Who is Amazon trying to kid?

I don’t have the right network but I’m thinking about checking out the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. So I went to Amazon to see if they had any information on when it’s coming out on DVD.

Now, I knew it hadn’t been released yet. And I saw they don’t have a release date for it. No problem.

But according to Amazon “What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?” 77% of the customers bought a copy of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Which must have been difficult for them what with it not having been released yet.

And under “Frequently Bought Together” I’m told that a lot of people have been buying an unreleased copy of Avatar along with their unreleased copy of Spartacus.

Um, there’s a “pre-order” button right there. What’s the big deal if they count preorders as purchases?

Being as you’re giving them no money and they’re giving you no product and there isn’t even a promise on when the product might be available and either party can cancel the “sale” at any time, I’d say it’s a pretty nebulous form of transaction. It’s the equivalent of me going to a Ferrari dealership and telling a salesman I’m going to buy a new Ferrari when the 2011 models come out and he agrees to sell me one if I show up on that day with the money.

But you’re giving them your credit card info for a pre-buy, aren’t you? You’re pretty committed to it at that point.

You can cancel the transaction at any time before the item ships.

You can cancel an order before it ships even when it’s not pre ordered, though.

And you can return it after it has been delivered! So they shouldn’t count it as sold until 90 days after delivery!

They’re not claiming it was ‘sold’, they’re claiming it was ‘bought’.

There are plenty of legitimate beefs about Amazon. I don’t count this as one of them. Sorry.

You’ve just described the business practices of every car dealership on the planet.

I think his point (sorry if you didn’t miss it and I’m explaining what you already know) is that the “transaction” described doesn’t constitute any kind of sale.

I got it. 'Twas a mere jest.

At a guess, no-one.

Just an FYI, Sparticus: Blood & Sand is on Netflix on demand.