@EnigmaNemesis:

You and Kirby are 15% the reason I keep coming back.

Somehow, someway I have a follower though. I'm not witty or charming.

manjikengo

Wow thank you capitalism!

Ratfoot

In all he's sold 5 PS3s, each for between a $300-500 profit...

Wait... what? How is that even possible?

I mean, at launch, people were dumb enough to buy it I am sure. But now? They've been well in stock since Christmas LAST year.

PapaBear434

@Moonshadow101: A belated bingo :) I know it is Nintendo's mantra to have low console prices, but the market clearly will support and expects console prices in to the 300-400 dollar range

@manjikengo: I can see it as ripping them off when they are willing to pay for it. It isn't like he's holding back water from them or selling them fake insurance. The consumer is willingly buying this for the higher price

@Captain Impulse: It takes time to make a product. You buy aged cheese and aged whiskey right? Time is money my friend

Huginn

@AznSmith: I don't even try to find Wiis. I accidentally was waiting in the Wii line at a Toys R Us because I though it was the line for Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. Good thing my parent's bought it, as my aunt has been searching for one forever and was thinking about purchasing it at a higher price. Another time at the same store they had about four Wiis and we purchased two of them for other family members having trouble finding them.

DranzerKire

@Komrade_Kayce:

I just tell families to stay away from ebay. It's the only thing I can do.

manjikengo

@Kirbytheslayer: Insert Appropriate Name Here:

LOL that was hilarious. You've got my mod vote.

NeoAkira

@DELETED: I can be mad enough for both.

kyosen

@Komrade_Kayce:

You know, my local one where a friend of mine is a manager(which has cool people and since I moved I still drive 40 minutes to go there once a week) does this. And I respect him and his staff much more for it. Thus I sill shop there.

EnigmaNemesis

@TheHun: I never claimed that. But there would be a lot less people pissed off at having to pay more than full retail. Also, consider this: if 10,000 scalpers buy 4 Wii's each (which they have no intent on using themselves), that means there are potentially 40,000 Wii's out of legitimate buyers hands...that is, until they pony up exorbitant prices. So yes, in a way, scalpers are not helping the Wii shortage problem. They're not the cause, but they are a factor.

Captain Impulse

Dont be mad at the scalper, be mad at Nintendo for not making enough of the damned things.

DELETED

While he isn't breaking any laws and is technically in the clear, it's still pretty damn annoying when everyone wants one of these boxes but they're all up on e-bay for 150$ markups because you can't just take the day off to stand in line as it would result in you getting fired and standing in lines waiting for Wii shipments so you could resell them with 150$ markups.

Pigshit.

Krytha

@Kirbytheslayer: Insert Appropriate Name Here:

ROFL ... you make me laugh so much. Love hearing from the regulars, makes this place feel so at home!

On a serious note ... I wasnt making it up, I am very naive when it comes to jumping on opportunities like this. Probably due to the reason that I kind of dont agree with it, but I also dont see a huge issue if people are so bloodthirsty to spend way over MSRP. That is of course unless there is shady practices between stores and ones doing this!

Same thing happens to official stores though. Especially PC Parts. Look at graphics cards, every time nVidia releases a new high demand card (the new 8800 GT/GTX G92) card, sites from Newegg to Best Buy are charging $50-100 over MSRP. And people still buy it up!

If people cant control themselves, and allow superficial objects to control them, this still will always exist.

Lucky I can hold out enough to wait for the cards to come down to normal levels in price, and for the console I want to be there. (and wait out all night like I did for the 360 at Target ... el oh el)

EnigmaNemesis

@UmaroLovesMilk: You want to know why people "cry so much about this". Yeah, people buy from you...those willing to pay ludicrous prices. Meanwhile, people who want to pay the established retail price get hosed because people like you buy up their stock.

Captain Impulse

@Captain Impulse:
so if there were no scalpers then there would be no Wii shortages???? sure.....

TheHun

"What are ya buyin'?"

While I hate the mega scalping that occurs around release dates and the closer we get to a holiday, for a certain segment of the population, a mark up of $100 to $150 dollars is a reasonable price to pay to save yourself the hassle.

Let's say you're a pretty well to do kinda guy. Lawyer, doctor, executive, whatever. Sure you could spend a few hours calling stores, asking about availability. Then if you get a lead, camp out a few more hours early to try and snag one. Based on how much your time is worth to you, it may be easier and faster to work a bit longer and pay someone for finding it for you. If you're paid well enough, an extra hour or two in the office can make up the difference.

Of course, I'm a poor student who has to scrimp and save to buy games and systems, so my time is cheap enough to scout one out and purchase it.

knulpm

The only thing I see wrong with this is that I dont know my local Gamestop employee's as well as this guy does...for shame..on me.

ChillyBilly

* Edit,

*I meant to say retarded parents not kids.

UmaroLovesMilk

The more I think about it, the less I mind this guy's behavior. If you are willing to pay more than list price for a piece of consumer electronics, and get it now instead of waiting, here's a guy who's willing to do the legwork and enable that transaction.

Really, the only thing to quibble with is his pricing, which is probably more set by the market than by him. I'd pay 20% over market price not to have to wait in line at Best Buy for anything over the holidays. A markup of 100% on a rare (at the time) piece of equipment just doesn't strike me as immoral.

In his comments he makes the statement that he's never bribed, lied, or stalked a store to get a console.

The people he's really "preying on" are most likely parents who feel a need to get this toy for their kids. Those parents who have more time than money will stalk a store. Those who have more money than time can buy from Garrett.

To those who will demonize this guy, remember that he's not an arbitrageur making huge profits off a necessity such as food, water, or shelter. He's taking advantage of price disparities for a non-necessity.

The least efficient component of this story is Nintendo. They should price the Wii higher and take the gains themselves, instead of letting consumers do that.

SuperOmelet

As I've said before, we've identified the ebayers in my store and tell them every time 'sorry, no wiis'.

Yet, we actually keep them in the back and wait for mothers/fathers of families to come in looking for them, then make them happy when we have one. Sure, I guess its kind of rotten we're 'breaking the rules' and not doing first come first serve to let people scalp, but I gotta tell ya. That smile of pure happiness when we tell them we'll make sure we get them one, and we actually do, is priceless.

