Scalpers Set Their Sights On The Switch OLED As Pre-Orders Go Live In The US

Anybody going to stop the scalper bots?

Why not do what Valve is doing with the Steam Deck? Somehow I think Nintendo loves the scalper market.

@JDCII I mean, in concept piracy and scalping are literally opposites. Scalping is buying products and reselling them for a higher price. Piracy is buying products and then distributing them for free. Neither is right but they aren’t the same thing.

I still believe these scalpers are keeping their Switch OLEDs for a while.

Good! Keep their attention off the Steam Deck LOL

Though, that's probably wishful thinking and that too, will probably get scalped.

I do wonder who actually buys into these with enough of a percentage that the scalpers still find it profitable to continue doing. I know, we all know the whole "Sucker born every minute" shtick, but, like.....it's the internet, where information on schemes like these is easy to come across. Also anyone with the money on hand to buy one at those scalper prices should know better by now just by life experiences.

They should make you pick it up on store that way people can't buy 50 under different accounts. Or are least make it so you can't ship multiple to the same address.

@Grafeaux
Of course they do, a sale is a sale!
And given people's lackluster response after the reveal they are more than happy to let scalpers buy as much as they want.

On behalf of everyone, I would like to say one thing. Scalpers, eff you.

I'd go and scalp that new Valve thing instead if I were them!

If you're surprised by this, wait, no, if you're saying you're surprised by this I don't even believe you.

Seriously as obnoxious as this is, it's just par for the course at this point.

@Dezzy You think they wont?

Well they did the same for the Animal Crossing Switch, and it's still being sold to this day. Strange but whatevers.

There is v2 still but from the article that must not exists or something. And people are dumb enough to buy from scalpers when the return is nothing for the buyer. OLED and noting in performance Gain.

I thought the retail price was too high for this garbage in the first place.

On the bright side maybe this will take their attention away from PS5 and Series X consoles so more people can get those

That one listing be like "preorder guaranteed "

They can have this one lol. I'm still trying to get my last friend a PS5

Anyone can put anything up on eBay.

Surely there won't be any difficulty getting a Switch OLED. It's not as if it's a limited quantity product.

Go to Walmart for some milk. Look if they got oled switch, then buy. If not, oh well.

This is one reason I'm happy with my switch. Don't wanna pay obscenely high prices for a bigger screen and wider kickstand

@JDCII How on earth are those two thee same thing? One is a opportunistic a** and the other one is basically Robin Hood, unless it is bootlegging.

@Grafeaux it will happen later

Hopefully the scalpers will realize nobody wants the OLED model so badly that they’d overpay for it. If not, I hope Nintendo puts out more of them around release day.

I really wanted to preorder one today but was unable to. I find that shocking since I was under the impression this was an unpopular model.

"The Nintendo Switch OLED might not have quite as much excitement behind it as the next-generation Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5"

What OLED pre order launch were you a part of Nintendo Life? I had five different websites on my desktop and three on my phone. I was mashing that refresh for near 40 minutes before I could get an order in and I'm still surprised I was able to. Seems gamers are pretty excited to get their hands on it.

My hate for the scalpers is immeasurable. Little innocent old me has never wanted an ammibo decides that Metroid dread ammibo to support one of my favoite series. Little old naive me, had never experienced the scalpers, and when I looked at every site I realized that the game I ever wanted a special edition, or ammibo set for was bought up and being sold for hundreds of dollars! My heart hardened that day learning just how cruel people could be.

I'm not surprised really I'm not you'd think with things going slowly back to normal there would be a lot less scalping but I forget people suck

It’s possible, maybe not likely but possible, that these Switch OLEDs will be plentiful and not genuinely in high demand when they launch.

Might be able to walk into a Best Buy and just buy one at MSRP. I mean it’s not a Switch 2 after all. I would get a chuckle out of the scalper’s dilemma then.

Something tells me these scalpers are going to be stuck with a lot of slow/non moving product.

People were already complaining about not enough of an upgrade for$350....and they really think it's going to move faster @ $550???

Scalpers are too greedy/scummy for their own good. Hopefully this comes to bite them in the ass for a loss.

scalping as it should be isn't bad.
the issue here is more that these types of scalpers over going way to overboard with it and charging to much.
their also jumping the gun a good bit in this case

Lol have fun playing on the Switch systems you're not going to sell!

Part of me was kinda hoping that Nintendo would replace the LCD Switch with the OLED Switch at $299 and not tell anyone.

It’s how the GBASP-AGS101 was handled.

I was able to preorder the red/blue oled switch from target today with no issues. I would have liked the white one but maybe I’ll get one of those eventually. I only do handheld mode so this will be nice.

Hahaha.
Scalping the OLED.
Hahaha.

This is the one time I'm glad Nintendo offered us docked owners nothing.

I'll keep playing on my large screen OLED TV thanks and save me some money.

