The cold, hard truth about sales numbers.

    There are no such things as accurate sales numbers to consumers. It is simply impossible to tally every sale that is made worldwide from every retailer and reseller.

    The only numbers that are accurate are shipped numbers (some companies do indeed call it "sold", because to them, the unit is sold) that come from the companies themselves. They know how many are shipped to retailers, and that is where the accuracy comes from.

    NPD data is flawed, if for no other reason that it leaves Wal-Mart off, which is, by far and away, the largest retail chain in the US. VGChartz, NexGenWars, and all the others are guesses. They have "methods" and "processes", but simple fact of the matter is they still operate using guesses, assumptions, and incomplete numbers. 

    So talk about sales figures all you want, but it is still a highly flawed, and incomplete, system you are using to back up any claims.

    It would be better if people started using shipped numbers, instead of trying to downplay them, saying absurd things like "retailers are sitting on millions of X Brand's units", or "X Company is just over shipping to inflate sales!".

    Thoughts? 

    There are no such things as accurate sales numbers to consumers. It is simply impossible to tally every sale that is made worldwide from every retailer and reseller.

    The only numbers that are accurate are shipped numbers (some companies do indeed call it "sold", because to them, the unit is sold) that come from the companies themselves. They know how many are shipped to retailers, and that is where the accuracy comes from.

    NPD data is flawed, if for no other reason that it leaves Wal-Mart off, which is, by far and away, the largest retail chain in the US. VGChartz, NexGenWars, and all the others are guesses. They have "methods" and "processes", but simple fact of the matter is they still operate using guesses, assumptions, and incomplete numbers. 

    So talk about sales figures all you want, but it is still a highly flawed, and incomplete, system you are using to back up any claims.

    It would be better if people started using shipped numbers, instead of trying to downplay them, saying absurd things like "retailers are sitting on millions of X Brand's units", or "X Company is just over shipping to inflate sales!".

    Thoughts? 

SpruceCaboose

How many consoles that are shipped are almost irrelevant. What really matters is consoles sold to the consumer.

If consolemaker x ship 5 mill. consoles and half of them are resting on shelves around the world. Their 5 mill. shipped number is far more inaccurate than the numbers provided by vgcharths , nexgenwars and others.

Their guesses are based upon real sales to us the consumers. It's still guesswork involved but far more accurate than consoles "shipped"

The only time a companies "shipped" number is accurate for units sold, is when demand is so great that they sell out within 24 hours of reaching the gaming store. Like the wii is doing right now.

When the wii someday in the unknown future stops selling out and stores are full of 'em , then nintendos numbers for shipped = sold will be unaccurate to.

So until something better comes along. Vgcharts and the rest are the best indication avaliable as of now. When they get it wrong they update their numbers..

I suspect that the peolpe claiming these sites suck , are those that don't like the numbers....

How many consoles that are shipped are almost irrelevant. What really matters is consoles sold to the consumer.

If consolemaker x ship 5 mill. consoles and half of them are resting on shelves around the world. Their 5 mill. shipped number is far more inaccurate than the numbers provided by vgcharths , nexgenwars and others.

Their guesses are based upon real sales to us the consumers. It's still guesswork involved but far more accurate than consoles "shipped"

The only time a companies "shipped" number is accurate for units sold, is when demand is so great that they sell out within 24 hours of reaching the gaming store. Like the wii is doing right now.

When the wii someday in the unknown future stops selling out and stores are full of 'em , then nintendos numbers for shipped = sold will be unaccurate to.

So until something better comes along. Vgcharts and the rest are the best indication avaliable as of now. When they get it wrong they update their numbers..

I suspect that the peolpe claiming these sites suck , are those that don't like the numbers....

bobbo

    The issue is there are not millions of units sitting on retail shelves. If a system stops selling at retail, the retailers stop ordering the units from the Console makers, thereby slowing down shipped numbers. There is no mythical "millions of units" sitting in Best Buy's warehouses. Retailers oreder units based on need. They don't simply take on every unit that Sony Microsoft and Nintendo can make, or there would not be enough room in any stockrooms anywhere.

    And no, I for one don't care about sales numbers, but I am tired of people using NexGenWars and VGChartz as "proof" that they are right, when both sites are both inaccurate. 

[QUOTE="bobbo"]How many consoles that are shipped are almost irrelevant. What really matters is consoles sold to the consumer.

If consolemaker x ship 5 mill. consoles and half of them are resting on shelves around the world. Their 5 mill. shipped number is far more inaccurate than the numbers provided by vgcharths , nexgenwars and others.

Their guesses are based upon real sales to us the consumers. It's still guesswork involved but far more accurate than consoles "shipped"

The only time a companies "shipped" number is accurate for units sold, is when demand is so great that they sell out within 24 hours of reaching the gaming store. Like the wii is doing right now.

When the wii someday in the unknown future stops selling out and stores are full of 'em , then nintendos numbers for shipped = sold will be unaccurate to.

So until something better comes along. Vgcharts and the rest are the best indication avaliable as of now. When they get it wrong they update their numbers..

I suspect that the peolpe claiming these sites suck , are those that don't like the numbers....

SpruceCaboose

    The issue is there are not millions of units sitting on retail shelves. If a system stops selling at retail, the retailers stop ordering the units from the Console makers, thereby slowing down shipped numbers. There is no mythical "millions of units" sitting in Best Buy's warehouses. Retailers oreder units based on need. They don't simply take on every unit that Sony Microsoft and Nintendo can make, or there would not be enough room in any stockrooms anywhere.

    And no, I for one don't care about sales numbers, but I am tired of people using NexGenWars and VGChartz as "proof" that they are right, when both sites are both inaccurate. 

What i mentioned about shipped vs sold to consumers is corect for the first months upwards to a year or more for each console.

After that when manufacturer and retail know what the demand is i totally agree with you. However sold to the consumer is always what counts.

And vgcharts and the lot are more than good enough to serve as "proof" for rough numbers. Not the exact numbers but a close guesstimate....

So yes they are inaccurate, but they update their number when hard data is provided. So it's the best we have at the moment for worldwide sales. And they are accurate enough to indicate who is in the lead for those that care about that.

And in System wars quite alot of posters do.....Live with it or dont read those posts if they annoy you.....

    There are no such things as accurate sales numbers to consumers. It is simply impossible to tally every sale that is made worldwide from every retailer and reseller.

    The only numbers that are accurate are shipped numbers (some companies do indeed call it "sold", because to them, the unit is sold) that come from the companies themselves. They know how many are shipped to retailers, and that is where the accuracy comes from.

    NPD data is flawed, if for no other reason that it leaves Wal-Mart off, which is, by far and away, the largest retail chain in the US. VGChartz, NexGenWars, and all the others are guesses. They have "methods" and "processes", but simple fact of the matter is they still operate using guesses, assumptions, and incomplete numbers. 

    So talk about sales figures all you want, but it is still a highly flawed, and incomplete, system you are using to back up any claims.

    It would be better if people started using shipped numbers, instead of trying to downplay them, saying absurd things like "retailers are sitting on millions of X Brand's units", or "X Company is just over shipping to inflate sales!".

    Thoughts? 

SpruceCaboose

while that is true the numbers are close enough. Example: They say that they sold 3.70 million of something, that is close enough to the actual number, which would be like 3,699,325. When have you large numbers it's better to round it off.

I'd like to add that PS3s must be selling in walmart, because usually they don't have many stocked. I think there was only one left when I bought one, and I got lucky. Definitely selling.thedarkomen