POLL Private - How many bought a snes mini to resell.

[icemanxp300]

I'm curious.

[+NE146]

I'm curious.

 

MIssing a choice for "I bought more than one without intention to resell"

[icemanxp300]

 

MIssing a choice for "I bought more than one without intention to resell"

 

Fixed LOL

[Flojomojo]

I dont have one because $hithead toy scalpers and speculators are ruining it.

 

A better designed poll would have more options. Options that reflect reality, rather than icemans tiresome justifications.

 

- would buy if available at retail like a normal product

- will not buy or sell at marked up prices

- am sick of justifications for selfish hoarding of toys made for children

[icemanxp300]

This poll is not about the people who wanted one and did not get one or the reasons why they did not get one. This poll is simply to reflect how many people are willing or not willing to sell this item for profit.

 

Regardless I entered a choice for people who did not get one but would have liked one for themselves.

[Tanooki]

Secondarily it's a legitimate troll poll too. So far 2 votes, one for scalping, and one to keep (mine.)

 

All this poll will do is annoy people who couldn't get one and now face waiting or getting screwed by their own choice

Those who may take it personal if a scalper is...

- Brave enough to admit they're up to it whether they bought it to scalp it outright

- Do it after adding roms trying to pacify their morality calling it modding

- Or those who saw dollar signs after and just said screw it and did it anyway.

 

Nothing much good could come from this given the rage over the NES one not even a year ago now that dragged on for months and still will until the re-release.

[icemanxp300]

All this poll will do is annoy people who couldn't didn't try to get one and now face waiting or getting screwed by their own choice

 

fixed

[Osgeld]

[accousticguitar]

A friend of mine got to the store at 5:30, an hour and a half before it opened. They only had 6 units to sell and he got one of them. If he had waited til the store opened he would have missed out.

[Tanooki]

Aww and I thought I was on ignore. Seriously though you are right, but also wrong. Some people just have schedules and jobs where they can legit call in sick, fake a traffic jam, or whatever the case. Maybe they could have arranged another person willing to do it for them, but there were people who wanted and couldn't and not just out of laziness. I got one midnight they came out because I could stand a lack of sleep and was prepped to stay up and just go to another shop if I had to but thankfully I didn't.

[icemanxp300]

This is my theory on what happened here. Many people "including myself" figured there would be a very limited amount like before. People also assumed unless they camped out for 6 hrs they would not get one. As such many people did not even try to go out or put forth effort to obtain one.

 

After I went to my first Wal-mart and got there over an hour early just to see 24 people in line for 24 units and I was told like 20 other people had already left I was on my way home to call it a night. For the hell of it I just called a different wal-mart and actually turned around 4 minutes from my house and gave it a shot.

 

When I left and that wal-mart still had like 7 units available after midnight I realized demand was not that high and only certain stores would be packed. I as well figured all the die hard crazy wait in line for 6 hours plus people had already got theirs and would be done. I decided to try my luck in the morning only to see a huge supply at both Targets I went to.

 

People can blame whoever they want but I think people under estimated the demand and just said to hell with it and allowed people like me to get multiple units. I still believe Nintendo under produced greatly but I as well feel people under estimated how many Nintendo was making.

 

Everyone who is mad at me for buying 4 of them, you can not blame me for being in an area that got drastically more units for purchase compared to other areas that got little. My area was over saturated to the point were multiple people were getting 2+ units. There should not be people in my area who wanted one and did not get one.

 

Me buying these in Rochester NY area has no impact on people not being able to get one in Alaska, Idaho, or wherever else quantity was small. I have read on Nintendo's facebook about how numerous other areas had 100's available and stock was so plentiful they lasted for hours.

[+NE146]

This is my theory on what happened here. Many people "including myself" figured there would be a very limited amount like before. People also assumed unless they camped out for 6 hrs they would not get one. As such many people did not even try to go out or put forth effort to obtain one.

 

Probably true.. although that should not have been had people been paying attention. . e.g. even my post on Thursday the day before, I stated that stock was looking good with dozens of units at each store. And that's just me here at AA. Plenty of other places had reported that initial shipment numbers were great, so go out and get one.

[+adamchevy]

I thought about buying one to resell. Then I realized that I probably won't ever be able to buy one for my own personal use. I hope these exist for sell outside of scalpers one day. It's one of those times when I wish Nintendo would adopt Atari's sells strategies of over saturation.

