Retailer scalping Wii allotment on eBay
Greed, greed, greed.
There is no doubt that this holiday season, one of
the hottest gifts is the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo of America’s
president, Reggie Fils-Aime, warned gamers months ago that supplies would be
short and tried to alleviate the problem with a voucher program through
GameStop. It’s clear this won’t be enough to meet demand, causing
Nintendo to strongly urge retailers not to force consumers to buy bundles of
software and accessories in order to take advantage of the
shortage…Instead of selling the systems with bundles, a chain of
Illinois/Missouri gaming stores called Slackers is simply dumping its stock onto
eBay for the Buy It Now price of $399.99, an almost $150
markup.
Ars Technica contacted the St. Louis Slackers location for confirmation of the practice. When asked if the allegations were true, there was a long silence. “That is something you’ll have to speak with the owner about,” we were told. We have since attempted to contact Slackers’ owner multiple times, but have been unsuccessful. Nintendo has also not responded to our requests for comment on this story.
An update at Ars Technica notes that Slackers sometimes had 20 systems in stock - while telling their walk-in customers they had none.
Ars Technica contacted the St. Louis Slackers location for confirmation of the practice. When asked if the allegations were true, there was a long silence. “That is something you’ll have to speak with the owner about,” we were told. We have since attempted to contact Slackers’ owner multiple times, but have been unsuccessful. Nintendo has also not responded to our requests for comment on this story.
An update at Ars Technica notes that Slackers sometimes had 20 systems in stock - while telling their walk-in customers they had none.
Posted: Sat - December 22, 2007 at 06:56 AM