13500? geez, scalpers are going to oversatuate the market like they did with PS3s lol.

yes, i indeed hate it when the demand for games gets sliced off of the course and i have to make an insane shot from the woods just to make par...

It's such bullshit, I honestly wish the days of just honestly getting a console because you wanted to play games on it were still around. It's unfortunate seeing parents who are frustrated because they can't get what their kid what they asked for Christmas.

"through the 'rough'"?

Is that a deliberate pun?

If there are enough people out there stupid enough to pay over retail price, for ANYTHING, then how you can fault people for doing things like this? I sure don't.

Easy solution to this: Consumers need to stop being idiots and so obsessed with "the big thing."

Demand slows down. Relax. If you think your kids Christmas/Life is going to be ruined because he gets a Nintendo Wii in February rather than December, then you're a big part of the problem.

Wow, that's 13,500 consoles that could have been sold to honest people ! It's kinda sad ...

The thing is not even remotely close to being worth all of this demand... hopefully people refuse to spend the $450 or whatever those assholes are marking it up to and many those auctions just sit there.

rough = roof I assume?

And yes its very crappy that fleabay even exists currently in its monopolistic state along with its charge all paysucker.

It was ridiculous yesterday. We had a mother come in for extra remotes (the Target next door sold out) and tell us to our faces that she bought two - one as a Christmas present for her son who stayed up all night with her to get one, and one to sell and then give the money to her son. What. The. Bollocks. At least give the money to charity!

This is what I'm worried about with the 'raincheck' system we're implementing soon. I'm hoping the GameStops in my district are going to do a kind of background check amongst all the stores to try and inhibit multiple purchasers like those eBay scalpers. Maybe taking down drivers licenses or something, or addresses. I just hate to have to tell people we don't have any because some Power Seller eBayer bought them all.

The lesson here: DON'T BUY A WII (or anything) OFF EBAY FOR AN INFLATED PRICE!

Let these fuckers buy twelve Wiis, then eat it when they can't sell the damn things.

@InsomniaBob: Exactly.

I seriously laugh and shake my head in disbelief when I see these IDIOTS paying over MSRP for anything online. I don't care if it's Wii, 360, PS3, Tickle Me Elmo, I don't give a damn what it is.

Seriously you are a MORON if you're paying over MSRP for anything like this. Grow up.

This is only happening because people are actually buying them for the higher prices on eBay. If the sellers can no longer make money on a resale, they'll quit going to the effort to buy them. As long as the profit opportunity is there though, I see no problem with this. I have no sympathy for someone who "really wants a Wii" but can't be bothered to get out in the morning and get in line ahead of a reseller.

doesn't anyone buy a console just to play it anymore?

@InsomniaBob: That is such a great idea, one I have dreamed of for long, but you know it would never happen. There is always someone out there with money to burn and won't care what they pay, just as long as their fat little son gets his paws on a Wii. And as long as those people exist, so will scalpers. Anyone want to start up a modern-day Robin Hood gang?

@mva5580: I paid 300 for my Wii back in March. I gladly paid 50 bucks extra so I don't have to wait in a line early on a Sunday morning. I have a little thing called a job, which pays me money, which allows me to buy things I want. And you are calling me a moron who needs to grow up? People have a right to spend their money however they damn please. It's a free market people, this is America, a capitalist society. Would you judge someone this harshly for buying Super Bowl tickets for thousands of dollars, or paying 500 for shitty seats to see the Zeppelin reunion tour?

13,000 Wii's wow. Maybe the price will start to go down on ebay because the supply is so vast. Doubt it though. All those idiot parents that have waited until now to finally start looking for a Wii would probably kill to get one of these dumb ass systems. Just so little Timmy can be spoiled and get what he wants no matter how much it takes.

@ruslander: I'm in. I'll donate twenty Wii Zappers from my store's stock to the cause (I'm kidding about that, but I wish we could form such a gang).

