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[ZealousD]

Reminder: No AlteredBeast musings anymore. He's now working for a store that sells apple products, and thus musings are now on the shoulders of other retail employees.

GameStop - Oklahoma
Worked Wed/Fri PM.

Wii - Standard week. We got three in, sold out quickly.

PS3 - Couldn't tell you how well they did overall, but they still seem limited since the 80GB MGS bundle is forthcoming.

360 - We got Pro's back in stock this week. Slow selling. I expect they'll pickup as GTA nears.

DS - In stock with almost all colors, but they're still selling swiftly.

PSP - Sold out of bundles.

Software - Sloooooooow week. I can't really tell much as far as new software is concerned, but preorders for both GTAIV and Mario Kart Wii are both strengthening significantly. On Friday, I picked up 2 preorders for GTAIV (360 version) without even asking.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Thanks for picking up the slack Zealous. This weekly thread is much needed!

 

[gtj1092]

Reminder: No AlteredBeast musings anymore. He's now working for a store that sells apple products, and thus musings are now on the shoulders of other retail employees.

GameStop - Oklahoma
Worked Wed/Fri PM.

Wii - Standard week. We got three in, sold out quickly.

PS3 - Couldn't tell you how well they did overall, but they still seem limited since the 80GB MGS bundle is forthcoming.

360 - We got Pro's back in stock this week. Slow selling. I expect they'll pickup as GTA nears.

DS - In stock with almost all colors, but they're still selling swiftly.

PSP - Sold out of bundles.

Software - Sloooooooow week. I can't really tell much as far as new software is concerned, but preorders for both GTAIV and Mario Kart Wii are both strengthening significantly. On Friday, I picked up 2 preorders for GTAIV (360 version) without even asking.

Thanks even though you are in Oklahoma.

 

[neojubei]

Thanks for making the thread. I cannot wait to see what the retail musing for April 28th-may 3rd will be like.

 

[Insane Metal]

These threads are very cool, thanks bro.

 

[Zonar]

add me to the list of thanks

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Less praising, more musings. I have popcorn to eat here folks?!?!?!?!!!!1

 

[Arde5643]

Thanks, Zealous - now commence with more musings.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Thanks, Zealous - now commence with more musings.

That is next month when Kart and GTA go to the ropes. This week should be slow. Not too many games have been released.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Almost every retailer under the sun had Wiis this week!

Toys R Us and Walmart had them advertised last Sunday.

Some Gamestop got two shipments, and some even got double the amount they usually get. Best Buy, Walmart proceeded to release Wiis as well, and Target with a late week release.

It was a really easy to find a Wii, and some of my Walmart still have them, although they are locked up in in expensive bundles of $350+++.

Suffice to say, most stores still sold out, and I expect a truly humongous NPD month for the Wii for April. It's like they got a two week shipment crammed into one week.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Almost every retailer under the sun had Wiis this week!

Toys R Us and Walmart had them advertised last Sunday.

Some Gamestop got two shipments, and some even got double the amount they usually get. Best Buy, Walmart proceeded to release Wiis as well, and Target with a late week release.

It was a really easy to find a Wii, and some of my Walmart still have them, although they are locked up in in expensive bundles of $350+++.

Suffice to say, most stores still sold out, and I expect a truly humongous NPD month for the Wii for April. It's like they got a two week shipment crammed into one week.

Has the bottom fallen out on eBay yet or is still selling well above cost? Really curious since Nintendo has two HUGE game coming in the next month and i'm expecting them to over-ship.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Has the bottom fallen out on eBay yet or is still selling well above cost? Really curious since Nintendo has two HUGE game coming in the next month and i'm expecting them to over-ship.

Prices fell by $20 or so during the huge ass Super Smash Bros release, but has somewhat stabilized now*. Prices actually were pretty stable this week even with the huge release, which I attribute to a more gradual restock instead of the one-time huge cannon fire during Smash release week.

I'm still making enough profits to make at least $1500 a week with enough volume.

*this was coincidentally also the time when eBay implemented the bullshit Best Match and a much cheaper "Featured! Plus" listing upgrade, which used to meant a difference between making $40 over over the standard listing price. Both those factors have effectively cut the market by

A)taking away the huge barrier of entry on the listing upgrade, dampening it's supposed beneficial effect, and

B) the Best Match system makes the prices alot more erratic, giving the impression that prices have fallen alot more during restock days.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Cool,

Since you are in the scalping trenches i like to hear your impressions. I'm assuming WiiFit will function similarly to Guitar Hero III with eBay sales in the $120 to $135 range. But who knows.

 

[lopaz]

Prices fell by $20 or so during the huge ass Super Smash Bros release, but has somewhat stabilized now*. Prices actually were pretty stable this week even with the huge release, which I attribute to a more gradual restock instead of the one-time huge cannon fire during Smash release week.

I'm still making enough profits to make at least $1500 a week with enough volume.

