Reselling the Wii - Would you do it?

[trainwrecka]

Walked into Wal-Mart this morning and the lady stocked 2 Wiis on the shelf. I bought 'em both with eBay hopes. I now only have one on the bay, and the other is going to a friend at work (a 51 year old lady, and she wants it for herself!!).

My question is this - if you saw a Wii on the shelf would you nab it since they are going for $450+ on the bay?

[Joeofmars]

And I could afford it? Yes.

[cortjezter]

absolutely not. i think snatching up hot items that would normally be bought as gifts with only the intentions of bilking cash from the people already in a bind to find the things is just despicable.

buy what you need, and leave the rest for the people who are actually buying them as gifts or for themselves. save the profiteering for actual collectibles.. like stamps and fabergé eggs.

[Neader]

I agree with Cortjezter that is absolutely horrible what you are doing. She's 51 and your making her pay over $200. You are SOOO taking advantage of her. Some poor 7 year old isn't going to get now. Or maybe some parent who can barely aford food will have to buy something completely more expensive then it is because of you. That is DISGUSTING

[trainwrecka]

Whoa whoa whoa --- The 51 year old is paying retail price.

As for the other Wii. If someone can't put food on their plate, they don't need a Wii. I tend to agree that if you don't plan on using it yourself, don't buy it. Of course this has been going on for years with tickets to music and sporting events.

Most people don't want to sacrifice the time to seek out something like a Wii, so they turn to eBay and pay a premium price. I've been looking for a Wii for my friend for well over 2 months.

They are easy to find if you dedicate some serious time, but for the most part --- good luck.

Basically, the mother who can't put food on her plate isn't buying a dang Wii off eBay for $500. People with money burning a hole in their pocket do.

I've paid a premium on tons of stuff from eBay, but when I want something now it doesn't bother me.

Sure every thing is cheaper at Wal-Mart, but Targets across the street. I didn't want to buy two copies of Guitar Hero III to have two guitars, but that was the only way to get a 2nd guitar before 2008.

[cortjezter]

the problem is that many states have laws against scalping tickets to events. hot holiday gifts are different. it's already bad enough that a religious holiday has been so grotesquely commercialised, that everyday people looking to make a quick buck and scalping gifts only make it worse.

sure, plenty of americans are lazy bloats, and some are willing to pay extra. but if people weren't so damn greedy to be taking product stock off the shelves to try and profit, fewer people would have to go to such extreme measures. and of course, anyone who can't make ends meet to begin with shouldn't be buying game consoles anyway. i think that point is weak, and only obscures the real issue of decency.

any other time of year, i would have less of a problem with reselling a wii, but to take advantage of people--mostly honest giftseekers or gamers--especially during a season of giving and goodwill is again, despicable.

if someone wants to buy a wii and resell it, wait to hoarde your auction warez until after the holiday rush, so little jimmy and grandma gertrude can enjoy their holiday season and gaming, and not have to deal with the sleazy underbelly of society looking for a few extra bucks because they're too lazy to make money honestly.

the only acceptable reselling of a wii is at the price you paid on your receipt. and it would be even better if it were bought with the intention of reselling it to someone who hasn't been able to find one themselves. in which case, you're a hero.

edit: i am moving this thread to the Debate section, it seems a good candidate for such.

[msa]

well, maybe i would if i needed some extra money.
but here in germany, i cant do it anyway, because most shops have wii's in stock here.
no chance it would sell for more than 250 euros (which is the retail-price here. equals 368.71 USD)

[Neader]

Basically, the mother who can't put food on her plate isn't buying a dang Wii off eBay for $500. People with money burning a hole in their pocket do.

I'm not saying they buy it for the hell of it. People have already been christmas shopping and now some kids wont get a wii because the moom cant afford it or has to pay extra because she'd feel incredibly guilty if she didn't

[trainwrecka]

@ cj

i actually agree with you... but that is the world we live in. people like to pay high dollar for things that shouldn't be valued at such crazy prices. how do you think the people paying $3000 for PS3s last year feel?