When it comes to wii buyers...they's not technologically informed. Remember they are woman and casual gamers...they have no sense. So yeah they are going to get screwed. When the ps3 came out...I refuse to pay scalpers price.

i actually think Nintendo are filling the demand for Wii's but can't fill the demand to have one to play and the eBay'ers at the same time. say like 75% of people buying the Wii's so fast are people actually wanting one the rest just plan on sell it to the rest who doesn't keep a hardcore track of shipments

@Foggynotion: Yep, I definitely would.

The Super Bowl is 30 minutes away from me this year, and there is no way in HELL I would pay even close to what they're charging. It's ridiculous. Same for concert tickets. I guess I just think too logically about things, I'm sorry for that.

It is a free market society, and blah blah blah. I don't need an education on economics. But if you're someone who can sit there and justify things like this, then you just remember that the next time something comes around that you want and it's ridiculously overpriced.

OMG RARE!!! NIB!!!

I'm sure Nintendo don't mind. They have a way to lock in customers with that 'rain check' promotion anyway.

@mva5580: Different folks different strokes I guess. I just took offense to you calling anyone who pays over MSRP for anything a 'moron'. It was a gross generalization, and I had to call you out.

I was going to use the Rose Bowl as an example over the Super Bowl, but then I saw you were a Notre Dame fan. My bad.

@mva5580: Did you even read what he wrote? He only paid 50 bucks extra not 200. Grow up and get a life.

"+5 sport games!"

"+14 games!!"

lol

This story makes me sad. It's very possible that over 13000 children will be disappointed this year all so some people can pocket a little cash.

WiiBay FTW!

/sarcasm

@nxp3: So, women have no sense, and will inevitably get screwed? I'll bet you're quite the ladies man ;)

I second the general sentiment that people just need to stop rewarding this behavior. As long as the behavior earns the sellers a financial reward, they will keep doing this. I also won't be shocked if more than one person gets a "wii" from eBay that is just the plastic shell, or worse, inside the box.

I do think GS will go to the minimum effort to prevent their raincheck Wiis from ended up in the hands of eBay sellers, by limiting people to one per sales district (I was told by more than one GS manager prior to the Wii's initial launch they would do this), so that will help a bit, but there is only so much they can do.

On my local CraigsList, around 230 Wii's were listed on Sunday as of 10pm. That's over 2 pages worth. It's usually a handful / day.

@nxp3: Remember they are woman and casual gamers...they have no sense.

Wow! I'm guessing this wasn't sarcasm. Way to generalize that we all have no common sense!

@nxp3: good thing this doesnt only apply to wiis. It applys to just about every major console thats was released in the last few years + games. Hell Rockband was selling for way over MSRP like the day after it came out, and i dont know about where you stay but there was a crap load at the local stores around here. Also on the subject of people over paying for things on ebay i agree to a point. I personally bought my wii off ebay a year ago, but i knew what i would pay max (300$) The auctions were so frequent that you could bid on one every couple minutes and see if you won. I finally got my wii for 283$ Which is about what it would have come out to with tax anyways. I think paying 100-200$+ over MSRP is a bit silly but then again its not my money so i dont really care all that much.

All we can hope is that some of these greedy people get burned and end up with wii's they dont want and cant sell.

@Mezodon:

What about the people who "really want a Wii" but cant get one because there's an army of creepy wierdos with no job, life, human deceny scoops them all while they're working to feed their familes.

This is why ebay and sites like it should just go bye bye.

A lot of people argue that scalpers are just selling what they're selling at fair market value. The thing people don't realize is that the scalpers are the ones driving up the prices, not the public. Obviously, there has to be some demand to begin with, but if you have 13,500 paying customers and 13,500 Wiis, everybody's going to get one and everybody's going to pay $249 and nobody's going to be left over saying "I would have paid more if I could only get one!"

Add in 13,500 scalpers, though, and now you have 27,000 people vying for 13,500 consoles. What do you think is going to happen to prices?

Scalpers cause artificial price inflation. They're not simply taking advantage of demand.

Ok ok, we get it, The Wii is popular, enough already.

@badasscat: This.

Nintendo is really shooting itself in the foot, they need to open a new factory and start manufacturing the things as fast as possible, they're only hurting themselves by not taking the initiative. Then again, they may find that this eventual "craze" is temporary and the demand for wii's will dramatically drop after this holiday. In that case, opening a new facility would prove costly and instead of profit, you would bleed money through production.