*this was coincidentally also the time when eBay implemented the bullshit Best Match and a much cheaper "Featured! Plus" listing upgrade, which used to meant a difference between making $40 over over the standard listing price. Both those factors have effectively cut the market by

A)taking away the huge barrier of entry on the listing upgrade, dampening it's supposed beneficial effect, and

B) the Best Match system makes the prices alot more erratic, giving the impression that prices have fallen alot more during restock days.

you scumbag

 

[Kapsama]

Reminder: No AlteredBeast musings anymore. He's now working for a store that sells apple products, and thus musings are now on the shoulders of other retail employees.
\.

Whaaaat? How could AlteredBeast betray us like that? His musing were awesome readings...

 

[Xirj]

Prices fell by $20 or so during the huge ass Super Smash Bros release, but has somewhat stabilized now*. Prices actually were pretty stable this week even with the huge release, which I attribute to a more gradual restock instead of the one-time huge cannon fire during Smash release week.

I'm still making enough profits to make at least $1500 a week with enough volume.

*this was coincidentally also the time when eBay implemented the bullshit Best Match and a much cheaper "Featured! Plus" listing upgrade, which used to meant a difference between making $40 over over the standard listing price. Both those factors have effectively cut the market by

A)taking away the huge barrier of entry on the listing upgrade, dampening it's supposed beneficial effect, and

B) the Best Match system makes the prices alot more erratic, giving the impression that prices have fallen alot more during restock days.

Yeah you're real cool buddy. Everytime I walked by a scalper at a concert I thought, "Yeah, I want that job, that's fantastic!"

 

[The Faceless Master]

sweet, more musings!

AB will be missed

 

[C4Lukins]

More musings. Less creepy scalper and discussion of creepy scalper.

 

[MWS Natural]

More musings. Less creepy scalper and discussion of creepy scalper.

.

 

[mentalfloss]

 

[VAIL]

Scalpers need to be strung up by the nuts.

 

[C4Lukins]

At least closer to Musings.

 

[Kagari]

GameStop - Michigan:

Wii - Got in 6, sold them all in a day. Smash Bros is the only notable title selling... Mario Kart will probably do fine, it has a decent amount of reserves.

DS - Selling good... we've been fully stocked for a while now. People buying them up for spring break.

PS2 - STILL selling fine. Lots of people picking up the Metal Gear Solid collection.

PS3 - Selling moderately, I do think a lot of people are waiting on the 80GB MGS4 bundle now. Software... Rainbow Six is really popular right now. Lots of people asking about Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA4.

PSP - Sold out. People buying the system for Crisis Core. We've sold a ton of Crisis Core lately.

XB360 - Only sold 1 unit this week. Doesn't seem to be much demand right now. Software seems to be Rainbow Six still... GTA4 preorders doing fine.

 

[HK-47]

you scumbag

Yeah fuck capitalism!

 

[inner-G]

Yeah fuck capitalism!

no shit.

It may suck if you can't find a console, but if I had nothing better to do, and I could buy Item A For $X, and sell it easily for a sizable profit, I would probably do just that.

PSP - Sold out. People buying the system for Crisis Core. We've sold a ton of Crisis Core lately.

Good to hear the occasional PSP game still sells! I bet this would have had crazy numbers if it weren't for the pir8s though. I know at least 2 people that picked up a PSP specifically for this game.

 

[AlteredBeast]

Maybe someday, heaven forbid, I will be back to selling videogames. In the meantime I appreciate Zealous and everyone else for picking up the slack.

 

[HondaF1Fanatic]

no shit.

It may suck if you can't find a console, but if I had nothing better to do, and I could buy Item A For $X, and sell it easily for a sizable profit, I would probably do just that.

I see it like this, you can't blame anyone but the window lickers who are paying that amount for the Wii.

 

[Neo C.]

PS2 - STILL selling fine. Lots of people picking up the Metal Gear Solid collection.

The PS2 is doing much better than I expected. And it doesn't even need new games to sell a good amount.

 

[beef3483]

GameStop - Michigan:

Wii - Got in 6, sold them all in a day. Smash Bros is the only notable title selling... Mario Kart will probably do fine, it has a decent amount of reserves.

DS - Selling good... we've been fully stocked for a while now. People buying them up for spring break.

PS2 - STILL selling fine. Lots of people picking up the Metal Gear Solid collection.

PS3 - Selling moderately, I do think a lot of people are waiting on the 80GB MGS4 bundle now. Software... Rainbow Six is really popular right now. Lots of people asking about Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA4.

PSP - Sold out. People buying the system for Crisis Core. We've sold a ton of Crisis Core lately.

XB360 - Only sold 1 unit this week. Doesn't seem to be much demand right now. Software seems to be Rainbow Six still... GTA4 preorders doing fine.

+ 1 for Wii HOTD 2 & 3. I bought that on Wednesday I think.

 

[Kagari]

The PS2 is doing much better than I expected. And it doesn't even need new games to sell a good amount.

PS2 is like an impulse buy to some people.

 

[Wollan]

Maybe someday, heaven forbid, I will be back to selling videogames. In the meantime I appreciate Zealous and everyone else for picking up the slack.

