've gone to GameStop or wherever and had a chance to glance at Amiibo selections, I haven't seen a great amount of them.

Sounds like Australia might be a special case considering the amount of places you'd need to deliver to being reduced because of how concentrated the population is in just a few specific areas. Maybe. My knowledge on the subject is pretty terrible.

US resident. Fairly similar Amiibo situation in both states I've lived in.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Well, seems safe to say we have some preliminary conclusions here.
It's not exactly a huge surprise, but looks like US and Canada have it really bad, and that would seem to be where most of the complaints come from.

Sounds like Australia might be a special case considering the amount of places you'd need to deliver to being reduced because of how concentrated the population is in just a few specific areas. Maybe. My knowledge on the subject is pretty terrible.

US resident. Fairly similar Amiibo situation in both states I've lived in.

Seems a reasonable assumption I suppose. Though given where I live I know there's a lot more places in Australia that might sell them than you'd think.

Even so, you can account for about half the population just from 3 cities, so yeah. Quite concentrated.

Where I am, the local EB got over 200 preorders that they took money on for Lucina alone, got 12 figurines in, and attempted to refuse refunds to the people whose preorders got cancelled.

That's the state of availability in my area of Canada.

If I knew someone I could trust in Australia, I'd pay them to buy one and ship it to me in a heartbeat.

I've given some consideration to trying to do something to help out people that struggle to get them.
Sell them on for a reasonable price to counteract all the scalpers...

Problem is, Shipping costs from Australia to pretty much anywhere are eye-wateringly expensive, so it would kind of undermine the purpose.

Also the logistics of it and all seem complicated.
Nor am I sure just how easily I can get hold of enough of them to satisfy demand if I started offering anything like that...

 

[RJ 17]

It was pretty bad at the beginning though, although even at its worst I don't think it was as bad as North America. Seriously what the fuck are NoA doing over there?

Smilin' Reggie is over here hijacking Amiibo trucks off the highway like some kind of business-suited action hero. I like to picture a black SUV pulling up behind a truck at 70 mph and Reggie slowly rising up out of the sunroof of the SUV. He climbs out onto the hood of the vehicle and does an action-jump, clinging to the back of the truck before climbing up on top of it. The truck driver notices and panics, he starts swerving side to side to try and shake the maniac hijacker off, but Smilin' Reggie has done this song and dance before. He makes his way to the front of the truck and rips the top off the cab by using one of those cutting thingies that Batman was using in the opening sequence of The Dark Knight. He then kicks the driver out the door and slides into the driver seat, ready to take the truck back to his secret hideout.

All while wearing that trademark goofy smile of his.

At least that's my theory as to why Amiibos are allegedly hard to come by over here. :3

 

[go-10]

I live in Puerto Rico, there are no Target, Best Buy, or Toys R us here. So all those exclusives are impossible to get anywhere else except online... and it's been well documented how nearly impossible or expensive getting those amiibo online can be

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

(In the US)

It would take nothing short of an alignment of the planets to ever see Lucina, Robin or the Splatoon figures on store shelves here. Basically everything beside Mario characters and Pikachu disappear from store shelves and never return. Lucina didn't even make it onto shelves at all, her online pre-order sold out in less than an hour, the rush for it was so bad, Gamestop's website crashed and to this day, you still don't see the listing up, not even with a "not available" sign on it.

That being said, I have all the figures I've wanted, I got Marth on launch day out of sheer luck before people realized they could make money off these things and the others (Like Lucina), I'm fortunate enough to have friends who don't live here.

As for why they're so hard to get? I really have no idea, I've seen that finger pointed everywhere. Nintendo isn't making enough of the "not popular"[footnote]Read everything that's not mario and pikachu[/footnote] characters. Stores aren't buying enough because they don't want the figures sitting on shelves. Scalpers, shipping issues, maybe a combination of all of those factors.