[Tanooki]

Correct and I saw from poking about too that the lowest stock was smaller tier stuff like Meijer/Fred Meyer which ended u with 8-12 units. A lot of places ended up with 20-50 of them while others got upwards of 100+, though I read some that said the 100+ on inventory trackers would also include anyone who preordered as well so that would make sense. I can get that some far reaching US state or territory might have been harder to get them than in the continental US but it wasn't as bad by a long shot as the NES was. To get all whiny, bitchy and bitter taking a F' Nintendo I'm never buying your stuff again getting all personal just need to grow the hell up. That was a personal fault problem, and to act all entitled because you didn't get one day one is pretty lame too. Nintendo made some promises and were very clear about it unlike the NES. They upped intended production twice. The second brought it to what the NES sold total if not more (2.3M) to start. They also promised to keep them not just in production through this year but well into 2018 at a steady pace so those who want one won't have to pay more than 79.99 (ie: a scalpers rate.) Being impatient and childish about it at this point goes to speak a lot about the character of the individual, not Nintendo. It easily can fall back on them for being rotten if it was lies or misdirection and their idea of them keeping coming is like having 1-4 units showing up at a store every MONTH or two weeks like the NES did which was awful. If they can keep them coming like standard (or kind of like) console/handheld system shipments to stores on a weekly or biweekly basis anyone who wants it can get it if they make the slightest effort to (if they can) preorder a future delivery or just start making a few calls once a week and learn when to show up next time. I don't have a lot of pity having to be up in a walmart passed midnight as no one should have to do that, but if that's all it took was wasting a few hours -- you can do it too.

[keepdreamin]

This poll is just a thinly veiled attempt at seeking justification for behavior in numbers. Not even thinly veiled, it's blindingly obvious.

[Osgeld]

Correct and I saw from poking about too that the lowest stock was smaller tier stuff like Meijer/Fred Meyer which ended u with 8-12 units. A lot of places ended up with 20-50 of them while others got upwards of 100+, though I read some that said the 100+ on inventory trackers would also include anyone who preordered as well so that would make sense. I can get that some far reaching US state or territory might have been harder to get them than in the continental US but it wasn't as bad by a long shot as the NES was. To get all whiny, bitchy and bitter taking a F' Nintendo I'm never buying your stuff again getting all personal just need to grow the hell up. That was a personal fault problem, and to act all entitled because you didn't get one day one is pretty lame too. Nintendo made some promises and were very clear about it unlike the NES. They upped intended production twice. The second brought it to what the NES sold total if not more (2.3M) to start. They also promised to keep them not just in production through this year but well into 2018 at a steady pace so those who want one won't have to pay more than 79.99 (ie: a scalpers rate.) Being impatient and childish about it at this point goes to speak a lot about the character of the individual, not Nintendo. It easily can fall back on them for being rotten if it was lies or misdirection and their idea of them keeping coming is like having 1-4 units showing up at a store every MONTH or two weeks like the NES did which was awful. If they can keep them coming like standard (or kind of like) console/handheld system shipments to stores on a weekly or biweekly basis anyone who wants it can get it if they make the slightest effort to (if they can) preorder a future delivery or just start making a few calls once a week and learn when to show up next time. I don't have a lot of pity having to be up in a walmart passed midnight as no one should have to do that, but if that's all it took was wasting a few hours -- you can do it too.

 

 

paragraphs dude

[icemanxp300]

The votes don't lie. So far 6 7 people got sleep and 6 people did not lol

[StopDrop&Retro]

Damn, that sucks. I know this poll is probably completely unrepresentative of gamers as a whole, but I still think that's pretty crummy that half the people couldn't get one for themselves. I do hope the restocks are plentiful and drive the resellers away.

[+Andromeda Stardust]

There are several things wrong with this poll. What of the people who bough one as gifts?

 

Anyway I am keeping my one and only SNES unit. Last year I got an NES Mini at launch for my uncle and another in April for myself right as the last shipment came in. Both times I waited outside a store. SNES Minis still are scalp fodder currently but we will see how supply/demand levels out throughout the holiday season.

[carlsson]

The higher RRP, the less likely people will buy to resell. Over here the recommended price is close to 1500 SEK including VAT ($187.50) which apparently is more than twice what it costs in your part of the world. Many people have expressed their opinions that the official Nintendo importer is charging so much and looking to grey import from Germany, the UK etc, but nevertheless it keeps the scalping down as most people in for a quick profit don't have that much money to "invest", and in the other end leads to more people are able to buy it directly from a licensed reseller as the stocks don't run out so fast.

 

At the gaming event I arranged this weekend, one of the exhibitors put a brand new SNES Mini on the on-site live auction, starting at the RRP of 1500 SEK. He got exactly one bid, so he got it sold for what it'd otherwise cost in stores, no bid raising to silly amounts because the demand isn't there when the prices are high to begin with.

[icemanxp300]

There are several things wrong with this poll. What of the people who bough one as gifts?

 

"Mine" can be more than one, I'm not making a 100 different choices. If you bought 1 or 20 to not resell, just select the option to keep. People will find a reason to bitch no matter what.

