'Slackers' also scalpers?
by JC Fletcher 
{ Dec 21st 2007 at 6:00PM }
A retail chain called Slackers is apparently skipping the middleman (the customers in the store) and putting their Wiis on eBay straight off the truck. If you live in Illinois or Missouri and you've been trying to get a Wii at Slackers for the past year, you can go ahead and stop. And start cursing, maybe.Someone purporting to be a Slackers employee told Ars Technica that "In the past year, none of the 12 [Slackers locations] have sold any Wiis except for a one-time promotional deal, where we did force customers to buy a game with it." A visit to the Slackers eBay store shows no Wiis currently in stock, but evidence of previously sold $400 Wiis can be found in the feedback. Also, they have a nice selection of Pico games.
Jerks scalping Wiis for profit is hardly news, but this is different. This is a retail chain scalping direct shipments from Nintendo instead of buying the things from store shelves themselves. With these guys, there is zero chance of finding one of these Wiis before it gets snapped up for eBay.
[Via Game|Life]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 21st 2007 6:25PM
What a bunch of slackers.
Patius @ Dec 21st 2007 6:28PM
I'm fairly positive that that isn't legal.
I'm not sure what its called, but someone who lives in that state should tell the cops, who should investigate it.
Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Dec 21st 2007 6:42PM
This might be legal.
But I guess Nintendo can just cut the pipe of Wii for them. That is also legal.
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 6:47PM
Hrm... someone should inform the local arsonist of a potential target for his fire filled glee.
TheOverlord#2 @ Dec 21st 2007 6:51PM
Nintendo shouldn't give them anymore Wiis, as what they are doing is frowned upon by Nintendo.
And if they don't get more Wiis, there will be more Wiis in other stores that sell the console, and will help with the s/d problem a little bit =/
nicole @ Dec 22nd 2007 6:05PM
Slackers is a small chain retailer. With only 11 locations in the metro st.louis area they do NOT get their Wii's directly from nintendo. They are purchased at a cost of 249.99 (yes, the retail price of the system) from a distributor, who gets their Wii stock from Nintendo.
the ONLY way that Slackers would make a profit on a Wii system, sold new in store, would be if the customer purchased a game and/or additional accessories for the system.
lastly, for all of you guys that are saying things like "oh, nintendo wouldn't be happy about this.... nintendo is going to pull Slacker's stock of Wii's." do you seriously think that nintendo cares at all? they're a major corporation who, like most, main concern is making money. as long as we're buying them, selling them, and asking for more i'm not sure that anyone on their 24 hour customer care hotline would care how they're being sold on a retail basis.
Alistair @ Dec 21st 2007 6:55PM
For sure they won't be getting any more Wiis. They've almost certainly violated the terms of their reseller contract with Nintendo.
What isn't clear is what further action could be taken. I don't think any states have laws about scalping electronics (and if they did, they would probably be along the lines of 'manufacturers can't force retailers to sell at a particular price') but the question would be whether Nintendo can impose contractual penalties. That would be down to the contract, and I'm guessing that will remain confidential unless and until the dispute reaches the inside of a courtroom (which is, of course, highly unlikely).
Nevertheless, now they've been outed, they can expect Reggie to be kicking their butt and taking their name in the next few days...
Patrick @ Dec 21st 2007 6:59PM
And how exactly does scalping a Wii make you a jerk? We are performing a service. The service is being willing to get in line at Best Buy at 5 AM on a cold Sunday. This is a service that some are willing to pay for. An extra $70 to $100 is not a lot to pay or be paid for this service. It's not like those paying higher than MSRP have a gun at their heads. Every other business person does basically exactly the same thing we do. You think $350 for a Wii is an absurdly high price, but I bet you don't bat an eye at someone charging you over $100 for baseball game ticket. Tell me, where's the real mark-up?
