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Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

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Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#41

Post by kaoD »

IgorPartola wrote: post #25

Sounds like Nintendo, along with a bunch of other companies, need to take a page out of USSR's book. The way it worked there is that you put your name on the list to buy, say, a car. And when the car is actually manufactured, you get to buy it. Big product launches like this could really benefit from a system like that. I know some places already do this: x.ai comes to mind. They even had a thing where you could move…

How would this fix the problem? Botters would just bot the list instead.

It worked in the USSR because USSR.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#42

Post by covercash »

gm-conspiracy wrote: post #10

Only half of my Nintendo holiday arbitrage attempts have been successful. There will be limited availability for a short time, then a flood of product.

When I was younger, half the fun was trying to obtain the limited availability consoles!! Now it's no longer fun, just refresh a page and hope resellers don't buy up inventory before you can grab one.

I'm still impressed that my mom somehow managed to get me an n64 for that first Christmas they were available! I was in disbelief since I was certain they were impossible to get. 13yo me had all the local toy store #s memorized and I'd call every day asking if they received any shipments. No dice.

Shadows of the Empire on Christmas morning was so awesome! Tripping up those AT-ATs that morning was one of the more memorable moments in my gaming history.

A few months prior, for my best friend's September birthday, his mom took us to Toysrus and let him pick either the just released n64 +1 game OR the on-sale SegaCD and a bunch of games. He chose... poorly.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#43

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

Amazon should do popular items like this using a lottery system to hurt the advantage bots, scripts, and people with lower latency have.

- You can enter the item lottery for a longer period (e.g. 60 minutes).

- Lottery winners are picked at random, not based on entry time.

- Max one entry per household (remove entries with duplicate mailing addresses, duplicate credit cards, and duplicate email addresses).

- Once someone wins they have a window to purchase (e.g. 3 hours). If they fail to purchase then the lottery picks a new winner.

Now obviously cheats will still exist, but at least they're all on a fairer playing field with normal purchasers.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#44

Post by ovao »

IgorPartola wrote: post #25

Sounds like Nintendo, along with a bunch of other companies, need to take a page out of USSR's book. The way it worked there is that you put your name on the list to buy, say, a car. And when the car is actually manufactured, you get to buy it. Big product launches like this could really benefit from a system like that. I know some places already do this: x.ai comes to mind. They even had a thing where you could move…

It is true that many consumers would benefit from such systems, but unfortunately, drumming up demand by trickling supply into the market is Nintendo's modus operandi.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#45

Post by metaphor »

typicalrunt wrote: post #2

I grok capitalism and even like it. But there are times where it is difficult to like it. In this case, people rushed to buy this product for the sole purpose of reselling it for 8x. What's wrong with our society that some people can be so morally bankrupt and bereft of good sense. In the end, I think these scalpers won't sell for 8x because anintendo will just pump out more product. Still, it is sad to see this happ…

Agreed. It's quite sad that the impetus is on Nintendo to flood the market with product. As of this post, there were 3,800+ posts on eBay[1]; there's at least an entire page-full listing Buy It Now @ $1000 or more.

[1] http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=nes%20classic%20edition

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#46

Post by eridius »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #39
eridius wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does luxury goods have to do with anything? A luxury good isn't a regular good that's simply been marked up 10x.

That's very nearly the definition of luxury goods, given changes to elasticity with income, with it being explicitly so for veblen goods.

You can't just take any product, mark it up 10x, and call it a luxury good. People would laugh at you and buy the regular one. A luxury good has to have some reason to justify its luxury status.

In this particular case, the $60 NES Classic is already a luxury good. Marking it up 10x doesn't make it more of a luxury good, it just either means people who actually want to use the damn thing can't afford to, or must pay exorbitant prices.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#47

Post by madengr »

I wonder if these things are timed for release once a target audience hits a certain age? What is that age?

It was about 8 years between 1st gen consoles (Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision) and 2nd gen (Nintendo). The retro-rerelease of 1st gen was about 8 years ago. I am 45 and am nostalgic about 1st gen. I was in high school for 2nd gen; no nostalgia, uninterested.

So do these retro-rerelease target those in their late 30's. Mid life crisis yearning for nostalgia?

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#48

Post by Spooky23 »

r00fus wrote: post #16
typicalrunt wrote: post #2

I grok capitalism and even like it. But there are times where it is difficult to like it. In this case, people rushed to buy this product for the sole purpose of reselling it for 8x. What's wrong with our society that some people can be so morally bankrupt and bereft of good sense. In the end, I think these scalpers won't sell for 8x because anintendo will just pump out more product. Still, it is sad to see this happ…

I really don't see why Nintendo didn't produce a bit more on launch - I mean, they're not some kickstarter newbie - don't they have some skills in demand-forecasting?

It spikes demand. Crazy parents run all over the place looking for it.

The winners are Nintendo, who gets sales in the 1Q, which is normally death for this kind of product, and the retailers, who get parents visiting daily and buying other crap.

My brother spent weeks looking for the "cream pie in the face game" last year. In the process, he picked up a half dozen other board games.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#49

Post by eridius »

derefr wrote: post #36
eridius wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not hurting anyone, it's just a stupid retro console. It's hurting the people who are forced to pay $600 for a $60 item because they need one (e.g. a must-have gift for someone). It's hurting the people who wanted to buy one for $60 but cannot afford to buy one for $600. So yeah, it's hurting basically everybody who had any interest in buying the product.

I don't agree that arbitrage hurts consumers (in most cases.) As I said in my sibling comment, arbitrage hurts producers —but it tends to help consumers. If you assume that a good is finite by definition (e.g. a concert ticket), then arbitrage helps the good reach the people who value it the most. Imagine a world where all concert tickets, no matter where in the stadium they are, cost $60. Imagine that there is no su…

Arbitrage does not help consumers. Arbitrage helps the subset of consumers that can afford the higher prices, but it hurts the consumers that can't. Your example with concert tickets only makes sense if all consumers have the same amount of discretionary income, but that's not representative of the real world.

Re: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in less than a minute

#50

Post by GFischer »

tostitos1979 wrote: post #17
minimaxir wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo has had a history of unexplainable supply shortages for in-demand items. (case in point: Amiibo)

Ha .. not unexplained. I am part of a few "deals" websites. People inexplicably want to collect all of them! They have predictions on what Amibos will sell out, so people can buy 'em sooner rather than later. Lots of crazy stuff. I thought it was to make a profit but it seems there are genuine collectors out there.

Digital age Beanie Babies?

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...

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