Sigh. If only some other EB/Gamestop managers didn't behave like this guy (a lot do), we wouldn't have the miserable reputation that we do. When the PS3 launched, we had a guy offer 1000 dollars to get the 60 gig that he wasn't in line for and didn't have his name down on. My buddy turned him down, as much as it hurt to see that extra pocket change walk away, it had to be done. I personally really don't care if you do it or not, but I dont have the moral pistachios to resell. As an employee who sees the Wii's come in when they do, I'd be a total ass if I just took them myself for ebay.

Komrade_Kayce

Another victory for capitalism. Early to bed early to rise, eh?

JosefStalinator

I don't see why people cry so much about this. I resell a lot of Wii's. I walk into a store I put my $1,000 down for four systems and I come back in a week and get more.

The consumer has a choice. I choose to buy a system for $250 and resale for $400 +S&H, People choose to buy it from me. All you have to blame is retarded kids. I remember when I wanted Final Fantasy III (U.S.) for Christmas. I got a raincheck because mum couldn't find me one. That is life.

This spreads to anything. If anyone remembers the short run of Star Wars Galaxies and the Jedi rush, my buddy and I camped the Holocron drop spot and would sell them on Ebay for $40-$50 a pop. We got 8-10 a day. Good profit considering he was running his gaming center and I was just pissing away time in the summer between the gym and drinking.

UmaroLovesMilk

@the_sideburns:

There is a 1 wii per customer regulation as far as I know. If the gamestop is not following this then someone needs to have a stern talking to.

manjikengo

I've been refreshing Ebay like crazy trying to find a fairly good deal on a Wii and I've certainly developed some hate for resellers. Especially those who have pictures of their Wii stacks (typically 5 at least). Personally I couldn't do it, though the money would be tempting. But trying to rip off parents at Christmas just seems icky, even if they're silly for being willing buyers.

kyosen

@Huginn: I'm sorry, I place no value on a scalper's "time invested". Scalper Sam needs to go get a job instead of trolling around retail outlets before they open so he can undercut legitimate buyers.

Captain Impulse

@Huginn:
True, it's very smart on his part. But some people have to draw a line. I don't know about you, but I can't rip off the elderly and middle age soccer moms.

manjikengo

There are three parties to consider here

1. The Gamestop guy. He's not supposed to tell people when Wii's are coming, and I bet this sort of situation is part of the reason for the "We don't know" policy. The clerk can't refuse a product to a paying customer, but the store or the company as a whole could try to institute some sort of "1 per customer" regulation

2. The Reseller. It's obvious no one likes this guy, but people have been scalping tickets and reselling other goods since the dawn of capitalism. It takes money to make money, and in the grand scheme of things, there are bigger and badder people in the world abusing supply-and-demand in much worse ways.

3. The people buying the consoles at such a ridiculous markup. If everyone stopped supporting the "new in box" resale market, the resellers would be have to actually work to make a living.

Unfortunately, Game Theory tells us that every party in this situation is going to act in his or her own best interest. There's no way every Wii-wanting person on the planet could unanimously agree to boycott the Resellers, so everyone does what they can to find one of those darn consoles, and the opportunists do what they do best.

the_sideburns

I love capitalism. I mean, this is how our society works, supply and demand. More demand there is, shorter the supply, the more you have to pay for it. You gotta work for it if you really want it that bad.

Hey if today you expected to date the world's hottest supermodel, you wouldn't ask her out the same way as any other girl would you? Of course not, the girl is high in demand, and the better she looks, the less supply this world has.

neko613

@Sollus: s'all good... my grammer.. I mean grammar has it's WTF moments too :>

Huginn

@AznSmith: zomg. It's so good. I can't believe I missed it and only saw "out of stock"

manjikengo

@Captain Impulse: Those legitimate buyer are paying the opportunity cost of not sitting around at 8 am for the shipments to come in for him to get first dips on the product. his mark up is the product plus his time and effort to get the product which the buyer is unwilling to do.

I'll give you it is shady, but if people are willing to buy his product at a higher price rather then wait in line at 8 am, he's a capitalist.

You can tell I'm a business major alright huh? my lack of morals? ;)

Huginn

@manjikengo: joke, a play on words

AznSmith

@TheIrishNinja:

Best Buy. Yeah, it was stupid and the manager was there watching it. That's when they started cracking open the recently arrived Wii shipment and breaking the street date :/

Last_Raven

@NoFunShogun: your neighbors are either retarded or lazy, just go to an online wiichecker, or get up at 6 on sunday, look through the ads, drive to your local wii retailer that has them in stock, if you're there before opening time, you're guaranteed a wii

AznSmith

@AznSmith: oh you mean gamestop? lol go ask your local gamestop manager why they don't have out of stock signs on the wiis.

manjikengo

I've told every single one of the potential wii owners that should they turn to the internet, do NOT pay more than 259.99 for the damned system.

i swear...these guys piss me off.

manjikengo

@Huginn:

Yes, I know this but I was really referring to if the consumer is willing to pay more for them then that is their choice. I probably didn't choose my words wisely. Which is a rarity with me.

Sollus

I find it impressive that he gets that much.

spainland

@EnigmaNemesis: You did something severely wrong if you only made that much profit. I made $300 overnight a month after launch.

ceilingFANBOY

that image was definitely worth waiting for, heh.

@Last_Raven: where at? if an entire family goes around that same rule on one single credit card, that store's policy is kinda retarded.

TheIrishNinja

they should have signs that say "Wii are out of stock"

AznSmith

@Huginn: No, he's still a bastard. The "market" might be willing to pay his prices, but there are legitimate buyers that are being shafted because there is a scalper buying up their supply.

Captain Impulse

I've seen entire families invoke the "one per person rule" and all pay on the same credit card, so there is always a way around the rule. If you're desperate enough or stupid enough, granted, to buy a console for over list price then why shouldn't someone make money on it?

It's your decision to pay for it and to be greedy in the sense that you "have to have it".

