A midwest gaming chain called Slackers is scalping their Wii allotment on eBay instead of selling to their retail customers.
Perhaps they should change their name to Gougers?
Perhaps they should change their name to Gougers?
Retail chain scalping Wii on eBay
- Thread starter Carol
- Start date
So, a retail sales establishment is selling their wares in a fully legal way? Somehow, I think the outrage is more "I wish I'd thought of that" than "You evil bastards!"
Nintendo and Sony fix prices on their products, which is crooked as hell, but, you don't hear about much outrage...
Can you find a Wii or a PS3 anywhere for $50 less than MSRP? Hell no.
Nintendo and Sony fix prices on their products, which is crooked as hell, but, you don't hear about much outrage...
Can you find a Wii or a PS3 anywhere for $50 less than MSRP? Hell no.
That's too much! It's hard to argue with their economic reasoning, though.
I agree this is why consumer hate retailers.
Not to worry... the CEO's and board of the company will get midnight visits from the Wii guys. After all... they're trained ninja assassins bred specificially for this purpose should anyone try to subvert the profits of the Wii company. bwaha ha ha ha haaaa
FearlessFreep
Senior Master
Technically, price fixing is when two different companies (retailers) agree to sell a product for the same price, to avoid getting into a price war and to assure that both get a decent profit from the product.
If Walmart and Target got together agreed to sell the Wii for $350, that would be price-fixing. However if Nintendo signs an agreement with Target and one with Walmart, and both agreements specify a minimum price of $350, this is not price-fixing, at least not in a legal sense.
Moreover, price-fixing is usually done to keep a price high. It's a way to avoid competition, through lowering prices, in order to ensure a margin on each item. In this case, Nintendo is taking action because the retailer is using ebay auctioning and insufficient supply to raise the price beyond which Nintendo wants their retail partners to sell the product (and those prices usually have parameters in the contract)
BrandiJo
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If you don't like the price don't buy it. My husband and I found our Wii in a retail store at MSRP it took us about 2 months to do but it is do able. The only reason why this works is because people wait till the last second to do the shopping. It is sleazy but they are there to make money, and if Nentendo doesnt like it... well they do not have to sell to them anymore then we have to buy from them.
The only ones holding a gun to the people willing to pay stupid amounts of money for a game are probably those people's kids. If you can't stand up to your own kids, well, life sucks.
Why do you think you as a consumer deserve MSRP on a high demand item? An item is worth what people are willing to pay for it, and ebay was only filled with willing buyers last time I checked.
If this was whining about charging $100 for a gallon of purified water in New Orleans after Katrina, then I could see the outrage, this is a frakkin' luxury item.
Lamont
Why do you think you as a consumer deserve MSRP on a high demand item? An item is worth what people are willing to pay for it, and ebay was only filled with willing buyers last time I checked.
If this was whining about charging $100 for a gallon of purified water in New Orleans after Katrina, then I could see the outrage, this is a frakkin' luxury item.
Lamont
Surely they're breaking their agreement with the manufacturer/supplier?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #12
Yup, that seems to be the case.
michaeledward
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There have always been people with more money than brains.
And, I think if the retailer has an agreement with the manufacturer, actions with current inventory may be difficult to enforce. Of course, the manufacturer could select a different retailer in the future.
I think, this issue is indicative of the stratification of our society. We see it with Ticketmaster scalping the concert tickets ... by creating their own auction sites (How much was recently paid for a Hannah Montana ticket?). I think we are rapidly moving toward a time when most people in our society can't afford things. And those who can, are competing against others like themselves for those things.
I think there are two problems that this issue points to.
First, most consumer products need a large support base to justify the time, energy, and capital required to design, manufacture and market that consumer good. If products are priced out of a significant market segment, we will find less innovation and useful products in the future.
Second, what might happen if someone galvanized the attention of those who 'can not'; because of money and time. For surely, if things continue the way they have been, those who can not will significantly outnumber those of us who can.
Buy Local.
And, I think if the retailer has an agreement with the manufacturer, actions with current inventory may be difficult to enforce. Of course, the manufacturer could select a different retailer in the future.
I think, this issue is indicative of the stratification of our society. We see it with Ticketmaster scalping the concert tickets ... by creating their own auction sites (How much was recently paid for a Hannah Montana ticket?). I think we are rapidly moving toward a time when most people in our society can't afford things. And those who can, are competing against others like themselves for those things.
