eBay Feeds The Scalper Within You By Offering Guaranteed Profit On Your NES Classic Mini

I can sum up my thoughts on this in one word:
Yègh!

Well...still a stupid idea to spend more money if we can spend just $60 by a lot of patience.

This is shocking....

Sigh, this is just going to make it ever harder to buy one at a decent price.

Truth be told I'm considering selling mine. I've used it a bit but most of the games I'm interested in I already own on Virtual Console, and it doesn't play nice with my HDMI switcher meaning I have to go and set it up in another room.

I don't have that much spare cash laying around. If I were to live in USA I would consider it. Turning 60$ into 226$ in 7 days is sort of tempting.

Supply and demand right? However, I do hate those that buy tons of NES minis and keeping them from the general public that way.

Just sold my used Pokemon Go Plus for £60 so I could buy sun for me and my GF I hate scalpers, but I can respect someone who buys something, uses it and then lucks out on it being a highly wanted item

Luckily I have absolutely zero interest in getting one. This means I'm neither a scalper nor competition for those that yearn for one.

*Gives myself a pat on the back.

Unbelievable of Ebay to approve this.As someone who has done a lot of business through them as a seller in the past,I can say they are the number 1 worst company I've ever dealt with so this scummy move shouldn't actually surprise me.

'Scalper' is a racially insensitive term that disparages Native American people.

i would pay bigger bucks easy for SNES mini if it had the ability to add more games e-shop style and played real carts.

Don't be upset with ebay or scalpers. Nintendo themselves created this.

Fair play to them. I wish I had the foresight to buy a few. I could have made a few pound. 🤑

@EverythingAmiibo
Yeah I can understand that. If you want to sell something that is yours and make a profit, it's ok, but if someone else does, it is not. 🤔

I think it's fair of eBay to do this, and selling it on (especially during a typically tight budget season) at this point is opportunism maybe but it's not predatory if you didn't buy it for that purpose.

Also, you know most of the people who sell it on are going to end up buying another one anyway, as often happens with such things!

I've never scalped items before. I've sold items and made profits, but never scalped. IMO it's sleazy.

I hope it gets a huge restock before Christmas.

Nintendo had better do a huge restock soon. It's not like you are producing WiiUs, so use those factories to make NES Minis. Fill the shelves already.

Nintendo just has no desire to make money, that's the bottom line, cause Stone Cold Said So.

Like with the amiibo and gamecube adapter stock issues in the past... you just have to be patient and not waste ridiculous amounts of money!

as always no one is forcing people to pay inflated prices on ebay, that is up-to-you! yeah it sucks this item is so in demand its hard to get it but no one is forcing anyone to pay ebay prices. no one should get stick for re-selling these at a profit as they are just lucky! they probably didn't know when they bought a handful that it would be so in demand. people sell things on ebay to make a profit, that's the whole point! I don't get why people are being so abusive towards ebay sellers. if you want the product at its RRP get in the queue or wait till the fuss has died down. Don't moan at ebay sellers for making a profit. Before anyone asks no Im not selling these on ebay, I pre-ordered 1 and have got it and im very happy with it.

I hope Nintendo does a restock soon, so all those scalpers get stuck with all that extra stock, lose the possible profits and have to sell at a lost.
I hate scalpers, with this or any other product.

@crimsontadpoles Just wait, it will be the same thing as with amiibos.. it was a strategy that worked well before for them, they will do the same thing here... you will end up buying one for $40 at Amazon or even less...

@Mart1ndo What now?

eBay has existed for about 20 years now at this point, and they know what they're doing; they make their money off transaction fees, so the higher they sell things for, the better. Here's a spoiler for everyone out there: if you refuse to pay more than $60 for it, nobody will charge more than $60. eBay is profiting off of consumerism, sure, but they're not the cause of it all.

Well, it's the new Amiibo

@lemonjellydude "They probably didn't know"

Yeah, right, which is why these degenerates bought far more NES Mini consoles than they'll ever need, deprived serious buyers from getting one at a regular price and are now trying to make a buck over the backs of people desperate enough to pay top dollar for it.

It's despicable behavior. And they're not regular eBay sellers either. Scalpers are the lowest of the low. Selling your stuff on eBay is just fine by me and probably a lot of other people, but buying surplus amounts of a thing that you know will be in demand just for reselling purposes is intentional and should definitely be frowned upon.