 

[CrystalShadow]

(In the US)

It would take nothing short of an alignment of the planets to ever see Lucina, Robin or the Splatoon figures on store shelves here. Basically everything beside Mario characters and Pikachu disappear from store shelves and never return. Lucina didn't even make it onto shelves at all, her online pre-order sold out in less than an hour, the rush for it was so bad, Gamestop's website crashed and to this day, you still don't see the listing up, not even with a "not available" sign on it.

That being said, I have all the figures I've wanted, I got Marth on launch day out of sheer luck before people realized they could make money off these things and the others (Like Lucina), I'm fortunate enough to have friends who don't live here.

As for why they're so hard to get? I really have no idea, I've seen that finger pointed everywhere. Nintendo isn't making enough of the "not popular"[footnote]Read everything that's not mario and pikachu[/footnote] characters. Stores aren't buying enough because they don't want the figures sitting on shelves. Scalpers, shipping issues, maybe a combination of all of those factors.

Ouch. I knew people said it was bad, but I didn't realise it was that bad, that makes the situation I see when I go into shops seem like a miracle by comparison.

I live in Puerto Rico, there are no Target, Best Buy, or Toys R us here. So all those exclusives are impossible to get anywhere else except online... and it's been well documented how nearly impossible or expensive getting those amiibo online can be

I think this might contribute to Australia not having big issues.
As far as I can tell, there are no exclusives here.
if there's stock of it, any store that sells them seems like they could have any of the figures.
(Not the only reason, I suspect but it wouldn't hurt.)

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've seen them in Argentina but I forget which flavors.

 

[Hero of Lime]

It's not very good where I am in the US. I have so many stores around me, yet it's the same everywhere I go. Mario characters are available, and that's about it. Sometimes I'll see Zelda, Pikachu, and maybe Kirby, but that's about it. Any and all newer wave Amiibo are sold in a flash.

My brother got me the Splatoon Amiiibo 3 pack for my birthday after I had talked about how they were the only Amiibo I really wanted besides Robin. He said it cost about 60 bucks to get them on Ebay. I'm really happy to have them, as I know getting them in a store is out of the question. It's a shame my brother had to spend twice the retail price to get them for me.

By the way Crystal Shadow, if you can send one of those Robins over, I would really appreciate it, thanks. As much as I hate to help create another scalper, you could make some serious money buying a bunch of those Amiibo, and selling them to Americans.

 

[LordLundar]

As a Canadian it's really horrible. Not only are we part of the NA market so we suffer the same limitations at the best of times, we're considered secondary in the region so we don't even get priority. Rosalina for example is physically impossible to get north of the 49th, not because of it's rarity, but because Target is the only retailer in North America able to get them in and all the Target stores were shut down shortly after the release.

It's so bad here that I have to import from Japan and they're still cheaper than trying to import from the US.

 

[Fox12]

Certain ones are incredibly easy to find, and you can find them in any store in my area. Mario, Yoshi, ect.

But I tried buying my brother the new splatoon ammibo he wanted, and that well was dry. Try finding an ammibo for Lucina, for instance. Not gonna happen. As a result, a lot of content is locked off.

What I don't understand is why they don't make the content available for download, at a cheaper rate, without the figure? Basically, DLC. Granted, it's day one DLC, which is still awful, but it makes sense to eventually make it available online for people who don't need the figure.

 

[CrystalShadow]

It's not very good where I am in the US. I have so many stores around me, yet it's the same everywhere I go. Mario characters are available, and that's about it. Sometimes I'll see Zelda, Pikachu, and maybe Kirby, but that's about it. Any and all newer wave Amiibo are sold in a flash.

My brother got me the Splatoon Amiiibo 3 pack for my birthday after I had talked about how they were the only Amiibo I really wanted besides Robin. He said it cost about 60 bucks to get them on Ebay. I'm really happy to have them, as I know getting them in a store is out of the question. It's a shame my brother had to spend twice the retail price to get them for me.

By the way Crystal Shadow, if you can send one of those Robins over, I would really appreciate it, thanks. As much as I hate to help create another scalper, you could make some serious money buying a bunch of those Amiibo, and selling them to Americans.

No doubt I could, but I'm not inclined to help something so... Annoying.
Still, PM me, and I'll see if we can work something out.

