Zip will be launching Numeric ZipLists

[Fleury]

Well just to prove my point that it's still useless, today Eight Below was sent out, despite the fact that Civil War Life: Left For Dead (with a much higher "likely" rating on its green bar) and Syriana both sat above it. I have order selected over service, thus proving my point that this numerical order is useless. With no idea even how "likely" I am to get something now, then this is really just blind numbering.

That doesn't prove anything.

The green bars are an indication of the number of requests vs the number of copies. For simplicity, let's say that only one person (other than you) has Syriana anywhere on their want list. Even if Zip only has one copy, the title will show very high availability. But if that copy happens to be out today, then you obviously won't be getting it. The green bar would still show really high availability even though right now the title isn't available at all. The green bars don't tell you how many copies they currently have in their warehouses waiting to be mailed out -- the green bars indicate a relationship between supply and demand.

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Marc.

[~~Darlyn~~]

...so what you continue to prove is how much we need a system on the Ziplist page that tells you whether that #1 (or even that #2 or #3) title are going to ship from their offices next.

Really, what difference does it make? Keep your active titles limited to 20 and park the rest. Order the 20 and hope for the best that your #1 choice is shipped. If it isn't at least you know one of your top 20 will ship out.

If you really need to know whether #1, #2, etc. is going out or are adamant that #1 be shipped first, I think you're better off heading back to a brick and mortar store and then you know what you're getting.

It sounds like you want complete control over your list and that just won't happen with a mail order system.

[Fleury]

...so what you continue to prove is how much we need a system on the Ziplist page that tells you whether that #1 (or even that #2 or #3) title are going to ship from their offices next.

How would they know? Or, rather, how would they know in advance? If a title arrives to their warehouse in the morning, I believe that they ship that same disc out to another member in the afternoon. So the indicator that you want would only be displayed for less than a day.

How much detail would you want in that indicator?

"All copies of this movie are currently out, but given the return patterns of the 8 people who have the title, there is a 22% chance that a copy will be returned to us tomorrow. If so, you and 14 other people have the title on their want lists. You have it at your #2 spot, as does one of the other 14 people, but that other user has selected speed over list preference, so you may be given priority. The one member who has the title at their #1 spot has selected speed over list preference as well, so if the title arrives in Ottawa, your odds of getting it are different than if it arrives in Calgary. Mind you, these numbers are based on *yesterday's* sort lists for our members, so it is possible that additional members have since added the title to their list, or that members who already have the title on their list have moved it up to their #1 spot."

That kind of indicator?

[Blashy]

We need to have the availability bar BACK in the ziplist.

I have titles that are "looking" and "on the way" . Now I have to click on these titles to know if this has changed.

I like the new features, but don't take out old ones that were good as well.

[YKdvd]

The "Looking For" binoculars are usually out of print - they've been known to obtain some of these through second-hand sources, but unless they are available at reasonable prices many are probably little-hope things. One of the problems with the "On Order" truck is that many of these are actually probably out of print and should be marked "binoculars", but for whatever reason (suppliers not providing feedback, feedback lost in cracks, etc) this hasn't happened. There are probably a bunch of others that really are available, but the order has gone astray or had some problem, and might need a re-order, or from a different supplier (especially US imports).

If DVDs are anything like the book business used to be, they probably have a bunch of various suppliers, with different order systems, etc., although there might be some things they could do to keep tabs on long-term "On Order" things so they don't fall through the cracks.

I ran a little cross-check against Amazon availability awhile back for a bunch of older "On Order" items - it can be viewed here.

[Fleury]

But hey, maybe it's magic...

Not magic. But the situation you describe applies to a company that only sends out a disc the day after they receive it. (You referred to whether a disc was in stock overnight.) As I said with Zip, I've been lead to believe that they ship out a disc the SAME DAY that they receive it from another member. So if you were to check their stock each night to find out what disc you would be getting the next day, you wouldn't really learn anything.

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Marc.

[Rashkae]

And again, I fail to see how availability affects your zip list order at all.... What difference does availability make to your ordering? There are no advantages to putting a movie that you are more likely to get to your #1 slot,, leave it at #2 if you would rather get #1 at the off chance that it becomes available.

[DoubleDownAgain]

Well, I signed up last Thrsday evening because I wanted to get a shipment out on Friday so that my discs would be in transit over the long weekend. That didn't happen, it appears that they had my billing day starting on Saturday, so I didn't get anything shipped until Today. So my three (unlimited!) DVDs shipped today, #4, 6 & 13 on my ZipList. I had #2 & #3 as new releases so I was pretty happy with what they sent me. IS there anyway to tell from the website what warehouse they sent it from? I assume the only way to know is by the postmark? I'm in the Vancouver are so I hope I get them in 1-2 days? If shipped from Vancouver of course.