There are lots of people genuinely interested in getting a NES Mini now missing out on that, both due to Nintendo under-supplying us but also due to these lowlifes taking away their chances of buying one.

And not everyone can afford to pay more than the regular price, so what these "nice" individuals are doing, is depriving these honest people of their regular buying opportunities. But all the scalpers care about is making money.

Scalpers are greedy worthless lowlife's and should be banner from all auction and resale sites. Period. The world sucks enough and it far too full of greedy, selfish people... eBay are douches for egging them on and enabling their sociopathic greed. I'm so sick of people justify and defending obscene greed. It's not ok.

I'd make a rubbish capitalist. I could sell mine for at least 3 times the price but firstly I'm enjoying it too much and secondly I think it's morally abhorrent. Back when the wii was released with similar shortage problems I ended up with 2 due to an error but rather than selling the other for an obscene profit I sold it to a friend at cost price.

It's funny people getting annoyed at ebay and scalpers. Nintendo has always had a policy of undersupplying to create hype. It's out of date now and they should stop, but direct anger at them not at ebay lol.

This isn't something like say concert tickets where there's a genuine short supply, this is entirely deliberate.

@Folderoll I can only speak for myself, but I'm not directly accusing eBay, only the scalpers. Although eBay now offering this kind of assurance is also helping these anti-socials, so that isn't really commendable either.

In the case of your example, the behavior is similarly disgusting. I've seen tickets being sold online for 5 to 6 times the price and sometimes even false tickets, not only being sold online, but also on the street or even right in front of the concert's location.

But even if it is in part Nintendo's fault for under-supplying, shouldn't they be the one getting ripped off then, instead of the genuinely interested and honest customer who's possibility to buy one in the store was taken away because someone else bought several systems instead of just one like any normal and decent person would?

But isn't eBay the only person that's going to be out of pocket here? I mean, if (yes, big if but for arguments sake) the NES Classic Mini sold for $60, then that's all the buyer pays. The seller gets that in cash minus the fees, plus the remaining amount in eBay coupons?

This is the basis of capitalism. To make a profit on something, somebody else has to lose out.

I think it's daft to get upset by this. I'd have done it if I'd had the foresight, in just surprised they're selling as well as they are, they never really interested me that much, and I'm a self-confessed game buying addict.

The point is no one is losing out, if you want to pay an inflated price on ebay you can but that's your choice. so what if people are profiting from this, this is Nintendos fault for not supplying enough and to be fair to them maybe they didn't realise it would be that popular so were being cautious with how many they released. if people want to get it at its RRP they can wait for it like everyone else. ebay is just providing a service to those that want it. if people are happy enough to pay a higher price that's there choice. ebay sellers are just meeting demand for a hot product. its very likely the fuss will die down eventually then the ebay seller maybe forced to provide it at the RRP or less possibly. this is often what happens on ebay, when an item is hot it goes for way more when the fuss dies down the prices often do as well.

Anyone who does this is scum!

@Tsusasi

Although I dislike scalper for unfairly profiting off others misery (per say), I dislike some of the buyers, well only the ones that complain about buying it way over msrp.
Like lemonjellydude said no one is forced to buy it at that price. Even some of the auctions started at $0.99 with no reserve but ended at more than $190.

Ultimately it's us, mainly the ebay buyers that determine the price for those scalpers and if it gets sold. If a good amount of people are willing to pay $200 for a $60 system that is getting a restock, then others will sell it back at $200 and will keep on doing it.

Like with amiibo, have patience and don't give into impulse.

@ThanosReXXX

Why do you think Nintendo undersupply?

The joke is on the morons who are willing to pay these prices when Nintendo already confirmed a restock before Christmas

@WilliamCalley It was actually the French who were the originators of the practice. Native American tribes picked it up.

Ladies and gentlemen: capitalism at its finest.

I don't believe anyone at eBay is actually encouraging this, that price seems to be the average 'sold price' on the NES Mini. I've been offered the eBay coupon deal before with other items I've sold.

Algorithms, folks. Still, $226 for a custom Raspberry Pi is more than I'd ever consider paying. Not even sure how much that translates to GBP

Feeding the fire

@Folderoll Nice dodge, but that isn't the issue. I'm a veteran sales & marketing professional myself, so I know full well what Nintendo is doing, but that does NOT mean that we should buy up all the stock and resell it to disadvantage other people.