Last_Raven

He's an asshat, enough said. It's people like him that are driving people crazy for the Wiis. I feel bad for my neighbors with kids that still haven't been able to get one.

NoFunShogun

@Huginn: Exactly. ^^^

Don't get mad. In a true free-market world, this wouldn't happen at all because Gamestop (Or even Nintendo) would be the one tripling the price. They insist of keeping it far below the rational point, so shortages occur because too many people are willing to buy.

Moonshadow101

@EnigmaNemesis: Enigma: Are you just making all this up to attract followers?

Good idea!

I never scalp people. It's wrong! I'm a moral and upright Kotaku citizen!

Kirbytheslayer: Insert Appropriate Name Here

Since the summer I've bought 10 of them and sold them for an average of 150 bucks over cost.

Ah, I remember when I was in high school and $1,500 in six months seemed like a lot of money...

badasscat

@jaymac:

It is because marketing, holidays, trends and the sorts have people brainwashed, and now the very items that are supposed to serve them, they now serve.

EnigmaNemesis

Two months ago (or less) I saw like 4 Wii's in the case at Wal-Mart. I thought nothing of it since I was like, "oh they are more available now" ... I kick myself for not buying them and selling them.

Then again, always trying to be a positive person, even though sometimes it is hard, it didnt register to me.

I guess I am too honest subconsciously. /shrug

Though I did sell my PS3 with 2 games and extra controller on launch, it wasnt astounding ... only $80-$100 profit.

EnigmaNemesis

sadly, the market sets the value of an item...

it's inevitable that people will do this with an item of high demand.

gaint_superlogical_crabs

yeah cause it's so fucking secretive that wiis are first come first serve.

But if that fucking gamestop is selling that douchebag more than 1 at a time, they need to be talked to about proper policy.

manjikengo

No different then a scalper. Hardly a bastard, if that is what the economy is willing to pay, that is what the economy will pay.

If those of the free market determine the market price to be too low to fit with the supply (or in this case, lack their of supply) offered, the price sores. If this was a free market Sollus, each wii would cost as much as a PS3 80gb edition.

Huginn

Lol. This has been the funniest post in a while now.

Green-clad gamer dude A.K.A. the dark horse for the Kotaku King of Komments

i don't get what's wrong with this, you're just charging people for the effort you put into acquiring something.

tetracycloide

scalpers, what can ya do, Gamestop scalps used stuff if you really think about it.

SkutSkut

We recently had someone come in and buy all four bundles of Rock Band we had. Since he used his employee discount, he was actually violating company policy because he was using it for resale and to make a profit. Our AP looked him up on eBay and found that the guy has sold over 20 Wiis and a bunch of PS3s on top of other things. He also found out that the guy has been on LOA for a few months and was working with someone else to find out what locations had systems in stock.

ceilingFANBOY

This is just wrong, why are consumers giving into these outrageous online resell prices? Oh, hold up, someone just placed a $1100 bid on my Wii.

jaymac

Gotta love the free market. I would probably do the same thing if I had the devotion but I'm too lazy.

Sollus

guess part of me wants to blame the idiot parents that told me "I'll get it next time" when we had wiis in stock over summer.

manjikengo

@Green-clad gamer dude A.K.A. the dark horse for the Kotaku ...:

Love? If you have to buy something for your kid to love you then you have bigger issues I believe. I know every kid wants to wake up to get their Wii on Christmas morning, but their parents should have thought about getting one in August or September when they were, you know, available. At least they could have scalped it too if their kids didn't want it. ;)

Last_Raven

@badasscat: Internet bragging is cool, tell me more!

scottyboy218

@Captain Impulse:

Sorry I was replying to what you replied to. I was lazy and didn't look for the original post.

manjikengo

hahahaha, great picture. I think the merchant from RE4 is definitely my soft spot for anything. You could be talking about the apocalypse, but put a picture of a giggling little RE4 merchant up, and I'll suddenly feel content.

bangbangblah

@Huginn:

Yeah, I live here. I work at Gamestop(no money cept during holidays). I understand fully the concept. I myself am buying a new computer for myself as a Christmas present since I'm not getting anything else from anyone.

I don't NEED it right now. In 4 months or so when this current 5 year old computer decides to finally crap out on me I'll NEED it but not have the money.

manjikengo

@Captain Impulse: You're right, there's a larger demographic buying the Wii. On that note, I'm guessing that the people who are really fueling this mad rush for Wiis now, are really the people buying for loved ones.

I mean, like yourself and your wife, would you guys be paying $300 more just for the Wii now? My guess is that you wouldn't if you could just wait a few more weeks... but guess who are the ones screaming for a Wii this Christmas?

rrghy

This so reminds me of about 3 hours ago when I was in Gamestop with my sister buying the games for my niece. A manager from another store came to pick up an use WHITE PSP they had, they kept it away from all the consumers and reserve it for him.

This same manager explain to others how he got an used copy of COD 4 and hid it away till his shift was over so he could buy it. I can clearly see some 'movement' in places where friends and such hold up the system for expecific people. I don't actually mind that...till one reads this and the friends of this employes could be potential scalpers.

I admit, I sell things on ebay and have gain money on selling hard to find games. I clearly didn't stop others from buying it when it came out since I didn't buy the whole lot of say 10 games from a store. I tend to find this game mostly a year or so after there release or older games from the PS1 era, way after everyone that wanted it could have gotten it.

I have seen Wii's here during the month of october and I could have done the scalping thing. Instead I just inform parents and other people I knew that wanted a wii of stores that have them in stock. I also did my best to inform them since SUMMER to get a Wii for christmas gift...only like 30% listen to me and the others are now crying and wishing the had gotten a Wii then.

daknight

Reminds me of when I sold my WoW account. Got bored of the game and I thought "will anyone even buy this". It was afterall, a nonexistent character (just one well geared lvl 60 priest). Someone did though and I got my 360. The moral of it for me was that if someone wants it enough, no matter how worthless one might think it is, they will pay a decent amount of cash for it. This seems to be a similar case. When I was trying to get my Wii, I must say I despised people like him though.