I think there are two problems that this issue points to.
First, most consumer products need a large support base to justify the time, energy, and capital required to design, manufacture and market that consumer good. If products are priced out of a significant market segment, we will find less innovation and useful products in the future.
Second, what might happen if someone galvanized the attention of those who 'can not'; because of money and time. For surely, if things continue the way they have been, those who can not will significantly outnumber those of us who can.
Buy Local.
Products are marketed at all different levels, Porshe and Rolex don't have a "large support base," they don't need one. If for some reason Toyota decided to go high end, and price itself out of the entry level market, that niche will be filled by current or new businesses. Opportunites for profit will be exploited in our economy, it is hard to see any viable market being ignored.
I'm afraid I don't understand your second point at all.
Lamont
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My take on it?
Its a Nintendo Wii. Who cares?
Buy your kids an Xbox 360 and tell them they have a better system with a longer "shelf life" and if they cry about the Wii Nunchucks, HACK THEM so you can use em on the 360.
Nintendo. Ha.
But in all seriousness, I don't have an Issue with this... Back when PS2 was a huge commodity for christmas I was working a small Electronics chain and their policy was no PS2's in the store overnight. We had a Call list of people who reserved systems, they were to be called and told to pick the system up by 30 minutes prior to closing or it would be sold.
The problem we had was we were in a bizzare remote location, in a stripmall that mostly closed down by dinner time, so we had little late night traffic. Often we had systems that were not picked up by the alloted time. So I used to buy them out of pocket, head over to best buy, and sell em in the parking lot for a HUGE markup. I think I was paying like 250 a system to get them out of inventory, and letting them go at the Best Buy lot for 600... Of course the only reason I was doing it was because policy said if they sat overnight I got a write up...
Its a Nintendo Wii. Who cares?
Buy your kids an Xbox 360 and tell them they have a better system with a longer "shelf life" and if they cry about the Wii Nunchucks, HACK THEM so you can use em on the 360.
Nintendo. Ha.
But in all seriousness, I don't have an Issue with this... Back when PS2 was a huge commodity for christmas I was working a small Electronics chain and their policy was no PS2's in the store overnight. We had a Call list of people who reserved systems, they were to be called and told to pick the system up by 30 minutes prior to closing or it would be sold.
The problem we had was we were in a bizzare remote location, in a stripmall that mostly closed down by dinner time, so we had little late night traffic. Often we had systems that were not picked up by the alloted time. So I used to buy them out of pocket, head over to best buy, and sell em in the parking lot for a HUGE markup. I think I was paying like 250 a system to get them out of inventory, and letting them go at the Best Buy lot for 600... Of course the only reason I was doing it was because policy said if they sat overnight I got a write up...
CoryKS
Senior Master
Never heard of Slackers, but since they only have 11 stores, that's not surprising. They have a statement on their web site regarding this issue.
My take? Meh. There are way too many stores to choose from, and my annoyance is reserved for Nintendo for being unable or unwilling to meet demand for their product with a commensurate supply.
My take? Meh. There are way too many stores to choose from, and my annoyance is reserved for Nintendo for being unable or unwilling to meet demand for their product with a commensurate supply.
A good PR effort, but...it still strikes me as less-than-forthright. I too would be inclined to take my business elsewhere.
diamondbar1971
Green Belt
The online statement from the Slackers owner about "our cost is $249.99", is nuts. We just got one at Wal-Mart for $287.62. $249.24 + $17.88 2year warranty + tx 1 $13.02 and tx 2 $7.48 = $287.62...I'm sure that even Wal-Mart doesn't give these away.
I think many are forgetting the moral implications here. Yeah u can just buy from somewhere else but you have to think aboutt he moral implications of it all.
Some of ya'll sound like "hey they can do whatever they want". Im sorry I can't agree that way.
Some of ya'll sound like "hey they can do whatever they want". Im sorry I can't agree that way.
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Walmart gets a huge Volume discount that Many small retailers do not. Most companies will sell to you at oen price if you buy say 1-100 number of units, a lower price if you buy 100-100o units etc... WalMart probably purchased in excess of 10,000 units... ya know?