So, ESPECIALLY with limited stock, people that have been waiting for this should also be able to buy it. And normally, they would have at least stood a chance of obtaining one from a regular store, if it wasn't for those scalpers...

You can try and bend this in any shape you want to, there is just no way to make this into something positive or decent.

@ThanosReXXX

Not that I'm pro-scalper (as someone still looking for a mini), but they don't actually take any consoles off the market since they are just passing it along.

For instance if there were 10 people wanting a mini and 2 available. If there were no scalpers, the 2 most diligent people of those 10 or 2 most lucky people would get them. With scalpers, the 2 people placing the highest value of the items will get them. It's actually a capitalist characteristic that in a market with low supply, prices rise, and those that value the item the most get it.

With any such situation, it is imperative to ask: who benefits?

1. EBay : Increased commerce and cut of sales, especially for higher priced items

2. Nintendo : Increased interest in their product, fueling demand even after stock has sold through

3. Retailers : Quickly sells through stock, no hassle with shelf space, and absolved of responsibility for selling multiple units per household by business policy

4. Second hand sellers : Obvious reasons

Pretty much everyone involved except for normal customers gets some benefit out of this arrangement. Even if there is no conspiring, it all seems carefully planned out to intentionally withhold stock to maximize benefits. Indeed, the result would actually be less beneficial for these four involved parties if Nintendo produced enough stock to at least mostly meet initial demand. If they had done so:

1. EBay would not be able to normalize higher prices, thereby drastically lowering their cut

2. Nintendo would have fulfilled most of the initial demand, thereby drastically reducing future demand for the NES Mini

3. Retailers would be more likely to need to take up valuable shelf space and energy/resources spent to sell any leftover units

4. Second hand sellers would have far less incentive to try capitalizing on a product which has met most of it's initial demand

I can only conclude that this situation was no coincidence. It is an intentional strategy to withhold units initially, and restock later when demand due to artificial scarcity has reached a fever pitch.

Whom is more dastardly: the second hand seller who takes advantage of artificial scarcity for personal gain, or the company that knowingly set the situation into motion to begin with?

@cleveland124 I know, and I'm not saying they are taking them off the market in general, but they ARE taking them off the general market, as in normal shelf space in stores.

And of course it's true that with the limited run that Nintendo released, far from everyone that was interested would have been able to acquire one, but these scalpers make these chances even slimmer, and there are thousands upon thousands of people who aren't that fortunate to not have to care to pay $200 for a limited edition item on eBay, so essentially, these people got robbed.

@3MonthBeef Exactly. I also wanted one, but I have other matters to take care of this year that take precedence over buying anything game related, and I'm pretty sure that they will release another batch. Or two...

And otherwise, I'll just wait for the inevitable arrival of the SNES Mini...

@ThanosReXXX

I really just can't believe Nintendo went so limited with the release. I mean it seems like maybe 10% of demand was filled. I get wanting to have the "hot" item but they could have produced at least 8x as much and still sold out. Also sucks that now bots are a thing. The whole Walmart sale was a joke. Everything sold out in 5 seconds.

@cleveland124 Yeah, it annoys me too. Besides the fact that buying one wasn't on my priority list, I wouldn't even have been able to get one if I wanted to, because most of them were gone because of preorders, and the few left all around the city and even outside the city were all gone on the first day.

@3MonthBeef There's always going to be a list of games on there that some of us like and some of us won't like. Or there'll be titles missing for each and everyone of us. I mostly expect the bigger, more well-known titles to be on there that everybody knows, and will be happy with the few extras that they will add.

Personally, I'd like to see Tactics Ogre and Fire Emblem on a SNES Mini, but if I look at it with realistic expectations, chances are slim that these are going to be on a list of the 30 possible games.

I bought two Nes Mini's one to use and I am currently enjoying Mario 3, I've never played the nes version only Super Mario All stars and the version on the Wii VC. The other Nes mini I bought I'm keeping it boxed. I went into Game the other day to pay a deposit on an AT games Mega drive and was talking to the guy in there, I asked if Game were getting any more Nes and he said "We are expecting a second phrase of them before Christmas and they're all sold out, whether we will get any more before Christmas we don't know as a third phrase hasn't come up yet but knowing Nintendo after Christmas there will be shed loads of them! so people who spent £200 on one will be gutted!" his words not mine....