NitrousO

@manjikengo: I'm not talking about Pizza Hut or Papa John's, friend. I'm addressing your analogy and pointing out how it does and doesn't apply to this argument. There isn't a shortage of 2-liters of soda out there. There isn't someone buying up all the 2-liters of Coke and then overcharging. There is still an alternative for people who want to buy a 2-liter.

With the Wii, there isn't an alternative. It's either pay up, or shut up and wait. My argument is that there would be a lot less pissed off people if the only problem was having to wait for Wii's to become available, instead of the only option being paying a marked-up price because some jackass bought out the already limited stock.

Captain Impulse

"he's sold 5 PS3s, each for between a $300-500 profit"

Who's been living under a rock and not realized you can buy a PS3 right now for MSRP at countless online and B&M retailers?

Maybe those sales were at launch.

WaltJay

@AznSmith:

We actually petitioned Head Office to allow us to put a sign up that said:

"NO MORE WII'S, NO GUITAR HERO BUNDLES - FUCK OFF"

w/o the fuck off part, but we were denied. They believe it would alienate customers and drive them away from the store. Which is fancy talk for if people think we have wii's they'll walk in and buy something else when we don't.

I work in Satan's candy factory. You know you shouldn't buy from there, you know you shouldn't hang around there, but you do, and feel the intense sense of shame about it.

Komrade_Kayce

I see absolutely nothing wrong for what this guy does, it's capitalism supply and demand, he gets the supply you supply the demand

swordfish2eva1

> In all he's sold 5 PS3s, each for between a $300-500 profit, and 10 Wiis, each for at least a $150 profit. ... It'll make your skin crawl, but if you like reading books on serial killers or puppy kickers it should be roughly the same kind of deal.

Your anti-capitalist outrage would be more convincing if Kotaku stopped selling ads.

artki

@rrghy: That's a very narrow view of who's buying Wii's. My wife and I bought one because WE wanted one; we don't even have kids. I was lucky enough to walk into a store and buy the last one. But that's not the point. The point is scalpers contribute to the problem; preventing other people like me from doing the same - walking in and paying the reasonable price (MSRP).

Captain Impulse

@Captain Impulse: it won't help the people who are willing to pay more get it any faster though. you could think about it as paying someone in line to get it for you, theres no harm in that now is there :)

TheHun

@manjikengo: Welcome to America, where people buy things they don't need, with money they don't have. I blame the culture.

@Captain Impulse: Scalping is a bit different since their is a limited amount of product that is pretty much unchanging (number of seats) but I get your point.

A proper counter argument for that is that the concert promoters are simply selling their tickets are far too low of a price if people are willing to spend that much money for tickets.

It isn't the scalpers fault that demand is high and supply is low due to the economic conditions. Since quantity is unchanging here (number of seats) That means price is the determining factor for the consumer on a supply demand rational thinking. Since tickets sold out, that means the avalible number of tickets remaining are in short supply, and have a higher cost to them.

And lookie me I'm giving you an economics lesson here XD

Huginn

@Captain Impulse:
I just want to declare right now, If you goto a fucking pizzahut or papa johns and buy that over priced drink for "convinence", when you could easily walk your ass down the strip or across the street .....

UGH it gets me so pissed off. STOP BEING LAZY FUCKS.

manjikengo

Guys, come on, it's all the market's fault. True, people like that guy are contributing to it, but heck, if people were simply a bit more patient and rational, these things wouldn't happen!

On the Consumerist blog, I came across this comment by this astute observer. He said that it's reflective of the way American parents raise their kids - parents who are too willing to pamper their kids often add fuel to crazes like this.

So heck. Just calm down. If people are willing to shell out so much for it, good for them. Otherwise, just wait around for the Wii to become more available.

rrghy

I just remembered that a few weeks after I finally got my Wii (Feb 07) along with a 2nd controller, I came upon a store stocked with WiiMotes. I bought 2 more, so I'd have a total of 4. I knew I would EVENTUALLY want 4, but I kept the 2 new ones sealed and listed them on craigslist for a very small profit. If nobody bought them, I'd open 'em up and use 'em when I had a use for 'em. However, someone did buy them, so I made a few bucks, and eventually bought 2 more a few weeks later.

My points is, not all re-sellers are necessarily evil. Anyone who sits in line overnight at a product launch deserves to resell at 200%. But the fact that this has been going on for over a year is just absurd. I feel worst for the honest parents trying to surprise their children with a special gift (xbox360 kid comes to mind).

Not all kids are that appreciative. Some just tell mom/pop what they want, and downright EXPECT it. And the parents that raise those types of kids are usually the parents who can and will pay $450 for a Wii.

the_sideburns

I really never understood the trouble with people not being able to get hold of Wiis.

I got mine no later than the 10th of September I imagine, and I just called up, asked if they had any, they had 2, so I went in and got one. Easy as.

Booked it, packed it, fucked off, had a banana.

Maybe I got lucky?

Onouris

Serial Killers?!! That's a bit harsh :) Maybe a feltcher or something like that is more appropriate. Sure it makes you sick but their are people who do it and people who love the fact that it's being done.... it's still sick but no one's getting hurt.

Yes... yes... I wanted to work that into an analogy for the longest time since I found out what it means.

okenny :)

@VipingViper: When buy for a 2-liter of soda you know you could buy at, say, a Wal-Mart for 99 cents (even less, some places) from a Pizza Hut for $2, do you think "Damn, these people are robbing me blind!" or do you think "It's a bit expensive, but the convenience is worth it."

You're right, but it's an artificially-created "convenience", brought about because Average Joe couldn't just walk into Gamestop or order one off Amazon and have it delivered to his door. You can thank the scalpers for that.

Captain Impulse

@syp:

3 fucking times this year I've told people they needed to buy the wiis that moment. 3 fucking times this year I've seen 3+ wiis sitting in the back for more than 2 days.

manjikengo

Around the holidays quite a few people I work with ask me for advice about electronics and games as this is an interest of mine. So I get quite a few "how do I find a Wii?" questions. I give the usual run down about calling around, going in the morning, avoiding the big stores, etc.

