Nintendo of America Offers Stock of Refurbished Wii U Deluxe Sets for $250

Too expensive for a used system IMO.

Where does Nintendo get the systems from? They don't buy them back.

I took advantage of the $20 offer on the refurbished a Wii Remote and Nunchuck. If the quality is just as good, it's probably worth it. Keep in mind that a majority of these have probably never been used, or used lightly. Doesn't beat the $225 Mario and Luigi Deluxe Set I got for Christmas though.

This should be the price of the system new. I'll buy one when they lower the price to below $250.

@NintendoMaster Most likely display models or returned stock. They clean it and inspect it before they sell it.

I'd love to know more about their refurbishment process. The only company I frequently buy refurbs from is Apple. On the iPads they completely replacing the outer casing, including the screen, and the battery, and you get the same length warranty as the new products. Definitely worth the large discounts there.

Seems expensive for used when the Mario bundles are $300, especially in Jan after the sales, I think the Skylanders bundle has been going for around $250. I know it's not Deluxe but Skylanders is a $70 game. Can't imagine anybody buying this used for $250.

Oh, 1 of them is probably mine, sent it in for repair and they sent me a different console. Not Gamestop, Nintendo.

Still a better deal then gamestop refurbished Wii U with a price of $269.99, no game(s) and pre-owned policy doubts (missing instruction, warranty, etc.).

I would trust this more than a GameStop used product, but I don't buy used stuff anyway.

Still can't afford it. ._.

Awesome deal for such a great console.

Rather get the bundle at that price for a refurb.

At least one of the Wal-marts where I live sells the regular Wii U Deluxe bundles brand new for $249.99

I thought 250 has already been the normal price since they announced the 300 Dollar bundles?

In Germany you get the Premium console + Mario + Luigi for 288 Euros (equals to 288 Dollars in entertainment logic).

Really people are still complaining about the price? That is the price of the Wii when it launched, yea it might be refurbished but it still comes with a warranty. If this is too expensive then you will probably not buy a Wii U until this generation is over

@HarryK There is no Wii U Deluxe set that sells at $250. The only way you can buy a Wii U retail is through the $300 bundle. This Wii U set is still a bundle because it includes Nintendo Land, but it's refurbished. That's why it's cheaper.

wow... too expensive even for new.
Earth to Nintendo Wii U MSRP should be 199.99 Deluxe version..
anything more than that is an insult to the consumer...

@marko That's really low for a console they're already selling at a loss.

@marko Considering the value that Wii U offers in spite of its criticisms, $250 is a great price for it. A lot better than the $350 us launch owners had to pay...

@Marko said: Earth to Nintendo Wii U MSRP should be 199.99 Deluxe version.. anything more than that is an insult to the consumer...

They should just give it away, right? The closest-priced system on the market is $100 more with no pack-in game. The other system is $200 more with no pack-in game. The price is fair based on the offering and functionality, and it's not the problem. You reach a point of diminishing returns with price drops because you tend to attract less-enthusiastic customers who won't buy a lot of titles anyway, and that means Nintendo doesn't make up the cost of the price cut.

I'm glad I bought my Wii U 8GB Basic Skylanders SWAP Force Bundle for $219. It was worth every penny, I had an old 150 GB Phantom hard drive laying around that works perfectly with the Wii U, so no big deal only 8GB's of storage.

@NintendoMaster Swap them out under warranty quickly and then take their time to fix them properly. When they have too many they do this.

NIntendo has their own US store?

^^^ Nintendo.com has a support site that sells parts and refurbished items.

Cheaper on Craigslist... and Nintendo support is the worst, so you're not missing out on anything.

@marko I agree, they need to start getting them in living rooms before they fade into black. Anyone who turns it on is impressed, so a cheap price coupled with word of mouth and they just might survive another year.

$250 new, bundled with Mario Kart 8 or Tropical Freeze. That's what I'm waiting for. The day that happens is the day I get a WiiU.

It's already cheap. Hell it was worth $350 on launch.

This is the same price the Wii launched at, so...

Seriously, even PS3 and Xbox 360 are still $250, and those are 7th gen consoles.

thats not a good enough deal. For $319 Walmart has a brand new 32GB system (not refurbished) that comes with new super mario bros u and new super luigi u PLUS your choice of two more games and/or accessories, which is the bundle I ordered (my two games of choice were Assassins Creed 3 and Mass Effect 3. So for $69 more you can get 4 full games instead of the mnigame collections, as well as a new out of the box, never before touched, shiny console. mine should arrive by Thursday.

@Burning_Spear
Your argument is valid, however the price is set by the supply demand curve.
clearly the market has determined that the console is not worth it at 249.99
Nintendo is not pushing out games fast enough to justify maintaining that price point. You have already manufactured and shipped the console and they are sitting on store shelves or even worse they are hidden in storage. They need to move units. Those that are waiting for smash bros/Zelda/Metroid/Fox to buy a wii u won't purchase one until probably Christmas 2014 or after with 0 3rd party support the system is DOA at 249.99 retailers won't push it. But at 199.99 people might be thinking wow I can get it at 199 and buy Super Mario 3d world etc.. you need to push units fast you need 3rd party support.

People won't like the wii u until they play it at home they won;t play it at home at 250.
you won't get 3rd party support unless u have units in homes.

@NintendoMaster

Returned retail stock. Customer buys console, returns it for reason X, so retailer sends console back to Nintendo. Or, in other cases, a customer sends in console or gamepad for repair, and gets a new one in return- Nintendo will then refurbish the console or gamepad sent in, pair them with a new console or new gamepad if needed, and there you go. Refurbished stock for sale. Buying refurbished from Nintendo is just like buying new imo. Their standards are very high, and you get the same warranty as with a new purchase.

