US Wii: Preorder Details Thread

[Mr Fujisawa]

I don't think they can do that indefinitely.

In my last job in technical support I used to have a little contact with credit / debit card payments through my employer's (lame) software. The way it worked is that the cashier swipes the card & the transaction is "authorised" - this means that the system checks the amount is available in the account - and the amount is only actually debited once the customer has signed the receipt and the cashier has pressed the button to finalise the transaction. I believe that the the "authorise" and "finalise" stages are absolutely standard in the international credit card payments system.

Once the credit card issuer has authorised the payment in this way it means that the payee will definitely get paid - they are given (either electronically or over the phone, or however the authorisation is requested) an authorisation code, although I assume this has a time limit. So when a bank completes this stage it does put the amount of the payment on hold, so that the user can't make multiple authorisations totalling more than his credit limit. But in my experience the hold times out after 3 days, so that the user can then spend the money for a transaction they decided to cancel at the last minute.

This authorisation system is often used quite explicitly in this way - car hire companies might authorise off your card in this way but never take the money. They do this to ensure the card's not stolen and (basically) ensure you're a customer in good standing with a suitable credit limit. The authorisation won't last the week of your car hire and there's no way to be sure that they'll be able to make another authorisation against your card and actually take the money if you bring the car back smashed up in a week's time, but they figure that authorising the card is good enough to ensure that it's not stolen and that you're probably legit.

The way that I was first involved with this was when my former employer's (lame) till softare decided to authorise the payment ok but not collect it. Swipe, swipe, swipe, sorry sir, you haven't got enough money in your account - I've been at the receiving end of this since, and when I phoned my credit card company they told me that three authorisations for ?300 had been made by this company against my account, but none of it collected. If the problem is a one-off then the easy "fix" to this is simply to wait 3 days and the authorisation will time out.

So the upshot of this is that the hold will probably disappear on that money in your account in 3 days. If it's payday and you order a game that doesn't come out until after next payday you can probably order the game and then subsequently spend all the money in your account - if you're out of cash in 3 weeks time it'll probably not be affected by a game that you've preordered but which isn't released yet.

Stroller.

ur almost there, most banks creidt card systems will drop authorisations after 3 days if they havented debitted to clear up your availible balance, but this does NOT mean the payment WONT debit. ive seen payments debit months after the authorisation, though its quite rare. also some transasctions do not need to be authorised (such as small purchases in boots) as they are below the shops floor limit (a set amount below which authorisation is not required). both of these factors are reasons why its possible to go over ur limit. sometime. also the excample you mention of a merchant swiping a few times is a common case of some twat in a shop not knowing how to use his machine, annoying this is most ppl blame the bank.

[jamesking420]

So, at least I'm not last. Not sure if 'the list' is being kept up to date but I am 47138 - a Wii plus Zelda. I will add stuff to my order once I know if it's going to ship on launch.


Trust me to be in India at the time

[112]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how hard would it be for me to walk into a shop on the 16 th of November in new york and buy a wii off the shelf? Cos i wanna get one whilst im over in the US.

112

[Geezer]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how hard would it be for me to walk into a shop on the 16 th of November in new york and buy a wii off the shelf? Cos i wanna get one whilst im over in the US.

112

Very hard, cos it's not out until the 19th

[mr_sockochris]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how hard would it be for me to walk into a shop on the 16 th of November in new york and buy a wii off the shelf? Cos i wanna get one whilst im over in the US.

112

Impossible, because it's out on the 19th

edit: beaten

[112]

ok fine, on the 19th then, lol ill bethere a few days.

112

[Lyris]

So does anyone know when we find out if we're getting Wiis or not from VG+? I'd like to know if I have to start looking for an alternative birthday present!

[Geezer]

UK retailers like GAME and Argos supposedly know their allocation now, surely US and Canadian ones ought to have them by now.

[MikeRox]

The reason GAME know their allocation is because they're the official Wii retailer for the UK.

[AllYourBase]

The reason GAME know their allocation is because they're the official Wii retailer for the UK.

NOE must be mad making GAME of all people the official retailer considering the pathetic shelf space given to the cube when it was in it's prime in their stores. Even today the DS stuff is tucked away at the back in my local GAME!

[Lyris]

NOE must be mad making GAME of all people the official retailer considering the pathetic shelf space given to the cube when it was in it's prime in their stores. Even today the DS stuff is tucked away at the back in my local GAME!

Maybe that's their reason for doing it. I'm sure Nintendo would like to get to know GAME better so to speak.

[Vince]

My local game was like that too, GC stuff was always hidden away at the back of the store. The funny thing is i went in last Friday and all the DS stuff is at the front, along with the Xbox 360 and now the PS2 and PSP stuff is at the back. I guess they are gearing up for xmas and Sony have nothing new to sell.

[MarioMark]

I don't agree with Game getting the majority of the stock. But if they do then they will get most sales. So then maybe Game might actually think this console has a chance and so they wont just stuff it at the back of the shop when all 3 systems are out!

[NecronomiconUK]

keep it on topic kids, this is a US pre-order thread remeber

*takes mod police hat off*

[Crocski]

Just wondering what's the latest re: people's preorders with DVDBO and VG+?
Any hint as to when we'll receive word on allocations and if we've been succesfull for launch (I've got 2 weeks holidays to take and want to time it perfectly!).

Also, DVDBO said they'd have component cables up on their site this week but I remain sceptical.