More often than not, they just buy one from eBay. It's worth the extra money to get a guaranteed unit without having to hunt around.

aka Bitter

@TheHun: Yes, they do sell, but it's still a bottleneck. Less people are willing to pay those kinds of prices. Average Joe walks out of the game store without a Wii, hoping they'll be in stock next time. Repeat X number of times. Now repeat for X number of other buyers. It slows the flow of sales. It's like a traffic jam; it only takes a couple cars at the front going slow to back everything up. Like I said, it's not entirely the scalpers fault, but they are not helping.

Captain Impulse

I have the opportunity to rip off some folks. My area has so much competition in the electronics department, Wii's are fairly easy to get. For me, however, it is dirty pool.

By me taking that Wii and selling it on eBay, I am denying some poor kid the system that his parents were trying to get for him.

I could start up a program where folks just buy them at cost from me, so I can share the good fortune. But while I care enough about my fellow gaming brethren not to rip them off, I don't care enough to inconvenience myself this way.

You're on your own, sucka's.

PapaBear434

If you wanted a Wii, you should have bought it before September.

syp

Luke, you're looking at this situation all wrong. This man should not be compared to serial killers and puppy kickers, just like the man with his cart set up at the Incredible Hulk line selling 20 oz sodas for $3 each shouldn't be considered evil.

When buy for a 2-liter of soda you know you could buy at, say, a Wal-Mart for 99 cents (even less, some places) from a Pizza Hut for $2, do you think "Damn, these people are robbing me blind!" or do you think "It's a bit expensive, but the convenience is worth it."

The people on ebay paying $150, $300 more for a console than they would pay at an ebay know exactly what they're doing: avoiding the headache associated with tracking down consoles at stores. You know full well what a nightmare it is to find a console on launch day, much less a Nintendo Wii (even now).

They pay $300 extra, but then they don't have to fight to find a store that has it in stock, they don't have to wait in line, and they don't have to risk getting it stolen during the walk back to the car. They get the impossible-to-find systems delivered to their front doors, man.

It's not an issue of dumb people paying too much and assholes making money off of the situation, it's a simple relationship where person X simply does not want to bother finding a system, and just wants to buy it. To get it easily, seller Y is there, waiting to sell it to you, no muss, no fuss.

But you gotta pay.

VipingViper

@kman2686:

what happens *tear* if you dnt have friends or family and work 40+ hours a week. are you going to tell me that everybody has time? dont call people dumb because of it. i bet you scaplers are waiting overnight and its like a little black market in the states with the way peope get the wii's

shindokie

"What are ya buyin'? What are ya sellin'?"

Thats a pretty large profit for simply reselling something.

Seven Is Darker

@Huginn:

Yeah that's the problem. These stupid parents and grandparents just want to keep their child happy without even knowing the system isn't all THAT fucking great. It'll more than likely end up being just like mine was every 2 months or so.

Ripping them off and them being willing participants is what pisses me off so much. It's not like they're buying the last ticket to see Elvis when he mysteriously came back to life for 3 minutes and giving them all pb'n'j sammichs.

manjikengo

"Hallo Stranjah, Chicago Wii Typewriter for you? Only $1,000,000 dollars"

cactaur

@Huginn: Yes it takes time to make a product. Scalpers don't make anything except trouble and inconvenience for others. Time is money, but they're not offering a service that any retail outlet does not also offer. All they're doing is circumventing the system to make a buck. They don't care that they're hurting some people because there are plenty of buyers willing to pay their prices.

Ever tried to go to a concert but discovered that all the tickets are sold out? Then you find out that some jackass is selling 100 tickets for the "reasonable" price of twice the box office price? The only reason console scalpers aren't viewed with as much disdain as ticket scalpers is because unlike seats at a concert/game/etc, more consoles will be available (eventually). Miss an event once, and you're pretty much hosed entirely.

Captain Impulse

i couldve have made some nice cash selling me wii, but like enigma our honest subconsciousness wouldnt allow me to rip someone off *sigh*

shindokie

@Captain Impulse: hardly a factor considering they sell it, therefore there are the same amount of Wiis in the hands of those who want it MORE (more as in people willing to pay more. :P)

TheHun

@Green-clad gamer dude A.K.A. the dark horse for the Kotaku ...: You can't put a price on love can also mean you don't need to spend all your @$^#^#$ money on a gift... I thought it was the thought that counts.. Just give the person a gift card or something, they can go get it on their own, or tell them to wait..

katorok

If you are dumb enough to pay more than the sticker price you deserve what you get. I understand that Wiis can be difficult to acquire but anyone who puts in some extra effort should have been able to find one by now. This may require some help by family and firends but they are still possible to acquire.

Most probably ended up in the hands of spoiled brats who had to have this or Mommy and Daddy witness the kid go nuclear on and ruin their Christmas/Hanukah/Birthday/Bar Mitzvah.

There's a sucker born every minute.

kman2686

@knulpm: "Ah! ill buy it at a high price."

TheIrishNinja

@Last_Raven: and to be greedy in the sense that you "have to have it".

Most of the time, when people buy anything for over the retail price it's because a loved one wants it. Be it their boyfriend/girlfriend, kids, other family members, or just a friend. You can't put a price on love, and that's what these scalper/bastards take advantage of.

Green-clad gamer dude A.K.A. the dark horse for the Kotaku King of Komments

O.o $1500 in two-three months(summer), if this is the only money he makes then he's close to the poverty line..

katorok

My girlfriend and I have talked about it, buying Wiis and then selling them the last week before Christmas to desperate parents for $500.

Idiots like that deserve to be taken advantage of and neither of us are interested in the thing, she goes to the 360 and I go for the PS3.

SSJPabs

The only ppl worse than these type's are Toy scalpers.
At least with Consoles theres regular supply coming to the market place.
With Toys (Marvel legends in my case) a given market only gets one shipment per location.
Thank god Hasbro ruined Toy Biz's Marvel legends, or I would be broke.

crunk

@Komrade_Kayce:

Exactly!

/agree

EnigmaNemesis

@Captain Impulse:

If I were to do this, would you have a problem with it? Most likely. I work at EB. You'd all be 'there goes that EB again, being assholes'. I could buy them the moment they hit the store and resell. I make minimum wage and no commission, the reward outweighs any risks.