I saw on ebay that the mins are being sold £80.00 (only used once, 'yeah right') and others going for £150.00 new, even the controllers are going for £40.00! an eight quid controller. It's crazy. Come on Nintendo do all you can to meet demand!

Yeah... I'm good.

I can wait

We will probably have a similar issue with the switch launch. The rumoured 2million units on release for the whole world to try and get with a load appearing on ebay.

Luckily my nes mini is wrapped n ready for xmas day. I still think a lot that appear on ebay, especially in bulk by same seller must be from retail stock that store managers/websites have kept to make profit.

I hope they learn from this... and make a snes mini with all of the games in mini cartridge form. (Collectors dream!) License to print money i think. But as someone else already said, nintendo doesnt seem to know how to make profit anymore lol

I mean who wouldnt want a little tiny yet 100% functional nes and or snes cart collection on their shelf? They could even build to order so they dont end up with 100 copies of double dragon 1 in the bargain bin again right?

I said it before and will say it again, snes mini rpg edition with every rpg releqsed back in the day available to replay... License to print money nintendo!

Good for them. It's supply and demand, and those sellers are doing a good job. If people are willing to pay high prices for something, you should take advantage of that, and make some money. It's not like people haven't had the chance to play these games for 3 decades already in many various forms. If people had a little more patience, they wouldn't be selling for such high prices. Once the stock comes back in good, these systems will be back to $60 and no one can make any profit. The people who go to work doing these 9 to 5 jobs working for the man, have no idea how to be successful at an ebay job. Those ebayers have to pay the bills too.

(Sigh)...Nobody has patience. I get that for children who do not yet understand (the concept of) patience, the Nes Mini must be under their tree, or whatever they might celebrate on Christmas, or during later December. However, for people who practice patience, the stock on games, & related accessories/hardware generally bounces back. I can finally buy a Mega Man amiibo, plenty on the shelf, for its MSRP. The same will happen with the NM.

As for profiteers, ... that's capitalism. If a person were drowning in a pool, less than 10ft away (from this person) is a professional swimmer, enjoying his/herself, noticing the person is drowning, but does nothing to help, allowing the person to drown, by law they are not guilty. But, as far as I'm concerned, that's immoral. Same story with people who purposely buy tons of stock, & resell at fabulous multiples of the msrp. It's one thing to buy loads of stock to sell for a realistically bit more($25 max, as prices need to be high to compensate for eBay fees), but reselling for x multiples of original msrp is just immoral, & those sellers are not going to feel the fees they pay, because they made so much.

Nothing wrong with reselling, or purchasing to resell at a realistically higher cost. Just because you can sell higher, doesn't mean you should.

Btw, rhetorical question here, but, ...to anyone that currently has access to these games another(legal) way, why would you want to spend $60 for this?! I understand if ya really like it. No shame in that. What games are on it, are on it, nothing can be added, or taken from it. This is Nintendo's version of those Plug-N-Play controllers.

I got an email from Gameseek yesterday informing me that my months-old preorder had been cancelled because they couldn't guarantee stock in the foreseeable future. The disappointment was crushing, and it has seriously affected my view of Nintendo, to the point where I'm wondering if it's worth preordering a Switch or waiting a year or two.

The whole debacle has brought out the worst of the company, and in turn the worst of humanity (on eBay), and the only people to have benefited are scalpers.

@gcunit

"I think it's daft to get upset by this. I'd have done it if I'd had the foresight"

You've convinced me that you're a bad person.

This is probably just an automated response from ebay due to popularity. No need to get all upset at ebay

I'm having nothing more to do with eBay or Amazon. They stink! 😡

I'm confused as to why so many people want this. Aren't all the games on this system also available on the eShop for both 3ds and Wii U? Doesn't this system also have cables that are too short? And you're stuck with forever playing only the games on this and nothing more or less, unlike a real game system. And even the idea of wanting it for a nostalgic reason doesn't make sense as this is NOT the original. It's smaller, doesn't take cartridges, etc. I'm just puzzled by the bizarre demand for this.

@3MonthBeef: good answer.