Is that.. regret? You may earn five bucks more these days but the appreciation.. gone. I hope you think through what you've done to the weekly musings. ;p

 

[mabuza]

i knew it was a mistake from sony to announce that mgs4 bundle early. seems like its affecting sales now. very stupid.

 

[SolidSnakex]

i knew it was a mistake from sony to announce that mgs4 bundle early. seems like its affecting sales now. very stupid.

I've never understood this thinking. If the people that were planning on buying a PS3 are just waiting for the MGS4 bundle then how is it affecting sales?

 

[Leezard]

PS2 - STILL selling fine. Lots of people picking up the Metal Gear Solid collection.

When will this be released in Europe? I haven't played any one of the Metal Gear Solids yet, and was thinking of waiting for this.

Hopefully it does launch at all in Europe...

 

[lopaz]

Yeah fuck capitalism!

blah blah free market blah. But it's still immoral, you're making money from doing absolutely zero that's useful to anyone, and makes other people's lives harder.

 

[m0nty]

blah blah free market blah. But it's still immoral, you're making money from doing absolutely zero that's useful to anyone, and makes other people's lives harder.

Can't afford it huh? :lol

 

[lopaz]

Can't afford it huh? :lol

Got one ages ago

 

[ZealousD]

I've never understood this thinking. If the people that were planning on buying a PS3 are just waiting for the MGS4 bundle then how is it affecting sales?

It's delaying sales. Lots of people want BC, and so their waiting for the 80GB to come back. If they didn't think that BC was returning, they would jump for the 40GB now.

 

[Truespeed]

It's delaying sales. Lots of people want BC, and so their waiting for the 80GB to come back. If they didn't think that BC was returning, they would jump for the 40GB now.

I really doubt that. The majority of the people buying a PS3 nowadays don't really care about PS2 compatibility. Yes, there will always be that small minority that will hold out, but if they saw how jank their PS2 games looked on an HDTV they would also move on. As for those waiting for the MGS4 bundle - I'm sure the free MGS4 game and extra 40GB is more of an incentive then the partial BC they'll get.

 

[lopaz]

I really doubt that. The majority of the people buying a PS3 nowadays don't really care about PS2 compatibility. Yes, there will always be that small minority that will hold out, but if they saw how jank their PS2 games looked on an HDTV they would also move on.

I'm pretty sure there was a rush to buy the backwards compatible ones when they were announced to get discontinued.

 

[Truespeed]

I'm pretty sure there was a rush to buy the backwards compatible ones when they were announced to get discontinued.

And there was - by the people that specifically wanted BC in their console. But, personally, after playing a few PS2 games on my HDTV I just can't go back. They look bad no matter what you do.

 

[lopaz]

And there was - by the people that specifically wanted BC in their console. But, personally, after playing a few PS2 games on my HDTV I just can't go back. They look bad no matter what you do.

yeah but... they're good games

 

[Byakuya769]

blah blah free market blah. But it's still immoral, you're making money from doing absolutely zero that's useful to anyone, and makes other people's lives harder.

hahah, immoral. So profit=immoral, suppose everything should be free. Arguably he's providing impatient idiots the opportunity to buy the console they want easily.

 

[Redd]

And there was - by the people that specifically wanted BC in their console. But, personally, after playing a few PS2 games on my HDTV I just can't go back. They look bad no matter what you do.

Hopefully you're not a fan of the Persona series because the next game is being made for the PS2. Thankfully I can still enjoy it on my BC PS3.

 

[lopaz]

hahah, immoral. So profit=immoral, suppose everything should be free. Arguably he's providing impatient idiots the opportunity to buy the console they want easily.

profit for providing a useful/wanted service = moral. How is he providing them the opportunity? They'd equally be able to buy it if there were no scalpers.

 

[Yes Boss!]

profit for providing a useful/wanted service = moral. How is he providing them the opportunity? They'd equally be able to buy it if there were no scalpers.

Who cares if it is moral. This is retail musings thread and for months he has been giving first hand invaluable sales impressions from a variety of retailers. Further, being the most transparent of resellers on GAF he gives a great impression on how the eBay market is performing. This thread would be poorer if he didn't participate.

 

[lopaz]

Who cares if it is moral. This is retail musings thread and for months he has been giving first hand invaluable sales impressions from a variety of retailers. Further, being the most transparent of resellers on GAF he gives a great impression on how the eBay market is performing. This thread would be poorer if he didn't participate.

I'm sure. But I called him a scumbag and was basically called a commie for it. I had to explain!

 

[inner-G]

They'd equally be able to buy it if there were no scalpers.

I highly doubt that.

 

[Man God]

Believe me, selling something for a slight markup that you'd have to take a day off work or wait in line for many hours on a cold Sunday is a valueable service.

 

[lopaz]

Believe me, selling something for a slight markup that you'd have to take a day off work or wait in line for many hours on a cold Sunday is a valueable service.

no one would have to wait in line if scalpers weren't waiting in line and buying up all the wiis