@badasscat: Exactly. This isn't "free market" activity. The is just downright price gouging and scalping. It should be made illegal.

@radink: Ebay has already took a stand and doesnt let people create ID's just to sale one product. So Billy Joe, who doesnt have an ebay account and waited all night to buy a wii so he could sell it on ebay will be pretty disappointed when he finds out he won't be making out big online.

This is really what is hurting Nintendo right now. The shortage of Wii consoles has made a marketing opportunity for people who want to make a lot of quick bucks easily and not play the console at all. Its just depriving kids of their Wii. THINK OF THE CHILDREN FOR GOD SAKES!

@DELETED: Yeah but alot of these people are repeat offenders and do this on a regular basis.

@radink: The problem isn't eBay, the problem is the users of eBay.

My goodness. I can understand if there are some on ebay making higher prices, but I never knew this many were just up on ebay... its really disheartening. So glad I got a Wii the day after launch.

Looks like eBay prices have already dropped as a result. Prior to the weekend, they were going for $450+. Now it looks like sellers are lucky if they can get $350.

Which means, they'll be lucky to break even after eBay and PayPal fees.

13,500 assholes looking to turn a quick buck. This is getting old. Are people really that hard up for cash now? They actually get up extremely early in the morning, wait in line for hours, go through the hassle of listing and selling on eBay all for $100 - $200? Then again, Nintendo's not innocent in this either. They're notorious for shortages since the beginning. The Super Mario 3 shortage being the most famous, as Nintendo was exposed (they weren't in stores for Christmas, claimed they couldn't get any made and were busted with a factory/factories full to the ceiling with cartridges they were sitting on) for creating the shortage. Are the doing this again? Hard to tell, but it's also hard to believe the Wii -- which uses dated hardware -- is still this hard to produce. And another Christmas of being the "hottest" toy would be hard to pass up if you were Nintendo. My guess? There will be a surplus of these consoles by April 2008.

I just made two separate points and can't remember how I planned to tie them together. I guess it can all be packaged and put into the "Greed Sucks" column.

That is depressing, I had really hoped that the big sale this weekend would have meant that people that wanted to play the console would be able to get their hands on it. To be honest though, if some desperate mommy was not willing to get her ass out of bed early Sunday morning when it was obvious they were going to be widely available, she deserves to get price gouged.

I wonder if any of the Best Buys attempted to only permit people who purchase the entended warranty to walk out with a Wii? The Ebay incident is no worse than what other retailers try to do.

When I purchased my 360 on launch day the Best Buy manager would not let me walk out of the store with my console (only core left), game, HDD and wireless controller unless I agreed to purchase the extended warranty. When I refused he said that I was going to sell it on eBay and that was against their store policy so he could not sell it to me. I had to wait an extra 30 minutes to get approval to buy a product because I did not want a warranty from Best Buy. eBay pricing is bad, but some things are far, far worse.

As long as the demand for a Wii remains this high, you can expect everyone to try and make a little cash on the misery of others.

@Foggynotion: EPIC! Notre Dame fans are RARE! NIB! these days too. I say ebay the things. We have sin tax on cigs, and boos, it's time for more taxes on retards (other than lotteries).

I heard on a message board someone say that people waiting in store lines on Sunday were being allowed to buy multiple Wiis. I don't know if this is true, but the managers of any stores doing that should be publicly humiliated (I think they invented the medieval stocks for this purpose). It's one thing to go wait in line for a couple hours to get one Wii and sell it on eBay, but nobody should be able to get more than one at a time.

And eBay really should have a policy on scalping, which is illegal in most communities. They have policies on many other things which are much more arbitrary. I guess they make a lot of money off those seller fees for scalpers.

@NotAZombie: I'll jump on board. I think it is moronic to pay over msrp on ebay for these things. Even if it is just 50 bucks over. No matter how much over you pay you encourage scalpers. Pretty soon all of us gamers with jobs that can't skip work to spend a couple nights camping on the sidewalk will all have to pay out the ass on ebay to buy our systems from scalpers at launch.