Having a Wii for over a year now, I would pay $500+ for the dang thing just because of how fun it is - but only if that was the retail price. I'm smart enough to know how to get one... shocker... be there when they come in. Find out when the shipment is rolling in and be there.

The Wiis are available for people - they just need to put the effort out.

You wait until Christmas to buy gifts and this is what happens... well until the scalping laws extend to eBay. I worked at Target over the Holiday period a few years back, and most of the shoppers were just dumb when it came to tracking down the then hard to find PS2. They didn't put forth a true effort, and would expect it to be there on a Friday night, or Sunday. Gimmie a break - they would never be there then. Even on Christmas Eve people would come into buy them.

You could blame this on "parents" but come on - my Dad knew to get in line early way back in 87 when he got the NES. He knew to do that with all our gifts at Christmas.

----

Now a question to you --- If you were tired of your Wii (blasphemy - I know) and put it on eBay today, would you only accept $249 and no more? Or would you let people bid for it?

[cortjezter]

i actually agree with you... but that is the world we live in. people like to pay high dollar for things that shouldn't be valued at such crazy prices. how do you think the people paying $3000 for PS3s last year feel?

funny... i always thought the world is what we make of it.

i don't think people really ENJOY spending craploads of money on anything. some things are more expensive than others, but that's just how it goes. but when something is msrp is 250, and the only way to buy it is to shell out 400, that truly is for the a) stupid and b) jerks with too much cash in their pocket.

i guess what i'm getting at is that for every system someone takes off the shelf intending to put on ebay or craigslist is one less that people who ARE waiting in line and driving around town trying to find will have access to. it's sort of unfair to generalise and assume people who dont' have a wii have just not been trying hard enough. in a whole year, i've only seen 4 on a shelf ever, and they were gone within moments. if it weren't for the greedy opportunists who happen to be earlier in line, more people would be satisfied with finding their own systems, and the trashfolk who want to prey on them would have to find something better to do. like play games, instead of screwing other people out of being able to.

the principle of supply/demand applies here, but unfortunately we're talking about artificially inflating the values and tipping the balance. by artificially lowering the supply (people removing from the retail circuit for ebay) unfortunately then the only supply is at the hand of cyber mercenaries.

all i can say is...people are free to do whatever stupid nonsense they wish, and there will be idiots following right behind them, but that neither makes it right nor helpful to 'the world we live in' and making it any better.

[trainwrecka]

all valid points... i'm gonna take some time to ponder over what you've said.

[JuanotheGamer]

I don't think what trainwrecka is doing is/was wrong. Why? Let me elaborate

Walked into Wal-Mart this morning and the lady stocked 2 Wiis on the shelf. I bought 'em both with eBay hopes.

Nobody else was there. If someone would have really wanted a Wii, they should've been there waiting for one.

They didn't put forth a true effort, and would expect it to be there on a Friday night, or Sunday

That is what is happening right now. Those are the people complaining that they can't find a Wii.

i guess what i'm getting at is that for every system someone takes off the shelf intending to put on ebay or craigslist is one less that people who ARE waiting in line and driving around town trying to find will have access to.

Oh, but wait? Why weren't those people there to snatch up the system earlier? Why didn't they give it their all? It all goes back to quote #2. This generation, scalpers are doing more effort to get ahold of the consoles than the people who actually want it are. I got up extra early to reserve my Wii back in October of '06. You know what? It paid off. Why? Because I dedicated myself to get ahold of the console.

[MalikHalo]

As a person with almost no expendable income, I'd probably do it if I got the chance.

Some of us don't have the pleasure of buying things at 20% of its original price *cough*cortjezter*cough*.

[cortjezter]

well like i said, it's not a matter of us judging who is and isn't trying hard enough to find the systems. what we're talking about are people who are more or less disrupting the balance of supply/demand and artificially inflating prices of things. i have a huge article 've written on this topic that RMC ignored this past week as an end of day thought editorial, but maybe i'll go ahead and sneak it in there anyway.

and no, i do not get to buy everything at 20% off. it should be noted that the hottest electronics (ipod, wii, ps3, etc) have literally ZERO markup in most cases, so employees don't save a single penny off retail prices.

