Yesterday, an Amazon employee went on Reddit and discussed why the Marth amiibo has been in and out of stock on the site. The employee, who goes by the username Sanvaer, took the time to describe the process of how Amazon receives products from companies and the long chaotic process that must happen before the item is marked as available.
“Once a warehouse associate physically stows that Marth Amiibo and scans the bin, that is when it flags as “in stock” on Amazon’s website. So when an associate is scanning them in one-by-one, they’re trickling in online. And that’s just one tote–which probably only holds ~10 Amiibo. So you can scale that up and imagine what fifteen associates scanning in Marths one-by-one all at different times looks like to you guys.”
Sanvaer sheds the light on why not only amiibo, but why other popular items flicker on and off of the site. This in-depth explanation is better than anything Nintendo has said about the shortages.
If you’re willing to try your luck, I wish you the best.
You can find the Reddit post here.