But you guys would have a problem with it, like I said. Why? Because I would have an unfair advantage over everyone else. Just like buddy here does, with his. It completely changes the ethics of the situation when this guy is doing absolutely none of the footwork anyone else has to (because he doesn't have to wait, he gets them first) and resells them.

Komrade_Kayce

I don't think flipping a hot item for a profit is immoral at all. It's a Garrett said, most of his customers are just dimwitted sheep led by greed and hype. The lesson here is stop being materialistic pigs if you want to curb this sort of thing. Otherwise just deal with it.

Zero_Tact

@manjikengo:

SHHHHH!
But I don't have any friends.

Channing

@Komrade_Kayce:

haha yea, im a little sick myself hearing people ask for the same god damn thing every time i work. "Stupid question: any wiis?, how about GH for Wii?

rockett1

Oh, and by the way, the same system exists in the stock market and it's called a "pump and dump scheme". And it is 100% illegal, as it should be everywhere else.

badasscat

@Captain Impulse:

Horse shit you say, sir? When I was waiting in line that was about my chance. I acutally grabbed the last Wii and could only offer my sincerest condolences to the person behind me.
The point is, that people are given a chance to get them. However, they don't want to spend a couple extra hours to do so.

I'm saying if you're not going to make the effort to beat these scalpers, you shouldn't complain if you have to buy it from them (if you need them right now for some strange reason).

Thanks for saying what I say is complete horse-shit, though. I appreciate your sincerety. Are you going to start calling me a gay pedophile to try and make what I say seem even less valid?

If you don't want to wait in life for a Wii, then you'll just have to wait till after the season. You're paying for having it now. How is that a problem? If you're so mad, why don't you give your Wii away?

Channing

@Huginn: The problem with your argument is that a ticket scalper doesn't have to sell all of his tickets to make money. So no, it's not that ticket prices are set too low initially; it's that a ticket scalper's priority is different from the venue or the band's or the ticket buyer's priority, which is for the maximum number of tickets to be available and for the maximum number of tickets to be sold.

But when the *only* tickets available are through scalpers, they can set whatever price they want, at which point they only need to sell maybe 20-30% of all the tickets they bought. Say they bought ten tickets at $20 each. Now that there are no tickets left, they can offer those same tickets for $200 each. They sell one ticket and they've broken even; they sell two and they've made a 100% profit. Meanwhile, there are now eight empty seats - eight people that wanted to go to that concert couldn't because of these jackasses who are holding tickets for nothing.

Multiply that by a thousand and you've basically got the current situation with major events in this country.

I remember the days when scalping was just plain illegal. It should still be, whether it's game consoles or concert tickets. It's not about supply and demand; the economics don't work that way. It's about manipulating the system by hoarding and creating artificial shortages, then releasing limited quantities at vastly inflated prices to make a profit.

Your argument assumes that scalpers are basically honest - they just buy stuff and sell it at market prices. But scalpers are not basically honest; they are dishonest. Part of their job is to drive prices up as high as possible by first removing all product from the market. They then sell a small amount back to the market at those inflated prices.

badasscat

@murderface: I meant drug dealers

murderface

@Channing: the cake isn't a fucking lie. its so god damned popular to say this, but it's NOT a lie. Spoilerz!

Cake is real. You just have no friends so GlaDOS wants to murder you.

manjikengo

It's simple supply and Demand but people with cash are not as patient as people who want to buy it @ normal retail price. But i waited for a wii and a PS3 and i will have to wait to get a good working 360 but for those few who can't wait they can pay the extra fees. There was a thing on the Original Clerks film where Jay and Dante are talking about how retail workers and drug deals are very similar because they know people will spend money on items cause they depend on them. hahahahahahhaha good times.

murderface

@Komrade_Kayce: I don't see how adding an insider changes the ethics of the situation. It just makes it that much easier for the scalpers, that's all.

Captain Impulse

@thelken:

The gamestop manager is a total douchebag though. He obviously knows his friend is ebaying all these consoles, he probably gets a little something out of it.

Komrade_Kayce

@Channing: If you don't want to sit in front of a store from the night before (with only a 20% chance to get one) then you obviously don't deserve one.

That's complete horse-shit. Plenty of people can/have walked into stores and found a Wii in-stock. It's unfortunately not as common as it should be right now, though. That's because a good chunk of those Wii's got bought up by scalpers for THIS year's Black Friday as well. Wash, rinse, repeat from last year.

Captain Impulse

I'm glad to see that others agree with me that this guy isn't doing anything wrong, he's just an opportunist. Not very comparable to kicking puppies, I'm afraid.

thelken

@shindokie: Do you live in a cave? No Friends. No Family. No girlfriend/boyfriend. No roommate. No Nothing. Maybe you should reconsider your life. wait that's my life. Seriously though if you got no one and this is the only happiness in your life then I appologize for my remarks go ahead you deserve it... at 50% above the retail price.

kman2686

If the problem is you can't get one, ask yourself why. If you don't want to sit in front of a store from the night before (with only a 20% chance to get one) then you obviously don't deserve one.
I got my Wii on Black Friday of last year. I had to sit/stand in line from an ungodly hour to get one. If you're not willing to do it, how can you say that anyone who does shouldn't be able to sell it?

"Oh, I don't have that kind of time."
Good, because you obviously won't have that kind of time to be playing video games either.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. To begin with THE CAKE IS A LIE!

Channing

@rrghy: Heh to be honest, if I had to do it all over again, I would have passed on the Wii. I could stand to wait longer. Right now it's just collecting dust. SMG will change that for a bit when I get it, but that's about it for me on the Wii horizon...for now.

Captain Impulse

I sold a spare Wii on craigslist in less than two hours last weekend. I had found one in stock and bought it about 6 moths ago to give my nephew for christmas but then my sister found one too...so I didnt have much choice. It had wii play, Mario Party 8 and wario ware along with a classic controller and an extra nunchuck. I listed it for $400 and had 17 reponses in less than 30 minutes. I had so many I had to cut and paste a response that I had lots of offers and it would make a decision asap, which just caused responses of people offering more money.

