I have been fairly lucky with my amiibo hunts. I, apparently, like popular characters, because only a few of the ones I've wanted are considered "rare". The few rare ones I did want, I suppose I was in the right place at the right time; I was able to easily pre-order them in my local Toys R Us. There are more coming out I desire, however, so, hopefully, my luck will not run out. I have several theories as to why they are so hard to collect here in the US. Here are some of them.
Nintendo is a family company. They are not accustomed to, nor interested in, pandering to collectors. They are targeting younger audiences by flooding shelves with the characters most popular with kids (Mario, Kirby, Yoshi, etc) while ignoring some of the great characters from their more mature games. Their sales numbers might back this up. Mario always sells well, while the few Fire Emblem figures ever made might not have. I hope the data from American amiibo sales do not reinforce this idea. After all, if you ship less Marths, you'll sell less Marths.
Nintendo of Japan is proud. Nintendo of Japan, like many, many older Japanese game companies are either completely mystified by Western tastes, or more likely, look down on them. This pride lead them to foresee American amiibo shoppers as unsophisticated - simply wanting flagship mascots of children's games. While it is true, Americans love Mario and the gang, the amiibo debacle has also re-proven that Western gamers have complex taste in games. This pride could also be blamable for the breakdown in communications. Nintendo of America has said almost nothing regarding the shortages, and I believe, a big reason is that they know very little of Nintendo of Japan's plans or ideas.
Nintendo is inexperienced in merchandise. First, I will admit that there has been, literally, thousands of Nintendo-related toys released over the decades. What I am referring to, specifically, is Nintendo's lack of experience in handling the manufacture, shipping and marketing of figures. They have always licensed their merchandises out to other manufacturers, but with amiibo, they have taken on much of the responsibility. And, frankly, they don't know enough yet to satisfy the myriad of consumer types around the world they have. They completely missed the mark when predicting sales in the US, made too few of some characters and too many of others, and have shipped them in batches so small, they only exacerbate rather than relieve the situation. Even retailers are frustrated with Nintendo, hurting relationships a more experienced company would already have cemented.
Nintendo is gun shy. As this is their first real foray into collectibles, they likely erred on the side of caution, preferring to under-produce than over. Figures not selling and sitting on shelves would have been costly for them, as well as edged out future shelf space for the next series of amiibo.
Nintendo is, maybe, an evil genius. The amiibo situation greatly resembles the original Wii shopping madness. Is Nintendo under-shipping to drive up demand? For the case of the Wii, it worked quite well. People were going crazy over it and, I believe, people that never would have otherwise bought one did for two reasons. One, people who would have otherwise never heard about a console release learned of the Wii from news reports about its scarcity. Two, people who were on the fence about buying one, when confronted with the chance to acquire one from the insanely low supply, felt pressured to get it now, or miss out forever. Perhaps Nintendo was trying to recreate this fever with amiibo.
Hopefully, collectors who missed out on their favorite characters will get a chance in the future. But with more and more amiibo being announced every month, I doubt it.
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