@Bizzyb
That is the difference between the hardcore crowd and casual crowd. Hardcores want more power and go on forumns like this or Reddit and complain about it. Casuals usually just want to have fun and are okay with non 4K and 30 FPS

Hold the line. It took me about 3 weeks of seriously trying to order a PS5 but I finally managed to get one at retail value. Scalpers and bots are ruining it for everyone.

Because why let fans enjoy things at retail price?

How many times do I have to say that the only way to stop scalpers is to stop paying their prices? Quit leaving it up to companies to cap prices, police bots, set max order quantities, etc. As long as they know you will pay them, the scalpers will find a way.

How to solve the scalping issue:

Have some f*cking self control and don't buy from them. Solved.

Whinge whinge whinge 🙄 It's not illegal, so there's nothing you can do unless the retailer puts a limit per customer.

The OLED will essentially replace the original model, so it's not disappearing any time soon. If you want it so bad, find the same tools that these 'scalpers' use.

As long as people keep buying from scalpers, scalpers are gonna keep pulling this crap. Gotta have willpower, patience, and if you have the technical skills, a way to invent something that can fight scalper bots. I'm almost surprised there are no laws being discussed to ban scalper bots, but most politicians probably don't care about anyone such bots affect.

Jokes on them. No one will buy it for that price lol I wouldn't even buy it for regular price.

The console hasn’t sold out. So good luck scalpers

Looks like Valve's approach with the steam deck might be a good one with the reservation system where you have to put $5 down first and are limited to amount you can preorder.

Not sure how well of a safeguard it'll be but at least they're trying SOMETHING to combat the scalpers.

@Bizzyb

Here's hoping it happens. I want them to lose big.

@ChaoticIgnorance PS5 is still sold out 7 months later. Switch OLED isn’t sold out now

Maybe I was naive but I didn't expect scalpers to focus on this model given the difference between this and the base Switch is so miniscule.

@HammerGalladeBro I believe they still have the Mario 35th Game & Watch Handhelds...

It took me a 2 weeks but I finally managed to get my pre-order in through Amazon this morning before the scalpers got them all

At this point it’s not even worth getting excited for new consoles or special editions since they’ll be priced way above what they’re worth and are not realistically affordable, which is a real shame

Is this just a laziness thing?
When I decided to get a Series X I had to wait 3 weeks before I found a regular offer in a big online shop for the regular price.
And I barely put any effort into the search....so definitely not worth a 100% markup.

At this point I feel they just buy anything that might be in high demand and hope for the best. I somehow can't see the OLED-Model being sold out months after launch.

Rather than do online button pushing, I went into my local GameStop and placed my order for me and SO for a White model with no drama at all. Took about 5 minutes. While there another person did the same. They had their master list out and total my GameStop had round 20 they could sale in store yesterday. All my friends that went into GameStop yesterday had success that took about as long as it takes to fill up a car's tank of gas.

@Dringo That's because it's been released in waves at each store. Hence the reason I was able to get my hands on one 40 minutes into the launch window.

I remember some lady took thousands of dollars to an iPhone launch to buy them all and sell them at a higher price. Luckily, the store had a one phone per person rule.

@muscpt
That's amazing. I'll remember this for next time, thank you for sharing.

Best Buy had measures in place with multiple step check out and disabled shipping options (pick up required) which was nice. It still ran out of stock in like 5 minutes but I was able to grab one.

So reading through all of these comments so far (and I was able to get a Switch OLED via my local GameStop on an in-store preorder) 2 things come to my mind here: 1. It isn't just Nintendo that is "loving" the scalpers. Sony, Microsoft, nVIDIA, AMD? They all have had all their latest tech products scalped just as hard and just as deeply as Nintendo so those other 4 companies mentioned must "love" it too. But seriously...the fact that scalpers cause product to sell out much faster than if they weren't there? It only looks good on quarterly financial reports. Let's be realistic there. Also, about the Steam Deck being or not being scalped? It will. Trust me. It will...hard. The companies behind the retail bots already have their bots primed for whatever Valve is going to place against them and they are as ready as Reggie right now. Friday morning is going to be another spectacle of scalping again. Out!

Just a reminder that eBay does have policies in place that prohibit selling any device that can't ship in 30 days. October is months away still. Feel free to report any listing you see if you want to irritate some scalpers. I don't know why eBay doesn't try to automatically do this themselves.

Choose "Listing Practices" --> "Inappropriate Seller Terms" --> "Presale"

Looks like you can still grab one from target. Since they aren't sold out yet that means demand isn't that high so scalpers are gonna be sweating.

Seems like the only way to stop the scalpers is to stop buying from them. Unfortunately most people that are buying from them are also not reading this post or even Nintendo Life.

@Grafeaux

This didn’t age well. Deck has scalpers too lol

I walked into my local gamestop when preorders started. There were 2 other peoppe already there to buy one. I reserved mine and they still had incoming stock available.

On a stranger note, I couldn't order the steam deck. It said my account was too new, even though it's not new at all. Then the website stopped working. I emailed steam support with a screen shot and got a steam deck 512gb reserved at 5:25 central. Long after they supposedly sold out.

I also got my ps5 order day one walking into gamsstop. I guess I'm just lucky.

