Crown Store stock never actually goes away?

Greifenherz · December 2016

Acrolas wrote: »

Out of stock = no inventory for consumers to buy.
No longer available = no inventory for consumers to buy.

The limiting factor isn't what the seller has, it's what the buyer has been permitted access to.

That cleared it up, thanks!

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

I get what you mean but the wording would make 'no longer available' as in 'not available' a blatant lie if you in fact do have it available.

starkerealm · December 2016

Acrolas wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

Out of stock = no inventory for consumers to buy.
No longer available = no inventory for consumers to buy.

The limiting factor isn't what the seller has, it's what the buyer has been permitted access to.

At this point, Acrolas, I'd advise you to listen to the assessment of the court officers.

Out of stock = cannot.
No longer available = will not.

Sigtric · December 2016

all this in stock/out of stock/available...

This is digital content. There is no inventory number. They can "sell" as much or as little as they'd like.

Further, you aren't actually buying anything through the crown store. You're paying a 1 time fee to license use of the item.

The entire game is this way. You paid for the right to use the license as long as it is available.

If ZOS decides tomorrow that they are done with the game and it is being turned off immediately. It's done. You don't own any of the data that goes with it.

Abeille · December 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

Acrolas wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

Out of stock = no inventory for consumers to buy.
No longer available = no inventory for consumers to buy.

The limiting factor isn't what the seller has, it's what the buyer has been permitted access to.

At this point, Acrolas, I'd advise you to listen to the assessment of the court officers.

Out of stock = cannot.
No longer available = will not.

When it come to digital goods, does it really make any difference?
I mean, actually "out of stock" isn't really a possibility on this case.

starkerealm · December 2016

Greifenherz wrote: »

Acrolas wrote: »

Out of stock = no inventory for consumers to buy.
No longer available = no inventory for consumers to buy.

The limiting factor isn't what the seller has, it's what the buyer has been permitted access to.

That cleared it up, thanks!

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

I get what you mean but the wording would make 'no longer available' as in 'not available' a blatant lie if you in fact do have it available.

No, if it's not available for purchase, regardless of inventory, it's "not available."

Also, probably worth remembering, the phrase that ZOS actually uses is an affirmative statement. "Available for a limited time." Not a negative one, ie: "only for this weekend." Which is why they can offer old items again later, at their discretion without getting dinged for false advertising.

starkerealm · December 2016

Abeille wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Acrolas wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

Out of stock = no inventory for consumers to buy.
No longer available = no inventory for consumers to buy.

The limiting factor isn't what the seller has, it's what the buyer has been permitted access to.

At this point, Acrolas, I'd advise you to listen to the assessment of the court officers.

Out of stock = cannot.
No longer available = will not.

When it come to digital goods, does it really make any difference?
I mean, actually "out of stock" isn't really a possibility on this case.

It's an assumption baked into the law that Acrolas was citing. It's written to prevent someone from advertising something as, "on sale," but then claim they've sold out, when they actually have stock on hand. Not to prevent someone from offering a promotional item later.

Recremen · December 2016

For clarification on "in stock/out of stock", as I recall from the ToS they are selling licenses to use the digital Crown Store products, not actually selling a "stock" of them. As other people have noted, these are digital goods, they aren't running out of electrons or database access permissions. That's probably why they have to use the term "license" and that sort of thing. So y'all can feel free to keep playing lawyer but you should at least do so using the right laws!!

nine9six · December 2016

No dice on the Ashlander Pack:

---

Greetings,

It is not possible to purchase, or gift, Crown Store items, such as pets, mounts, or costumes, that are no longer available on the Crown Store. If you need assistance with gifting, for yourself or a friend, of any currently available Crowns Store items, I can assist you with those.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know and I'll do my best to address them.

Thanks,

Petyr

---

I left my feedback. *** these Crown Crates.

themdogesbite · December 2016

Freind of mine was abroad whilst the dominion hero costume was avaible, he messaged support and managed to buy it when he got home.

rotaugen454 · December 2016

So gifting of current items is now available? I was going to buy the Elk Mount for my wife when it comes out, so I'm glad to see that is possible.

BlackEar · December 2016

It is concerning that they first create artificial exclusivity by removing items only to later add them in a RNG based gambling mechanic meanwhile underhandedly selling it to certain players.

It just gets worse and worse.

Runs · December 2016

nine9six wrote: »

No dice on the Ashlander Pack:

---

Greetings,

It is not possible to purchase, or gift, Crown Store items, such as pets, mounts, or costumes, that are no longer available on the Crown Store. If you need assistance with gifting, for yourself or a friend, of any currently available Crowns Store items, I can assist you with those.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know and I'll do my best to address them.

Thanks,

Petyr

---

I left my feedback. *** these Crown Crates.