@SCAR392

That's what I'm sayin... Wii U was worth every cent of that $350 MSRP at launch, and I'm glad I bought it then. I've played it on a regular basis since November 2012. Coulda saved $50 by waiting 10 months, but I would never give up 10 months of entertainment for a fifty dollar bill. Out of all the consoles I own (Wii U, PS4, 3DS and Vita), I feel like the Wii U was the best buy for my dollar. I probably spend 100 hours on Wii U for every hour on the other consoles.

@marko

Right. Because selling Wii U's for less than it costs to build is obviously an insult... ? Sorry man, but Wii U hardware alone is worth more than MSRP, whether you accept that fact or not. And the entertainment from it, in my personal opinion, is priceless. Even PS3 and Xbox360 sell for $250, and they don't have a $150 Gamepad bundled in. I'll tell you what's insulting, is people who don't own a Wii U trying to pass it off as worthless. At $300, you're getting more than you're paying for. You want a console for $199, buy a 3DS XL. It's a great value for 200 bucks. But if you want the whole enchilada- the HD home console experience with Gamepad integration, it's gonna run you an extra hundred bucks than a 3DS, AS IT SHOULD.

I paid $350, and it was worth every last penny. Sales and quality of product are two separate things. Make no mistake- Wii U might not be the hottest console on the market right now, but the quality of both the console and its' catalog, is unquestionable. I would wager that in ten years, many will look back on the Wii U as one of the most underrated gems in the history of gaming.

Don't confuse popular perceived value, with actual value. The issue isn't increasing the value with a lower price- the value is already there, and then some. The issue is increasing the perceived value- opening people's eyes to just how amazing and fun the console really is. Unfortunately, people are easily swayed, and allow popular negativity to compromise their judgement, to the point that they've made up their mind about the console without ever playing it once.

Replace Nintendoland with Mario 3D world.

@FishieFish it's not used, it's refurbished. Someone sends in a broken Wii u, they fix it and clean it up to their standard of new, with full warranty.

A used system is a second hand device sold by a third party.

@element187 If something is refurbished then it's not new, if it's not new then it's used.

Snap, that's still a pretty hefty price tag. I'm almost certain I could find a new WiiU deluxe for that price if I wanted one.

Didn't they already drop the Bundles to $250?
Unless these were "Refurbished w/ pro controller", or "500GB of memory", that seems like a bad deal!

@MC808
A used product is typically as is, which could be anything from lightly used to spare parts. A refurbished one is repaired and brought up to company standards.

There is (or should be) little to no difference between a refurbished product and a new one, it should literally be 'good as new'. Its not the same thing, unless of course you follow the logic that anything not sealed/shrink-wrapped is used.

@rjejr what went wrong with your Wii u ? I've been worried about problems after buying 1st gen but so far so good, I hope!

@Zombie_Barioth anything not sealed/shrink-wrapped is used.

@Zombie_Barioth I agree that there are some differences between used as-is and refurbished, and that refurbished is as close as you're going to get to like-new (usually), but the fact is that it's not new, it's used.
If it's not sealed in a box is it then used? Well, yes. If it's been removed from the box and connected to a tv, even if it's connected only long enough to determine it's broken, in my mind it's used. Obviously Nintendo feels the same way or they wouldn't distinguish between new and refurbished. Nobody refurbishes something that's new, do they?
When you buy a new car, the moment you drive it off of the lot it's a used car, with considerably less value than it had a few seconds ago.

@MC808
Ok, I get where your going with this, and I agree with what your saying. Obviously to be refurbished it has to be used at some point, yet buying new and buying refurbished isn't quite the same thing. I don't consider it the same because theres a certain level of quality control, its sorta stuck in its own category somewhere in-between.

@ULTRA-64
I was referring to the sort of logic you'd hear against the sort of practice Gamestop uses. I'm sure you've heard the argument their 'new' games aren't new because they open them before, right?

@ULTRA-64 - My Wii U wouldn't read 3 out of the 4 discs I tried, adn the picture kept going black on the tv for a few seconds every couple of minutes. So I sent it in adn they sent me a new one, minus all my game saves adn DL. The new 1 kept going black as well, but not as often, though all the discs work just fine. I then hooked my new Wii U up to a Sony AV receiver:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BHC7ZT4/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and the picture doens't go out anymore, so it was probably the HDMI handshake w/ the tv (it only happened at 1080p) and not the Wii U. Why the Wii U would work better going thru a stereo rather than straight to the tv I don't know. Here's the tv, it is 5 years old, but Sharp was the tv to own back then.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Aquos-LC52D85U-52-Inch-1080p/dp/B001E91OCO

@Zombie_Barioth Yeah, I hear ya.
We're pretty much arguing semantics here.
If the seal is broken, you can no longer guarantee that it hasn't been used. That's why I expect something I buy new to be unopened and sealed. It's funny how Gamestop (a company I absolutely LOATHE) will sell things they've opened as "new", yet they'd never accept anything returned as "new" if it's been opened (and rightfully so).

@NintendoMaster Ikr

@theadrock13 nintendo support is not the worst.... I have had excellent (if not speedy) service AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft (software, don't own a xbox), Dell and a slew of other companies (all of which I have dealt with on over two dozen calls each) have the worst service. Disclaimer: always be kind and patient with the service representative, remember, they will decide the status of your repair/return (speaking from experience...)

@Platypus101 okay fair enough. I've probably had worse too. But N isn't speedy, attentive, or able to resolve my problems (3 times I've contacted them). So while Verizon is probably worse, N is far from excellent. And I agree that you typically catch more bees with honey than vinegar.