Xbox One X’s Amazon sales rank climbs due to Xbox Series X pre-order confusion

By Giovanni Colantonio September 22, 2020

The Xbox One X shot up Amazon’s sales charts today, following a chaotic day of pre-orders for the Xbox Series X and Series S.

The console’s sales rank shot up 747%, jumping from 2,804 to 331. The high numbers might indicate that many people mixed up the Xbox Series X and the current-generation Xbox One X.

Xbox One X sales rank is up 747% on Amazon lol…

Wonder how many people bought an Xbox One X instead of an Xbox Series X https://t.co/atj4thPwqD pic.twitter.com/CUzRkib3Sr

— Andrew Alerts (@AndrewAlerts) September 22, 2020

The Xbox Series X and Series S both went up for pre-order on Tuesday following Sony’s chaotic PlayStation 5 pre-order rollout last week. At the same time, most retailers began selling the consoles at 8 a.m. PT, Amazon opened pre-orders much later than other retailers. At that point, demand for the console hit a fever pitch and caused Microsoft’s website to crash. The next-generatopm consoles were sold out elsewhere, and many encountered frustrating errors.

When Amazon put the Xbox Series X up for pre-order, the situation only became more confusing for buyers. The link to the console led to an error page, featuring pictures of cute dogs. While some users could get to the pre-order page, others reported that they were only getting directed to the error.

Adding to the confusion, the search page for “Xbox Series X” shows multiple listings of the One X, including one with a Best Seller label. The actual Series X listing, which appears at the top of the results page, doesn’t display details like price or packaging art.

While the Best Seller listing rose 747%, a less expensive one climbed to the number 15 “Movers & Shakers in Video Games” spot with a 101% sales rank increase. Curiously, a third-party Xbox One X controller that bears a resemblance to a blue Series X controller announced yesterday also rose 68%.

For those looking to return incorrectly purchased systems, Amazon permits returns on items shipped out of its warehouse within 30 days of shipment. Unfortunately, many of the Xbox One X listings on the site come from third-party sellers, whose policies may vary.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Section Editor, Gaming

Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…

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