So, was he told to shut his back door sales down or did they never exist to begin with?

starkerealm · December 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

So gifting of current items is now available? I was going to buy the Elk Mount for my wife when it comes out, so I'm glad to see that is possible.

ZOS is currently playing around with the idea of gifting crown store items. If you're wanting to give it to her, contact support, and ask if they're willing to help. They might be able to schedule it so you do gift it to her when it drops. I honestly don't know.

Maotti · December 2016

If only they would let us do this with the Crown crate exclusive items.

Direct purchase with crowns from behind the scenes, maybe i would even be tempted to give ZoS my money then.

starkerealm · December 2016

Runs wrote: »

So, was he told to shut his back door sales down or did they never exist to begin with?

It might have been a few isolated instances, rather than official policy. At some point, someone, my guess is Gina, will wander in here and say that it happened a few times, but was not approved policy, and it won't be happening going forwards... or, you know, that it never happened, and that this was some upset derp trying to get back at a customer service rep.

nine9six · December 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

So gifting of current items is now available? I was going to buy the Elk Mount for my wife when it comes out, so I'm glad to see that is possible.

I don't know the Crown Store well enough...but if that's something that can be bought, flat-out...you can gift it.

Contact support. They'll forward the request to Petyr and co.

Recremen · December 2016

Maotti wrote: »

If only they would let us do this with the Crown crate exclusive items. Direct purchase with crowns from behind the scenes, maybe i would even be tempted to give ZoS my money then.

You and thousands of other people, myself included. I absolutely will not stand to gamble away my money, but I'm 100% willing to shell out cash for products I know I'm going to get. They're just completely ignoring us because they'd rather risk it on the idea that keeping things exclusive to gambling boxes will drive up gambling box sales.

starkerealm · December 2016

Recremen wrote: »

Maotti wrote: »

If only they would let us do this with the Crown crate exclusive items. Direct purchase with crowns from behind the scenes, maybe i would even be tempted to give ZoS my money then.

You and thousands of other people, myself included. I absolutely will not stand to gamble away my money, but I'm 100% willing to shell out cash for products I know I'm going to get. They're just completely ignoring us because they'd rather risk it on the idea that keeping things exclusive to gambling boxes will drive up gambling box sales.

Judging by the number of attronach mounts I'm seeing in game, that plan seems to be working pretty well for them.

Recremen · December 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

Maotti wrote: »

If only they would let us do this with the Crown crate exclusive items. Direct purchase with crowns from behind the scenes, maybe i would even be tempted to give ZoS my money then.

You and thousands of other people, myself included. I absolutely will not stand to gamble away my money, but I'm 100% willing to shell out cash for products I know I'm going to get. They're just completely ignoring us because they'd rather risk it on the idea that keeping things exclusive to gambling boxes will drive up gambling box sales.

Judging by the number of attronach mounts I'm seeing in game, that plan seems to be working pretty well for them.

Kind of hard to say, though. Compare to the number of regular Crown Store mounts you see, and keep in mind that they were all available for an even more limited amount of time. How many more would we see if we could direct purchase them? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Versus... exactly how much extra they're making via gambling boxes? I'm sure they're looking at the figures themselves, I just hope they make the ethical choice in the end.

Loralai_907 · December 2016

I can understand why they would have this available for special circumstances. It would be nice if some older items could still be purchased via another tab in the crown store, same with gifting items to other people. But I can totally see them not allowing everyone to buy older items to drive people towards crown crates and limited edition sales of course. They don't want everyone to be able to get whatever they want, whenever they want it because that could lead to a feeling of oh it can wait instead of the I better buy it this very second feeling. Plus, if they allow all the older items to be for sale directly, they would have less things to cram in their crown crates, and they need as much as humanly possible in them to make sure they are attracting as many people as they can.

nine9six · December 2016

And then there is someone like me. Would buy if I had the option (like new mounts, etc.) but won't give a dime because I'm not playing their Crate game.

Oh well.

Lukums1 · December 2016

100% sure, I myself and friends have requested LIMITED items that are no longer in the crown store through support ticket and obtained the item as long as we had the crowns equating to that particular item.

This is 100% TRUE.

Daraugh · December 2016

Maybe this is a live example of how many people would be thrilled to hand over cash to get stuff they missed out on, provided they knew what they were buying?

I was ready to email CS and ask them for the dro-m'Athra mount, the Skyrim Scouts pack and the Yokudan Charger. Here, take my money! If I can see what I'm buying, clean out all the crowns I have. I wished I had gotten those things and if this is a demonstration of how many people would jump at the chance to do the same, then I'd call the experiment a success.

Korah_Eaglecry · December 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

Runs wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

That did NOT work for me.

Honestly, it sounds like you need to get the right support rep. Wrong one, and you're out of luck.

This is exactly my issue with the support from ZOS and other companies that have lax requirements on their customer service. One person will be treated fairly another will be completely turned down based entirely on the rep their ticket gets sent to. No mater what the policy is, it should be a standard policy for everybody.

