>During the global coronavirus pandemic, demand for the Nintendo Switch console has skyrocketed and retailers have repeatedly run out of stock. Seizing that opportunity, some price gougers on Amazon and eBay are selling Switches for hundreds of dollars over the recommended retail price.
>Like lots of money-making opportunities in online shopping, many of these resellers aren't just stumbling upon their in-demand product of choice. Instead, developers are creating dedicated tools to automatically buy Switches from stores when they come back in stock, and before others get a chance to. Motherboard has traced some of the bulk Switch buying to a community revolving around a new, particular bot. Hundreds of people looking to jump on the gold rush or who are just desperate to get their hands on a Switch for themselves have joined a Discord group where users share tips on how to effectively use the tool.
>Right now it is open season for profit seekers. Some resellers on eBay are asking for over $500 for a Switch, with some vendors successfully getting around $750 for the Animal Crossing themed bundle of the branded console and the game within the last week. The typical retail price for those products are $300 and $360 respectively.
Why do gamers do this and where do these people get the money from? Did you buy an overcosted switch?
nintendo always limit supply. There is a reason why mario kart ds was selling for $40 in 2013
Joseph Walker
Nintendo premium baby
Logan Campbell
Makes them look desirable
Hudson Phillips
>Seizing that opportunity, some price gougers on Amazon and eBay are selling Switches for hundreds of dollars over the recommended retail price. nothing new here
Austin Gray
>linking vice
take your estrogen today tranny?
Hudson Long
It's their traditional business policy. They literally did limited run Disney branded cards after plastic Hanafuda cards reached peak saturation, also having been the only supplier and slowly producing them. They have done the same thing for decades, and it's why they never had to sell off anything during hard financial times.
Cooper Diaz
>nintendo always limit supply. Yeah that makes total sense, limit the ability of potential customers to buy your products so you make less money
BRILLIANT
John Gutierrez
Will they ever go down in price? I'm not paying $500+ for a handheld.
that's the fakest shit i've ever seen, if you can't tell that's literally an ad for the phone you may be autistic
Daniel Jackson
I never understand why people buy off price gougers
Landon Jackson
>Yeah that makes total sense, limit the ability of potential customers to buy your products so you make less money It's literally their history user. Once plastic Hanafuda cards became saturated, meaning they had no market due to their abundance, their stocks went from 900 to 60 yen. They rebounded by licensing Disney characters, which attracted children, a market that Hanafuda lacked as it was seen as a gambling tool.
Brandon Hernandez
i would unironically fondle her pancake tits while hatefucking her drier than sahara sandy vagina that is probably wider than my apartment hallways
Ryan Rogers
Gross. Have some dignity
Robert Rodriguez
Limiting stock of mass-produced retail products makes absolutely no sense whatsoever when the company needs to sell said products to make money.
What is the point in creating demand you're not meeting?
Nolan Morales
But how does that benefit Nintendo when people can't buy them
Asher Sanchez
I don't think Nintendo were quite banking on COVID19 to drive up demand so quickly and have a bunch of scalping bots take all the available stock. They'll probably adjust and ship out more stocks but Japan's getting pretty fucked by the virus right now so I don't know how it'll affect their manufacturing.
Cooper Turner
>PS5 secured
Jeremiah Cruz
Limiting supply allows for longer term revenue. This has multiple benefits, including a continued market relevance. It also means they can limit production, which protects them in case of market failure. When every person has purchased a product that might, stores no longer need to stock that product. This hurts long term ties with businesses, cuts into your shelf space advertising, and means you need less storage and overhead. Again, they use this strategy because they were once burned by not doing it, and it literally helped restore the company.
Michael Ortiz
There are switches coming here in a month and there's still lites on shelves. This is my area where animal crossing was still only on the shelf for 3 hours after a re-stock, with a limit to 1 per customer.
Yeah, no. Obviously they don't want an over-saturated market, but again, creating demand they're not meeting does not benefit them in any way.
They are not intentionally limiting stock, they make what they think they'll sell, and if demand eclipses that they produce more. Everything you morons bitched about being artificially scarce in the recent past, like amiibos and the NES/SNES minis, were soon-after produced in higher numbers and were readily available, because Nintendo does not make any money when people can't buy their shit.
Leo Gray
Of course they make more, but they always aim low as a safety measure. Their business model is more concerned with security than short term gains. Artificial scarcity is a meme, but they genuinely are conservative with production numbers as a general rule.
Robert Carter
I have a Switch that I don't use. Honestly how much could I get? Like $350?
Isaac Brown
>but they always aim low as a safety measure But that isn't intentionally limiting supply, they're not intentionally failing to meet demand, they gauge demand and aim for what they think they'll actually sell.
Colton Morales
Its better for them to meet 80% demand than to produce 120% of demand. Or at least that's their business model, based on their history. As a result, there will be "shortages" assuming they ballpark sales expectations.
Sebastian Roberts
Ill give you that for it. I'm looking to get a 2nd one
Carson Lewis
>buying a switch for more than it´s worth >a handheld >during a shelter in place order
Luke Anderson
But again that's not the same as gauging demand and then intentionally producing far less than that in an effort to artificially drive up demand, they don't do that because it doesn't benefit them in any way for people to want to buy their products while being unable to.
And I'd say its better for virtually any business to meet 80% of initial demand and adjust than to meet 120% demand and have excess stock rotting that people aren't buying.