I don't want to charge much more than it costs me, but I have a sneaking suspicion the shipping costs will be... Bad.
If you're desperate, I can look into it. But I don't want to make a habit of this.
Sure, I could make a lot of money, but... Eh.
Still, if I can figure out a solution for shipping that isn't evil... I'd gladly undercut the real scalpers.
Anything to make this situation less absurd. >_>

edit: OK, could be worse. shipping to the US basically adds an extra 100%-125% on top of the cost of the amiibo itself, from my perspective...

So, I think I might be able to get an amiibo to someone in the US for something like... $45 (Australian dollars)
at the moment, that's about $33 US, but bear in mind the exchange rate is pretty unstable these days. A year ago, that could've been $50 US...

I still don't know if this is a good idea... But PM me if you feel inclined to...
just saw your reply.
Never mind. XD

Still... Consider it an open offer to anyone desperate enough. Just so long as I don't get swamped with requests... >_>
If I had an interest in being a scalper I'd set up on ebay, not bring this up here. >_<

 

[Hero of Lime]

It's not very good where I am in the US. I have so many stores around me, yet it's the same everywhere I go. Mario characters are available, and that's about it. Sometimes I'll see Zelda, Pikachu, and maybe Kirby, but that's about it. Any and all newer wave Amiibo are sold in a flash.

My brother got me the Splatoon Amiiibo 3 pack for my birthday after I had talked about how they were the only Amiibo I really wanted besides Robin. He said it cost about 60 bucks to get them on Ebay. I'm really happy to have them, as I know getting them in a store is out of the question. It's a shame my brother had to spend twice the retail price to get them for me.

By the way Crystal Shadow, if you can send one of those Robins over, I would really appreciate it, thanks. As much as I hate to help create another scalper, you could make some serious money buying a bunch of those Amiibo, and selling them to Americans.

No doubt I could, but I'm not inclined to help something so... Annoying.
Still, PM me, and I'll see if we can work something out.

I don't want to charge much more than it costs me, but I have a sneaking suspicion the shipping costs will be... Bad.
If you're desperate, I can look into it. But I don't want to make a habit of this.
Sure, I could make a lot of money, but... Eh.
Still, if I can figure out a solution for shipping that isn't evil... I'd gladly undercut the real scalpers.
Anything to make this situation less absurd. >_>

Don't worry about it, I was mostly joking. I'm not really eager to get one at the moment. I'll just wait till more shipments come. After all, it should not be too long...

 

[Hazy992]

It was pretty bad at the beginning though, although even at its worst I don't think it was as bad as North America. Seriously what the fuck are NoA doing over there?

Smilin' Reggie is over here hijacking Amiibo trucks off the highway like some kind of business-suited action hero. I like to picture a black SUV pulling up behind a truck at 70 mph and Reggie slowly rising up out of the sunroof of the SUV. He climbs out onto the hood of the vehicle and does an action-jump, clinging to the back of the truck before climbing up on top of it. The truck driver notices and panics, he starts swerving side to side to try and shake the maniac hijacker off, but Smilin' Reggie has done this song and dance before. He makes his way to the front of the truck and rips the top off the cab by using one of those cutting thingies that Batman was using in the opening sequence of The Dark Knight. He then kicks the driver out the door and slides into the driver seat, ready to take the truck back to his secret hideout.

All while wearing that trademark goofy smile of his.

At least that's my theory as to why Amiibos are allegedly hard to come by over here. :3

So what you're essentially saying is that Reggie is actually a robot built by Skynet, who's sole purpose is to prevent people from buying Amiibos? You know what I can believe that at this point, cause the way they're handling Amiibos over there just defies reason XD

 

[RJ 17]

So what you're essentially saying is that Reggie is actually a robot built by Skynet, who's sole purpose is to prevent people from buying Amiibos? You know what I can believe that at this point, cause the way they're handling Amiibos over there just defies reason XD

It's the best - and only - theory that I've been able to come up with so far.

So yeah, whenever you hear a story about how "A shipment of Amiibos got stolen", you know that Smilin' Robo-Reggie has struck again!