It's not about being lax with customer service. It's just that, in most cases, CS reps aren't paid enough to care.

Not necessarily. It can be a wide range of reasons. Someone might be new and not know they can or cant do something. Someone might be a stickler for the rules while others might be more lenient. Some might be having a bad day. Or there may be some confusion on how management wants them to actually handle said issue. It might be something that never came up in training or something that management seems to bounce back and forth about.

starkerealm · December 2016

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Runs wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

That did NOT work for me.

Honestly, it sounds like you need to get the right support rep. Wrong one, and you're out of luck.

This is exactly my issue with the support from ZOS and other companies that have lax requirements on their customer service. One person will be treated fairly another will be completely turned down based entirely on the rep their ticket gets sent to. No mater what the policy is, it should be a standard policy for everybody.

It's not about being lax with customer service. It's just that, in most cases, CS reps aren't paid enough to care.

Not necessarily. It can be a wide range of reasons. Someone might be new and not know they can or cant do something. Someone might be a stickler for the rules while others might be more lenient. Some might be having a bad day. Or there may be some confusion on how management wants them to actually handle said issue. It might be something that never came up in training or something that management seems to bounce back and forth about.

Also don't forget the ever fun one, where management has unwritten directives that contradict corporate policy. But, don't worry, management WILL throw you under the bus either way you jump.

JKorr · December 2016

Daraugh wrote: »

Maybe this is a live example of how many people would be thrilled to hand over cash to get stuff they missed out on, provided they knew what they were buying?

I was ready to email CS and ask them for the dro-m'Athra mount, the Skyrim Scouts pack and the Yokudan Charger. Here, take my money! If I can see what I'm buying, clean out all the crowns I have. I wished I had gotten those things and if this is a demonstration of how many people would jump at the chance to do the same, then I'd call the experiment a success.

Send the email anyway. They'd have another statistic of "would buy but won't gamble" to add to the list. I would also do a /feedback in game and explain you would be happy to buy items, but won't touch the crates.

S1ipperyJim · December 2016

starkerealm wrote: »

"Out of stock," means you cannot sell the item. "No longer available," means you don't want to sell the item, but may have some available.

loooooooooooooooooool...for an encore can you now go on to prove black is white?

BossXV · December 2016

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

That did NOT work for me.

There was an Imperial officer collection (three costumes) available in the Crown store. I wanted one of them for one of my characters. I had to travel for a week and when I returned the costume set had been pulled - and I had missed out. Fair enough, my mistake.

But I did everything I could to get that collection, including pm-ing @ZOS_GinaBruno directly. Nothing. Not even a response. And then a couple of months later ... wait for it .... wait for it .... yes, a version of the costume appeared in the Crown crates.

So I spent multiple times the amount I would have spent on the costumes trying to get them from the Crown crates. What a win for Zenimax.

WAIT THE IMPERIAL OFFICER OUTFIT IS IN CROWN CRATES! DO YOU MEAN THE SPARTANY CENTURIAN LOOKING ONE!!??

Wolfshead · December 2016

Recremen wrote: »

According to this Reddit thread you can apparently still buy anything that has previously shown up on the Crown Store, just through the support ticket system. Are these baseless rumors, or real legit things? Would love an official clarification from @ZOS_GinaBruno , @ZOS_JessicaFolsom , etc! There's a few things I skipped out on back before costume dyeing that I would strongly consider now, and I certainly have the crowns raring to go. Would also be interested in knowing if this functionality extended to other items on the Crown Store that are exclusive to the gambling boxes. Please hit us up with the knowledge bomb!

That is why we have got those stupid Storm Atronach Crate for you "sell" them for gem and with gem you buy things with them what you have "miss" i think that was whole idea with those damn Storm Atronach Crate to start with that ZoS would add item and special item that the know people want/miss out on and still made load of money at sametime.

I personal think that those Storm Atronach Crate is cheap way to get us spend more money in crown store up to those Storm Atronach Crate come to crown store i like that crown store but now it just feel like ZoS out get more money out of us.

menedhyn · December 2016

I just tried to do the same thing as @nine9six. I asked if I could purchase two costumes (Priest of the Green, and Soul Shriven Costume Pack) I had bought previously when playing on PS4 so I could continue my character roleplay on the new PC. Same (polite) response - no can do. No mention or comment on whether this has ever been an option. I thought it was worth a go. Because, you know, desperately frustrated...

As others have suggested, does this not prove that there are people willing to pay for these items if they were made available through 'direct purchase' (borrowing @Recremen's phrase) via the Crown Store? I do genuinely want to give ZOS some of my money for these items, I really do.

What is so very wrong with the traditional approach? You know, you see something you like. You ask how much it is. They tell you. And then you decide yes, I will buy it, or no, I won't.

Sigh.