So quit your whining just because you aren't willing to get up early to secure one, or because you don't have enough money to buy one at (free) market price.
james @ Dec 21st 2007 7:10PM
it's one thing to wait in line, buy, and then resell. Another entirley, if you work at a store, buy things (most likely with an employee discount) before any customer can ever see it, and sell it on ebay
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 7:11PM
I have no problem with someone waiting in line, buying a product and selling it at a higher price later, buuuuuuuut these guys aren't even scalping the Wii's. They are taking them directly off the truck and inflating the price. They have direct acess to the Wii's and are not performing any service for the inflated price. If I was to wait for 10 hours in line for a Wii and make a 70-100 dollar profit on the Wii by selling it later I'm selling a service. These guys are crooked, totally different story.
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 7:13PM
@james
These guys didn't even buy the product from their own store and sell it on the side as a consumer, they sold it directly from their store at inflated prices, that's not right. They're taking advantage of consumers.
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 7:15PM
I also don't mind when people spend 30-50 dollars in gas (typically much more) to find said Wii and turn around to sell it for 70-100 extra dollars.
There is a difference between opportunity cost and what they're doing.
Patrick @ Dec 21st 2007 7:20PM
@Anticrawl
Okay, so maybe what they're doing is a little low-brow, but how is it "not right?" How is it "crooked?" This a free economy. If you don't like that, I think there still may be some communist countries left in the world.
There's nothing wrong with scalping. There's no such thing as too much money being paid for an item (or service) if both parties agree. Rather than call it exploitation, why not call it stupid consumption?
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 7:21PM
I may even go so far as to say what Slackers is doing is extortion by coercion, which is a criminal offense.
Anticrawl @ Dec 21st 2007 7:29PM
While I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and agree with you in the fact it may be simply a poor decision by a consumer the fact of the matter is they're bullying the consumer into making the purchase. It isn't scalping when a retailer does it. This isn't any different than gas stations raising their prices anytime a natural disaster or big event happens. They are leveraging consumer fear and controlling the market by doing this, and some people might go so far as to label it as extortion. As with personal responsibility everything is not held by one party. The seller and buyer are both required to be responsible for their actions and the negative actions of the seller outweight that of the buyer.
I love capitalism but there has to be a sense of morality in place as well. There are laws against obsenity in our country as well as for morality and if you don't agree with that then maybe it's you who should adjust your thinking. There are laws in place against this as well as things like "return fraud" and weather or not you agree with them is moot because they are wrong and rather illegal.
TheFireStorm @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:26AM
slackers has issued Official Statement on there web site slackers.com so there maybe more then one side to this story
fred @ Dec 22nd 2007 12:38AM
I just bought a used wavebird at slckers today, they had 4 total & the clerk didn't know it worked on the wii. They were selling for 30$ whiched is pretty reasonable... Hope they don't raise the price.
raindog @ Dec 22nd 2007 1:58AM
I find what this chain is doing to be distasteful, but I bought both of my Wiis from ebay scalpers and would do so again. My time is frankly worth too much for me to stay up all night waiting outside a retail store.
Buying from scalpers is not something I normally do; I stopped going to concerts rather than pay scalper prices when New York decriminalized ticket scalping. But for a physical item that's obtainable with some effort? I'll gladly pay someone else for making that effort. If it weren't some stranger on ebay, it would be some friend of mine who needed some money and had a lot of free time on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. I wouldn't call my friend a "scalper", but if I could afford to do that sort of thing on a regular basis I might call him or her my "personal shopper".
On the other hand, if I were in Slackers' market area and shopped at their store, I'd stop, and tell everyone I knew about what Slackers was doing. That's the flip side of the free market. Also on the flip side of the free market is Nintendo saying to the chain, "Fine. You get one Wii for all of next year." I don't see it happening, but I also don't see Nintendo giving them any more co-marketing money for a while, if they ever did.