[Flojomojo]

People will find a reason to bitch no matter what.

 

Spoken by the true master of the form.

 

 

It's a very old issue. Here's WSJ on the topic from more than 20 years ago:

 

 

Toy Scalpers Buy Scarce Items, Then Resell Them at a Profit

Joseph Pereira Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated June 24, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- It is 8 a.m., and a Target store here has just opened for business. Dennis Barger, who has been waiting in the parking lot since 7:30, races in to buy a toy.

A few minutes later, he is down the road at a Wal-Mart, then on to a Kmart and two Toys "R" Us stores. At 10:30, a weary Mr. Barger finds a coffee shop, sits down to an iced tea, and surveys his haul: one Captain Kirk, three Guinans, two Cygors, one Hamburger Head, one Worf, one Violator -- 13 action figures in all, from the world of Star Trek or Spawn comic books. Total price: $55.

Mr. Barger didn't get everything he was looking for, but not to worry. "I'll sell two figures and get my money back," he says. The entire purchase, he reckons, should fetch him more than $200.

Mr. Barger, 24 years old, is a toy scalper. By staying alert to the latest fads, moving fast and using special purchasing channels, he makes his living buying toys that are in short supply and then selling them at huge markups to collectors, other resellers, or parents and children who are desperate to have them.

In the toy business, where shortages are increasing, the role of scalpers is growing. For reasons that are hotly debated, temporary unavailability of certain toys has plagued consumers ever since the big run on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers began three years ago.

Parents agonized when Mattel Inc.'s Happy Holiday Barbie sold out weeks before last Christmas morning. Not long before that, stores were cleaned out of Earring Magic Ken. More recently, Mattel's Treasure Hunt cars, Toy Biz Inc.'s Xena the Warrior, and the Cal Ripken Jr. replica from Hasbro Inc.'s Starting LineUp have been scarce.

Some buyers speculate that shortages are designed by manufacturers seeking to create cachet for toys and stir consumer interest. Others say supply problems are the result of a highly unpredictable market in which toy makers aren't really sure what products will become hot.

"The penalty for overproducing product in the toy industry is so huge -- many toy companies have gone out of business. And because of that, manufacturers would rather deal with a shortage than overproduction," says Sean McGowan, an analyst for Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., a New York investment bank.

Setting Limits

Toy makers say their calculations have been upset by collectors, such as the Barbie devotees who gobbled up so many Happy Holidays last Christmas. Estimates on the number of collectors vary widely, from 200,000 to three million. Judging from ads in toy-collector magazines, there is a thriving business for scalpers as well.

Last week, a Toys "R" Us store in New Hampshire banned a collector -- for the first time -- from buying any more toys there. The company says the collector had become too frequent a customer, purchasing thousands of dollars of hot figures.

While some stores set limits on the number of certain items each customer can purchase, "it's very hard to police" scalping, says Michael Goldstein, chairman of Toys "R" Us Inc., the nation's largest toy retailer. "Scalpers can easily sidestep the customer limit by having relatives or friends come in to buy for them."

Toys "R" Us has investigated a number of deals made between its employees and scalpers, Mr. Goldstein says, leading to the dismissal of some workers.

Return of the Jedi

One of the biggest current squeezes is on Hasbro's new line of Star Wars figures linked to a coming re-release of the space-movie trilogy.

At Toys "R" Us stores, characters such as Obi Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia retail for $4 to $5 -- if you can find them. Eleven-year-old Kilian Ellison couldn't. After what he calls "an endless search for the Princess," he ran into Mr. Barger at a comic-book store, and paid $55 for one.

"I get $15 for mowing people's lawns," shrugs Kilian, who lives with his mom in Ann Arbor, Mich. "So I'll mow a few more lawns."

Mr. Barger has a wide reputation -- and an eclectic clientele. During the Power Ranger drought, he sold scarce versions of the drop-kicking avengers for about $120 apiece to film stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, who gave them to their children for Christmas. Specialty shops paid plenty for his Earring Magic Kens, which had become a novelty item among gays.

"He's like Indiana Jones," says Rex Schroeder, owner of Total Entertainment, a comic-book and video store in Ypsilanti. "If there's a Holy Grail in toys, he'll find it."

But collectors are outraged at scalpers' prices. Mr. Barger's inventory includes a hard-to-get World War II G.I. Joe for $150, a replica of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo for $35 and a Commander Riker Star Trek doll at $225. Each has, or had, a retail price of about $5. "When will the escalation end?" asks Sean MacIntre, a Dallas collector. "His type of price inflation we see in Argentina, not America."

