Amazon Adds Rules For Buying Wave 4 Amiibo Figures

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Mar 22, 2015
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There’s no denying that Nintendo has struck gold with its lineup of amiibo figures. The tiny statues continue to see strong sales and pull in staggering numbers as fans rush to purchase their favorite characters and utilize the functionality in various Wii U games like Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart 8.

While Nintendo has found success with the figures, the purchasing process for consumers has been anything but easy. As each new “wave” releases to stores, fans are met with all sorts of challenges from websites crashing, low stock, figure exclusivity, and inflated prices on rare figures on sites like eBay. With wave 4 scheduled to hit today, Amazon is trying something new to make the process a little easier.


In an official post on their site, Amazon has put a number of steps in place to try to help alleviate the crushing demand these figures tend to carry with them. Amazon’s plan is to make each figure available within a limited window of time and limiting purchases to one per customer. Not only that, Amazon will also be disabling One-Click Ordering to help as many people grab a figure as possible.

For those curious, here’s the current schedule:

Pac-Man: 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. PT
Charizard: 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. PT
Inkling Boy: 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. PT
Lucina: 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. PT
Wario: 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. PT
Inkling Girl: 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. PT
Silver Mario: 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. PT
Robin: 5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. PT
Inkling Boy, Girl, and Squid 3-pack: 6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PT

“We’re limiting each amiibo figure to 1 per customer, and we’ll be disabling 1-Click Ordering,” Amazon writes. “Additionally, it’d be helpful to make sure you’ve updated your credit card and shipping information to help you move quickly through the checkout process.”

If that’s not enough for concern, a recent tweet from the Amiibo News twitter revealed a photo from a GameStop location that actually reveals how many figures of each character are in stock. Needless to say, the hard numbers are a little worrisome for buyers. Fans should expect similar numbers at other stores as well.

After releasing numerous waves of figures to this point, it’s a little surprising to see that Nintendo has yet to really figure out consumer demand. Stock on certain figures continues to be extremely low, resulting in fan frustration and increased scalping. The Gold Mario Statute for example, sold out instantly online, only a day after it was revealed that Walmart would be the exclusive carrier of the figure.

The good news for fans is that Nintendo appears to be more and more aware of the situation and is taking steps to fix things. They’ve already come out and revealed that Marth, one of the rarer figures to be released, is being produced again and that the Nintendo World Store in New York City will have the entire lineup available.

Have any of you felt the calling of amiibo? Have you had any difficulty in grabbing your character of choice?

Wave 4 of the Super Smash Bros Amiibo line releases today. Good luck!