As for legality, I can't imagine simply selling your store's inventory in ebay is illegal - several comic and card shops in my area have closed their storefronts and gone to a pure ebay model, and I would certainly do the same if I were in that business - but if they advertise that a given store sells the Wii when in fact they never have, in order to get traffic to their stores, they may run afoul of some false advertising or "bait and switch" consumer protection statute.
I have no idea how that sort of case gets to court, though, and by the time it did, the Wii shortage will have long since passed. But those imagining the chain and its employees don't come off like jerks by doing this are deluding themselves; most middle Americans are not fans of either Ayn Rand or Ron Paul, but most do know someone who's looking for a Wii.
A free market doesn't include freedom from consequences. In this case, the consequences may include bad PR, an ineffectual word-of-mouth boycott, or in the worst case for their business, Nintendo cutting off their air supply. Individual scalpers face no such risk.
sheppy2.0 @ Dec 22nd 2007 10:12AM
I'm trying rather hard not to call you people easy hatebandwagon jumping idiots. So I won't. But frankly, the original article shows zero knowledge of the store chain itself and lacks info. So I don't blame you people for knowing nothing and basing your hate on that knowledge.
-Slackerz is an independant chain store. Far too small to deal directly with Nintendo so they deal through a distributor. Who takes his tiny cut. So Slackerz cannot be violating a contract which does not exist. Want this issue to change? Encourage Nintendo to deal with the mom and pop stores.
-Console sales have very little profit, which is why most of these chains don't deal in the consoles. And if someone uses anything aside from cash to pay for this purchase, they lose money due to debit and credit fees retailers deal with.
-According to distribution releases, they've had 44 units across eleven stores for the entire holiday season. 4 units per store if they were selling in shop. Of those, how many would be paying cash? In other words, them selling the consoles directly would be a huge fatass hole in their bottom line and considering the STELLAR array of used Wii games they have to try and sell, the Wii console sales are not profitable for smaller stores.
-Slackers is a great store which usually sells used games at a decent price but always features the deal of buying 3 used CDs, DVDs, or games, getting the fourth free. Their selection ranges from Odyssey to PS3 and you can find some pretty good gems from time to time. I don't live near one personally, but everytime I visit my father, I have to visit Slackers. It's a great store and despite this news, I can still think no ill will towards them. Know why? In my area, in the past three years, we've had 5 mom & pop gaming stores close down and now all we have left is Exile on Main (store ran by former Volition employees and they specialize in special orders) and 2 Gamestops. I wish we had a slackers. I like going into a store, seeing a copy of Growlanser Generations, and asking (and getting) to play their copy before deciding on a purchase.
People who bash this store have no clue how great of a store it truly is.
Mort @ Dec 24th 2007 11:25AM
Agreed, people didn't look into what the truth was and just started spewing hate.
Ars seems to have screwed the pooch on this and didn't get their facts straight before they went to press (in a virtual sense). Slackers claims they were never contacted or attempted to be contacted. Nor do they get any shipment from Nintendo and pay 249.99 to resell for 249.99 to customers (which they lose money because of the credit card taking a cut of the sale, up to 3% according to the article on slackers.com).
Sold 5 on ebay, portion of sales going to charity. Sounds like they are real jerks to me! Better than me selling one on ebay for $350 to help pay for my books next semester, and I consider that a good reason.
Chuck Manwagon @ Dec 24th 2007 11:26AM
I work for Slackers as well and I would like to say what they are doing is far from fabulous, especially right before xmas with so many parents looking for Wiis. It's even harder to defend what the company is doing considering they have a long history of this. When the Xbox 360 was launced all of our shipments went to EBay, same with the PS3, etc. We are also only selling the Rock Band bundle on EBay only because it is hard to find. The same thing was done with the Halo 3 limited, which is hard to justify since we do make a profit on games. We even sell some used games on EBay only instead of in the store. I think this is unfair to the customers - If any of you own a copy of Final Fantasy 7, my advice would be sell it on EBay yourself instead of trading it into Slackers...