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Nintendo Torpedoes The Wii Grey Market
Twas the month before Christmas and all through the land,
Not a single retailer had one Wii on hand...More like the year before Christmas, actually. An entire year where not a day went by that hundreds of electronic and gaming retail employees didn't have to negatively answer the same nagging question. "Do you have any Wiis in stock?" Even though the console sold relatively briskly in the year following its launch, getting your hands on one meant you either won a contest, knew someone who worked for a retailer, shadowed UPS trucks or were just plain lucky.
As the holidays season started heating up, things looked bleak for parents and gamers looking to get their hands on Nintendo's tiny, motion-controlled console. Rumors of chip shortages ran rampant, and I personally was certain that the eBay grey market price for the hot gift item would far meet if not surpass the highest numbers seen during the initial late 2006 release window.
Miraculously that never happened. At the very last moment, in a series of moves that gained them criticism from fans, Nintendo managed to pull together enough supply to curb the often ridiculously inflated eBay demand before it was too late.
11:40 AM on Mon Jan 7 2008
By Mike Fahey
65,335 views, 88 comments -
grey market
Weekend Wii Stock Causes eBay Spike
In many ways, many, many ways eBay is an albatross around the necks' of gamers. This is most evident around the holidays when the demand for consoles and games goes through the roof.
Over the weekend there appeared to be another sell out of Wii consoles. On Friday, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime announced that seven retailers-Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us and Circuit City- would be throwing a lot of Wii consoles out on their shelves over the weekend to try and sate the appetite of games and their families.
But judging by the obvious spike in eBay listings of Wii consoles, I think it's fair to say the only thing sated was greed. From 9 a.m. Eastern Sunday to 9 p.m. Eastern Sunday alone more than 13,500 Wii consoles were listed for sale in the U.S. on eBay. Coincidence? I can't imagine.
Note: These numbers might deviate a little from 100% complete authentic scientific goodness, but the trend is still relevant. -
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ps3
Plenty O PS3s But No Takers
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