Two hours later the first person who emailed me showed up and was trying to give me more money, I told them it wasnt necessary. The guys wife was actually crying and said I had made their christmas...it felt totally weird...I know there are alot of scalpers out there but good grief people its just a game system. In the grand scheme of things its really not all that important.

blueraja

@myd12:

"The wii is a fad. It has some decent games yea but no one wants it for a main console grown ups want it because it's cool."

fad
-noun
a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct.

I'm pretty sure the Wii will be around for just as long as the PS3 or the 360 so it is no more or less a fad than either of those. Just because a large group of people want something doesn't necessarily make it a fad. Is the iphone a fad? how about dell computers, are they a fad?

I personally only own the Wii and I like it as my main console. if you don't like it that's fine, but don't be such a troll and cry because it's doing so well.

NeoAkira

What have parents been doing sitting on their asses all year, telling their kids "I'll get it next week, honey."

Hion

I think parents should really do they're homework on this thing. Most people buy it just because it's the thing to own not because they like or wanna play games and those people have plenty of money left over for other ipods and crap. It isn't depriving one legged timmy of his wii. One legged timmy probably plays 360 or ps3. I haven't met a serious gamer with a wii as his only console. The wii is a fad. It has some decent games yea but no one wants it for a main console grown ups want it because it's cool.

myd12

Oh please. This isn't anything worthy of condemnation.

He's being an intelligent business man. It's not "ripping someone off" unless the item is a necessity. If your customers are willing to pay $150 over price to get it, then it's worth that to them.

It's called the free market, and you socialists can go see how much your kind is loved in eastern europe.

Tsaketh

So instead of a parent that's picking up the perfect christmas present half an hour after Gamestop gets them in stock, so many Wii's end up going to bastards who are just going to jack up the price out of greed. Another beautiful example of jackassery at work.

Yeah, it's a 'smart' way of making money. Only, a ten year old could come up with this stuff. Yeah, I hear burning down buildings for the insurance money is a pretty good way of turning a profit, too.

P-Flute

@Komrade_Kayce: I dislike anyone who does it, whether they work in games or not. So it's really irrelevant.

@Channing: And yes, I say it's horse shit that people don't deserve Wii's because they don't stand in line all night for them. It's horse shit that scalpers buy up all the Wii's so that this scenario occurs. It's horse shit that someone who has a life, works full time and doesn't have time to stand in line all night for a Wii can't get one without paying exorbitant prices from a scalper.

I would part with my Wii if my wife didn't want to keep it. But why should I give it away? I would sell it, yes, but at less than retail, since it's a used system. And to the first person who met my asking price, since I wouldn't dangle a carrot in front of a possibly desperate buyer during the holiday season.

Captain Impulse

I'd be more angry, but the fact that I don't have enough money to purchase lunch, let alone games kind of simmers my anger a bit. I even considered buying and selling wiis, but that seems like too much work.

Ghede

@Captain Impulse: I see where you're coming from, but the resellers get their Wiis from the same places as everyone else. Also, nobody can "buy up all the Wiis." There's more than one place to buy the thing.

VipingViper

@kman2686:

i was kidding haha. But yeah the wii wouldn't make happy especially 50% over the value of the original price.

shindokie

@Nside: yea I always check Walmart.com first before checking ebay, you'd be surprised what backlogged crap they have.

SkutSkut

I Used to sell new N64 games online for a nice little profit.

It all started with my Girlfriend's obsession with that game "Bust-a-Move" I knew they had made an N64 version of it (Bust-a-Move '99), But I couldn't find it in stores anywhere... I'd been buying stuff from eBay for about a year by then (it was late 2000) and I knew I could find just about anything on there...

What i found was that the 2 year old game was going for $50 to $80 at auction. I wasn't going to pay that, so I kept looking. I didn't have to look far, WalMart.com had the game for $19.96 ... I bought her the game, it arrived at my house 3 days later. As I opened it, I thought about those auctions. I went back to WalMart.com and bought 2 more copies.

I put up a 3 day auction and a 7 day auction. Both auctions brough in around $60. I bought 4 more copies from wal-mart and put them up for auction (staggered). I Searched eBayfor other games that went for high prices. "Harvest Moon 64" was a big seller, some auctions closing at $100+... Sure enough, WalMart.com had the game for $40... There were a few other games that made me $20 or so in profit.

For about 6 months, I was buying around 40 games a month from walmart.com and then putting them up for auction immediately... I was making over $1000 a month for about 4 hours work (I lived 3 blocks from the post office)... Not a bad little monthly bonus. Taking advantage of people who were too lazy to shop around didn't make me feel guilty one bit.

Now, that situation is a little different than buying up a console that has limited quantity, essentially stealing the purchase from a legit gamer just to make a profit (scalping)... But I can see where the temptation to do it comes from... It's easy money.

Nside

Yes this is capitalism at work, but it's the dirty side of capitalism. There's a high demand for the games in large part due to scalpers buying them up.
A quick look on ebay shows there's over ELEVEN THOUSAND Wii consoles up for sale. 11000! That's ridiculous. Scalpers try to rationalize it... but the simple fact is they're scum, they ARE hurting the gaming industry, and what they do is not ethical.

Last year, two weeks before launch, my friend and I sat in line all night at Toys R Us to get one of 10 pre-orders for a Wii. We where 8th and 9th in line for the Wii, and there where 3 people at the head of the line there to buy PS3s to scalp. One of the three was planning one buying a Wii to keep as well. Around 2am we realized it was "Fall Back Day" and so we stayed out for another hour. By this time a couple more people had shown up after us, also for Wiis. Around 4:30am people started showing up for the Elmo's. Shortly before opening, a guy came out and gave out tickets for the 3 PS3 and 10 Wii pre-orders. Sadly two of the PS3 scalpers decided sometime during the night that they where going to pick up Wiis and resell them as well. The two poor saps behind us in line waited 8 hours in the cold only to have their time wasted by a couple of greedy assholes at the front of the line who realized they could make a bit more profit. They even took the Elmo tickets, and then after they'd got their consoles pre-orders for resale, came back outside and scalped the Elmo tickets to people who where hanging outside because they didn't get tickets.

aslum

There IS no problem. We're talking about Wiis and Playstations here, not food and water.

