Where Have All The Wii’s Gone?
There is only three more days left to finish all that Christmas shopping and the one item that everyone wants is the one thing that can’t be found. Even with Nintendo working together with Game Stop in creating the ‘rain check’ program consumers are still not able to get their hands on that perfect gift. Maybe it’s because they are looking in the wrong place. Perhaps they should be turning their eyes to Ebay.
It seems that a retail store in the Midwest – called Slackers – is selling its allotment of Nintendo Wiis for a premium on eBay. In the auction, the Wiis, which have an MSRP of $249 – are selling for $399. An anonymous tipster who claims to be a Slackers employee says that none of the Wiis that the stores get actually make it to the store front, instead winding up listed on the Slackers eBay site at a huge markup. “The real crime is that we get Wii shipments regularly. In fact, right now we have about 20,” said the source.
It’s not unusual to see someone trying to flip something on eBay – a retailer doing so is uncommon – and frowned upon. However, unless contractually required by Nintendo to sell the consoles at the MSRP, there’s little Nintendo can do to alter the practice, except perhaps stop allotting systems to Slackers.
I think it’s time to leave the malls and the game stores and take your business to eBay where you are likely to find a wide selection of Wii consoles with your name on it.