There is nothing illegal about what Mr. Barger does, but that doesn't make kids any happier when they can't find their favorites. "The adults beat us to the store every time," says Jon Iwata, 10, combing shelves for Star Wars and Hercules figures at a Caldor store in Braintree, Mass. "It's like little kids racing against these big adults in a 100-yard dash or something."

An Apology

Mr. Barger says he doesn't feel guilty, reasoning that he deals mostly with adult collectors and owners of small toy stores. He blames toy makers for shortages, saying they don't make enough toys to go around. He adds that he makes donations to Toys for Tots and other children's charities as a way of saying to kids: "I'm sorry for buying up all your toys."'

A stocky figure with a penchant for black T-shirts and baseball caps worn backward, Mr. Barger graduated from Eastern Michigan University earlier this month with a major in marketing. He declines to discuss his income, but says he paid for college with scalping profits.

"I almost never sell my stuff for less than a 100% markup," he says. "What stock on any of the exchanges offers that kind of return in just a few weeks?" Industry estimates are that a good scalper can make upward of $50,000 a year.

Mr. Barger's biggest concern at the moment is moving his bulging inventory -- which he values at $200,000 in street prices -- to a larger home. Except for the Victorian architecture, his three-bedroom apartment might be mistaken for a toy store. Customers may, by appointment only, stop in to peruse thousands of action figures that hang five to ten-deep on foot-long metal spikes, just like the ones seen at check-out counters. Thousands more are stacked to the rafters in his garage.

"There's a real retail atmosphere to the place," he says, adjusting the merchandise on his racks.

Hot Tips

Mr. Barger cultivates a labyrinth of contacts, from moles in toy factories to clerks in stockrooms and warehouses of toy stores. For a fee, usually $50 per tip, informants alert him of incoming shipments. Some will even put an order on hold for him.

During visits to stores, Mr. Barger introduces himself to back-room crews and hands out business cards. On one outing, he beckons a stockroom clerk at a Toys "R" Us outside Detroit to a quiet corner. "I'm a toy dealer," he whispers, "I buy and sell toys, lots of toys. I was wondering if you could, like, give me a call, you know, when something hot comes in. I could make it worthwhile for you."

The clerk listens carefully, nods, and after a moment's hesitation, says, "No problem, man, I'll let you know." Such propositions are common, says Anthony Daniels, an Eastern Michigan student who once worked at Toys "R" Us. "I got a few myself," he says.

Much of Mr. Barger's time is spent in parking lots, waiting for stores to open in the morning and for delivery trucks at night. He also works the phones, pumping sources for such arcane facts as the distribution ratios of figurines in new deliveries. Action figures generally come 16 to 24 to a carton, in mixed assortments. If there are more than two copies of a single character in a box, chances are that figure won't be worth much on the street.

Heading North

Once every few weeks, Mr. Barger rises before dawn and heads across the border to Canada, where fads don't always catch on as they do in the U.S. In October 1993, Power Rangers were scarce here. But the Rangers TV show was banned then in parts of Canada over the issue of screen violence, so Mr. Barger drove to Toronto, on the hunch that would damp demand.

"I walked into a Toys 'R' Us and my eyes just about popped out," he says. "There, staring me in the face was a shelf full."

Hitting a number of other stores nearby, Mr. Barger was soon headed back to the U.S. with a friend after spending $10,000. At a 3 a.m. crossing, border guards weighed and shook the toys, looking for drugs. "What would you do if you saw two men drive up with a vanload of plastic dolls in the middle of the night?" asks a border patrol officer on route 402, recalling the incident.

Mr. Barger's hottest current holding is a lone copy of a coveted Tapestry Picard, a likeness of actor Patrick Stewart as Star Trek Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Playmates Inc. has made about a half-dozen different versions of Capt. Picard since 1992. But only the Tapestry version sports a distinctive red uniform the character wore at the Star Fleet Academy.

Playmates, based in La Mirada, Calif., concedes that some of its Star Trek figures have been in short supply, but denies the shortages were intentional. "We were simply trying to spark interest by introducing a few items in limited quantities earlier this year," a spokesman says. "What we didn't know was that it was going to spark that much interest."

The Tapestry Picards sold out for about $5.99 at retail outlets earlier this year, and Playmates has stopped making them. In computer on-line services, they are quoted at between $625 and $1,000. Mr. Barger says he paid about $100 for his, obtained, he will only say with a wink, "from a source at Target."

[icemanxp300]

<---- Hops in his car to drive 2 hours to the Canadian Border.

[Giltygear]

 

 

paragraphs dude

 

What's the point? The story will still go nowhere.

 

then it will be your fault that you didn't read all of his wall 'o text

[TPA5]

<---- Hops in his car to drive 2 hours to the Canadian Border.

 

We'd rather you didn't.