VipingViper

Who are the bigger problem? The profiteers selling them or the consumers buying them? You won't have one without the other.

subnet6

@Captain Impulse: Really, I think you have it all wrong. They didn't get bought out by resellers, they got bought out by the mass amounts of everyone that wants a Wii.

You're forgetting that Nintendo's marketing the thing to EVERYBODY.

EVERYONE. Not just gamers, not just Mario/Nintendo fans, not just kids, but EVERYBODY.

It's not sold out because people scalp it; it's sold out because it's hot. If you were to buy a retail DS Lite then sell it on ebay, you wouldn't make much of a profit, if anything at all, yet it's almost as hard to find as a Wii.

VipingViper

@VipingViper: Understood. I'm not saying they're the root cause of the shortage, but they're certainly not helping. Someone earlier posted that there were 11,000 Wii's on eBay today. You can bet a significant chunk of those are scalpers. That's 11,000 Wii's that could be in the hands of honest consumers.

Captain Impulse

As lame as scalping is, it's just like buying online money in MMO's.
People bitch and moan but at the end of the day, people are still paying money for it.

When people stop buying systems on eBay for absurd amounts of cash, scalping will stop.

~

Hiroken

A PS3 has the resale value of a half-smoked cigarette in my eyes. Final Fantasy and Metal Gear will have to clean the house and bring me beers while I play for me to shell out the simoleons for one.
I wonder here why these people are such scum in the eyes of most. My natural assumption is jealousy that they didn't do it first and be the one raking in the cash. I would by no means be above doing this but I think I'd like to go one better. With enough supply I could afford to sell my stock-piled Wiis at a lower markup than the others who are "scalping" them. So not only am I annoying the buyers, but I'm also annoying the scalpers, who must either decide to compete with me or sell very little. It would be entirely feasible to make a good profit at the same time, while driving competitors out of business. I mean, why not cause the scalpers to have to deal with their screaming, scurling kids who didn't get the ultra blinged out gear they're used to from Daddy's Ebay job?
My name is Matt...and misery on less than a national scale is laziness. :)

Mattz_m

Let's not forget all the would-be PS3 scalpers who held their systems too long and could not sell them!

HMTKSteve

First of all there is no way you can get $300-500 profit on a Ps3. Those things haven't been out of stock since launch, and even then were fairly easy to find. However, anyone willing to pay that kind of premium on a Ps3, really deserves to own a Ps3. It's quite obvious they still think Playstation is the dominant brand, and it's that ignorance that pushes them to pay more for an already overpriced system.

charman

Here's the problem with the "the market supports is" and "people are paying it" logic, as I see it: The reason people pay that is because people like this douchebag go and buy up all the systems to begin with.

I'm not sure what bothers me more, the guy basically bragging about it or all the people supporting him.

ビッグ ボス

There's nothing wrong with Capitalism
There's nothing wrong with free enterprise
Don't try to make me feel guilty
I'm so tired of hearing you cry

- Oingo Boingo

CaptLtrl

I don't have a problem with resellers.

Hell, I waited in line for 3 days for a PS3 at Wal-Mart at launch time, while I had another preordered at EBgames. Had my fiancee sell her spot in line for $300, and she wasn't even buying one! I was going to sell both PS3s on eBay for over $2k a pop, but the market was quickly plummeting. Sold one for $1400 and waited 2 weeks on the other. Since the prices evened out, I kept it. Didn't make any real profit myself, but I scored a free system!

*gets evil stares* ...What? *shrugs*

Tyber_Zann

@manjikengo: I'm entirely with you there. I hear more stories of people that didn't even come in looking for the wii, that found it and picked it up, and then all the people that waited are kicking themselves. Early bird's making the extra cash here.

HimeKakyuu

For the argument that time is money, and that scalpers are providing a legitimate service, I have some trouble swallowing that. Over the past couple weeks, I've spent around 2-3 hours a day trying to track down a Wii, and haven't met with success. And I see dozens of others doing the same, waiting with me in parking lots and sidewalks. I'm willing to spend the time, I'm willing to deal with insulting store clerks, and the snow and black ice, and the drives and traffic. People are willing to do it, they don't want to pay or can't pay prices they know have a 200% mark-up.

But the Wiis aren't there. I just don't seem to get that lucky. And while I acknowledge that the re-sellers may be in the same boat as me when it comes to time wasted, and that even without resellers the console would be in short supply, it doesn't make it any easier to stomach seeing the things abound on ebay for 500+.

Imperialis

How quickly we forget. Remember the "collectables" craze? Remember people selling a Boba Fett action figure with a half-circle on his hand for $50 more than one with a full circle? Better yet, remember when the economy could support antique stores? That was all resale. The only difference is that a Louis XVI armoire isn't obsolete after five (much less fifty) years, and will command an increasingly higher price as time goes on.

Probably the best part of capitalism is that if you disagree with the price set by the seller, you are under no obligation to buy it.

Life_Sandwich

I was interested in the Honda Fit for my new car, but all the dealers mark up the MSRP by $1000-2000 because they're in demand. I believe the Mini dealers are still doing it. If there's an asshole willing to pay more than it's worth, there's an asshole who will sell it to you for that. BTW, I am neither of those two. :)

robotrousers

Don't blame this guy, blame the idiots who are buying his stuff.

curtisawa

@P-Flute: C'mon at least use an analogy that has a hope in hell of passing muster, this is just mindless ranting.

Reselling is not illegal, you're not destroying property, and you're not committing fraud.

Parents very well know the price of a retail Wii, but if they don't want to tell their kids "no" for the first time in their lives they'll fork over the cash. You have an obligation to sell them a Wii at store-quality, that is still shrink-wrapped but you're not doing anything dishonest.

SSJPabs

Anyone who lives in the US and bashes this guy is a hypocrite. We all live in a free market society. If you find this kind of business practice offensive I suggest you move someplace that isn't a capitalist society.

krunkjuice

I hate this guy, i cant ever find a wii, as in, i have never seen one in the store to buy. I really hate this guy.

mooseyfate