Wii U Price Gouging at a High

[Crono141]

The difference is that retailers and importers take their cut for providing a service to customers, while there is never any real value provided by scalpers. It is not a common thing, but I have been told about concerts that "sell out" almost instantly and then end up being 80% full, with half the people who went to the concert having been forced to pay scalper prices.

Sure we do.  We get there in line at the earliest possible time (in this case, the day of the announcement of the release date) and we buy up a console.  Regardless of if "scalpers" bought extra or not, all preorders would have sold out within the first week.  Fast forward to black friday.  The WiiU is all the rage in commercials and little timmy wants one, but everywhere you go they are sold out.  Shipments are expected at 3 am in the middle of december.  If everyone who preordered actually kept the console, you'd have to wait in line at 3 am just for the CHANCE to get one.

Now there are enterprising people who bought a console for resale purposes.  They've been holding on to their stock since the infamous preorder back in September.  Now, suddenly, when the only way to get a console was a retail price at 3 am on a tuesday night there is another option.  From the warmth and comfort of your own home, you can click a button and have the item shipped to you in plenty of time for wrapping and putting under the tree.  But this conveniece, nay even OPTION to buy at this time comes at a price.  You will pay what the market sets for the value of the console, not MSRP.

But you have that option.  In the theoretical "perfect" world, where only people who wanted the item would buy it, the option does not exist.  We enable the lazy or the less on the ball with money to burn to be able to get what they want, when they want it.  That is a service.

I have to requote this since it seems happy squirrel didn't read it, or chose to ignore it in favor of his warped and unreasonable view on console "scalpers".