[stedaman]

Hmmm

I have to say that selling the wii for a profit...nothing wrong with that.

It give's people the option to buy the wii easily, who are struggerling to find a wii. If you cannot afford to buy one, don't pay silly prices.

If your determined to get a wii at the retail price, then you can do so but it will be alot more hassle....that's Nintendo fault.

There's nothing wrong with someone who see's a chance to make money for themselves!
We are all in the same boat here, bills gotta be payed and making money this way is in no way shameful.

[roycejunktion]

Me personally, I would never do it.

It seems wrong, dont ask me why, it just seems morally wrong, mainly because there is some poor parent trying to find a kid a wii and instead of paying 250 for it, they have to shell out an extra 200 dollars to make their kids happy. Thats not right.....

Its 250 dollars for a reason.

[stinklesAFI]

I would have to say yeah it's a really stupid idea buying a Wii on eBay but the real stupidity is the people who actually shell out the money for one. So why is it that they pay so much? Sheer ease of purchase, some parent who works during the week doesn't have time to hunt down a Wii so eBay is a point and click away. And as long as there are people willing to pay up there will always be those to exploit it, thats what makes the world go round.

[roycejunktion]

I understand what you mean, and I wasnt talking about ebay..... Ebay is different, it can start at 100 dollars, and go up... to whatever crazy prices it goes up too.

I hate the people who buy them, and the next day in the paper in the classified adds, you see "Nintendo Wii RARE OMG OMG $500"...... Just starting off with that price..... That seems morally wrong to me.....

My friend saw a Wii at a store, bought it, and sold it for cost to someone who was looking for one a few days later, no markup, i like that, someones very happy.

I work at blockbuster, we get Wii's in VERY rarley, and when we do get them, the odd time, some guy comes in, buys all of them and leaves, and I know hes selling them for more, but there is very little I can do.

[JasonWin]

I've seen quite a few Wii's in stock. Haven't even considered buying one to resell.

[Mako]

Yes, yes I would. Although it is kind of mean to the people looking for one which is pretty much everyone.

[alisdaa12321]

where i live the retail price is much higher and the wii's never get sold out.

[thresholdXCI]

No I wholeheartedly agree with what Cort was saying. It's not just a case of people not putting in enough effort, that just seems like an excuse for the eBay rip-off merchants. If it wasn't for people just wanting to snatch up consoles to sell, to the ill-informed and desperate, then honest people wouldn't be forced to put in as much effort to find one in the first place. Some people don't seem to realise that many will struggle to be able to get into town early, when shipments come in. I certainly couldn't get into town at the crack of dawn to find a Wii thus I was pretty annoyed when the only Wii's I could find for 3 months were £600 ($1200). I know part of the blame lies on those stupid enough to pay premium prices but no-one forces people to exploit them.

Bottom-line; buying something just because you know you can rip somebody else off is wrong - but it happens - if by doing so, however, you are preventing an honest person buying the same product for a legit reason then I totally disagree and find it appauling.

[alisdaa12321]

I probably wouldn't do it but i really have no emotion on the matter. its really impossible to stop it and it's an easy way to make $$$ so yeah it'll continue. if i was in the US i would be much angrier. my friend (in the us) had to wake up at 6:30 and pretend he was handicapped just to get one

[hillbilly_gamer]

I don't agree with it. if you want a hard too find item for yourself buy one and go. otherwise leave them and let people who truly want them have a chance at buying them at the real price.

[Neader]

I agree with Cortjezter that is absolutely horrible what you are doing. She's 51 and your making her pay over $200. You are SOOO taking advantage of her. Some poor 7 year old isn't going to get now. Or maybe some parent who can barely aford food will have to buy something completely more expensive then it is because of you. That is DISGUSTING

Lmao I love the old me.

Anyway I couldn't disagree with myself more.

If you get there first, and you bought it, it is now yours and you can do whatever the hell you want with it, you paid for it.