These scalpers are worse than Covid...

There isn’t much in life worth paying those prices for. In my opinion, Little Timmy can be disappointed on Christmas because it teaches him that life is full of disappointments and setbacks.

Scalpers exist because we worship profit like a Ferengi. So people are not paid what they are worth here because corporate profit and CEO pay matters more than employees or society. So the bored rich people start looking for new ways to make more money they cannot really spend (and poorer people emulate them with money they don’t have).

So I hate the culture that makes scalpers happen. The only fix I see is to hope that the IRS and local state equivalent tax the crap out of their probably their profits. But really we need to stop and look at the carnage our culture is wrecking on humanity and make some tough decisions. Making the world all about “me” doesn’t ever work long term.

It's economics 101. The only way to stop it is to not pay the scalpers asking price, but sadly there are too many people out there that just accept it as the way it is and pay up.

@ATaco The main issue with what Valve is doing, is that the Steam Deck is currently only available via the Steam store, and you are giving them $5 to register your interest. Nintendo on the other hand is distributing to third party retailers who set their own rules. I know some retailers (including the Nintendo online store) here in Australia set a one/two per customer rule on high demand limited items like Amiibo or consoles, and won't allow multiple accounts to send an item to the same address.

I think the OLED scalping shouldn't be too bad in the long run. The original is a perfectly fine alternative.

In this case the scalpers aren't going to be able to prevent anyone from getting a Switch so only really collectors or those dead set on getting the OLED this year are going to pressured into scalpers prices.

@ATaco That's actually not going to do anything. Arguably it means a scalper can grab reservations for $5 and then sell the reservation with even less risk.

@Cheez Gamestop already does. Scalpers are ruining it for everyone. I got to Gamestop shortly after pre-orders sent live. I order my white OLED switch, then my wife goes to order hers and we are told only one per family. They literally check your driver's license to see if you live at the same address or even have the same last name. So now only one of us gets an OLED Switch, at least until next year when they are easier to find. I can't even imagine a family that has 3 children who all want an OLED Switch. Thanks to scalpers only one kid gets a Merry Christmas. How about the sites like Ebay, where these scalpers make their money, put some rules in force. Maybe brand new tech shouldn't be allowed to be sold until 90 days after release, or possibly make a rule that the selling price cannot be more than 20% over retail. However they will never set these rules because they make a ton of money in fees from scalpers selling stuff.

@cwbcpa71 In today's world, Gaming is supposedly a luxury for the rich. If you're not rich like their "Glorious leader," Donald Trump, then what are you gonna do? Nothing, just work and work and work into your graves, and by the time you're able to afford a PS5 or an XBox Series X, the PS6 will be out, as will the XBox Successor System!

At this point, you're better off playing with a ball in a cup, because you're so poor that's all you can afford, really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkaXJKL38BI

@Dan420 You do know v2 LCD Switch is still there to be bought. Nothing in OLED is different from v2 Switch.

@SwitchForce The OLED Switch has several differences from the v2 Switch. For the extra $50 you get improved audio from the internal speakers (big for someone like me who plays in handheld the majority of the time), you get a vastly improved kickstand, you get double the amount of onboard memory (although it still isn't enough), you get a built in wired LAN port on the dock, you get a sleek looking white dock and white joycons, oh and of course the 7 inch OLED display is far superior to the 6.2 inch LCD.

Geez sure doesn't sound like it's the same as the v2 Switch.

I'm not spending $300 to upgrade my v1 Switch to a v2 just for better battery life, but $350 for the OLED Switch with everything I mentioned plus the improved battery life over v1 makes getting the OLED a no brainer for me. It's too bad that Gamestop limits it to one per family, or household, or last name due to scalpers.

Dang just imagine you are sharing a house with friends to keep rent low, your roommate orders the OLED Switch at Gamestop, now you can't because that address is only allowed ONE. Or the scenario I described earlier with a household with multiple children, too bad only ONE kid gets it. This isn't like a PS5 where one console for one house is usually sufficient. This is a hybrid game system where one console for an entire house may not be enough, it's portable, it's not hard to understand that people would want their own and not to have to share with their wife, kids, etc.

@YoshiAngemon lol. Well that escalated quickly.

All i gotta say whoever willing to buy for that kind of price from Scalpers are just plain Stupid.

@TripleX I agree paying way over retail for something is dumb, but it isn't always just stupidity, for some people a few hundred extra dollars to get the system from a scalper is literally nothing to them. There are a lot of wealthy people that $200 to them is the equivalent of $2 to the rest of us. So we have this cycle set up where poorer people screw over other poorer people and buy up as many systems as they can get their hands on. This makes it harder for the average Joe to get a pre-order, while earning a nice profit for the scalper, and not really effecting the end buyer much because many of them are people who could care less about a few hundred bucks.

@russell-marlow Why should retailers care they are still selling the product and it stinks.

@jello64 ... Y'know what, you have a good point.

Carry on with your day, my dude.

https://chng.it/QbrNHxQCY7