Thursday, December 29, 2016

NES classic supply vs demand

A strange thing happened with the launch of the Nintendo classic console that had an MSRP of $60. This box was released mid-November in time for the Xmas season, but was almost never in stock anywhere. All units shipped were sold out within a couple of days and immediately listed online at scalper prices. The first scalper prices on Amazon were in the $250 range. Even now, four days after Xmas, the scalper price has only dropped to $180 and units are still out of stock everywhere. You can't order one from Amazon or Target or Wal*Mart.


I am in touch with Buddha on this item and have absolutely no desire to pay more than $60 for it, even if I never get one. The skewed supply situation has caused me to really examine what this box is worth and by the time they ship enough to kill the scalpers, I may no longer desire one at any price. Either Nintendo really messed up their demand projections or there is something else going on I don't understand. Good luck, Nintendo. I hope your accounting is better than your marketing, and better than Toshiba's.