Selling Wii illegally?

[this_is_gav]

I didn't know you could sell Wii legally to be honest.

[BlackDwarf]

Yeah, we had a few of the deluxe bundles.... Difference with them is that they're properly packaged as a bundle, different barcode etc, so they have to be sold that way. Someone bought one the other day. Stupid if you ask me.

GameCare. Its a laugh trying to sell it. Some people are just like 'sod off', some are 'hmm, can see the benefits, but i'm tight', and some people are actually sensible. NDS, £19.99 for 3 years accidental damage cover.... Bargain if you ask me. Did i get GameCare when i bought my DS? Did i bugger.... I'm not stupid enough to drop it... But little kids are, which is where the selling point is at xmas

[Whiternoise]

As i said, deluxe = can't sell them separately, sorry Agent!

GameCare, yeah most people assume you're doing an insurance spiele (which i suppose is true), but i'm getting an Xbox 360 this christmas and there's no way i'm not getting GameCare with it - sod waiting a month for MS to sort out my overheated chipset when GAME will do it in 10 minutes Mind you, when people spend 20 quid on Bratz it really makes me want to punch them.. i mean, 3 years warranty against dropping it down a toilet? or a crap game which your spoilt daughter will get bored of in a week - at which point you'll trade it in for 5% of it's market price and complain bitterly about it!

I really think that non gamers in games shops are as bad as non computer users in computer stores.. i mean, the banners are 10ft tall saying TRADE-IN and yet they still ask?! The only way we managed to stop people calling up about Wii's was to put a voicemail message on the phone saying they were out of stock

[Agent]

YNDS, £19.99 for 3 years accidental damage cover.... Bargain if you ask me.

Now that is good.
I bet you guys ain't old enough to remember, but many years ago GAME used to offer this on all hardware sold. The staff used to get a commission from it too, although I bet that don't happen now? (Its gone right downhill in regards to staff treatment)

As i said, deluxe = can't sell them separately, sorry Agent!

Ah, pre-packed from Nintendo - Didn't realise that

[finlay666]

Edit - If you could prove price fixing between retailers - thats an entirely different thing. But as it stands, its just supply<demand = markup.

Like merging game and gamestation ?

As for the price on the console...indie shop I used to work in made <&#163;10 profit (BEFORE potential CC charges) on each one as we had to pay higher prices to get them, but offered any 2 games + extra controller and nunchuck for something like &#163;10 under the price....not a bad deal tbh

You can always ask if you can get different games...or just cut your losses a little and trade them back in to see what you can get

No one likes what everyone is doing...but in the same way people WILL still pay so companies will do it, games are where the money is to be made normally....not the console itself (well...accessories too)

[Rave]

As they have posters advertising the Wii for £180 - and they have Wii's in stock, surely telling you it has to be a bundle is breaking some law - I know it's illegal in Canada since the Xbox 360 episode!

I know nothing about Wiis, and I'm not that bothered about them TBH, since I don't really have time for gaming nowadays and I have literally dozens of Megadrive, Saturn and Dreamcast games that I need to complete before I go buying any new consoles- so please forgive me if I'm misuderstanding anything here. Anyway:

All the other posters in this thread are basically right about invitation to treat and all that stuff. HOWEVER, if Gamestation have a poster in the window advertising Wiis for £180, and they actually have the basic Wii package in stock (which sells for £180, as I understand it), and they then refuse to sell it to you unless you also buy a few games and an extra controller, then they are guilty of misleading advertising. They're getting people to come into the store under false pretences, and that definitely is against the rules- you should tell Trading Standards.

If the poster in the window is advertising "Wii bundles- £280" then there's nothing misleading about it, and they are perfectly entitled to sell you the basic Wii package, or not, depending on whether you want to boost their margin by buying some other games.

I worked in retail (though not games retail) for 3 1/2 years and was an assistant manager for 18 months, so I made sure I was acquainted with the rules.

While I'm here and talking about the rules, I'd like to clear another one up. If a retail store has mispriced an item (e.g. you walk in and see an XBOX360 marked up at £100) they are under absolutely no obligation to sell it to you at that price. However, they must not offer it to sell it to you for a higher price, and they must take it off sale for 24 hours before re-offering it to anybody at a higher price. Just thought I'd clear that one up.

[Barakka]

My thought is that it would come down to the product code/barcode on the Wii in the shop.

If the Wii pack they are insisting must be sold as part of a bundle has a different code (that needs to be part of a bundle) then fine. But if it is the same code as a standard Wii console on it's own AND they are advertising the console on it's own then surely they should sell it to you separately.

Interestingly I got an email from a company yesterday telling me they have Wii's in stock - only £351 - no bundle - just the Wii !!!

[Pyrii]

UK:Resistance has been following the great wii price rapage recently, all the companies are trying to shift crap games from thier stock in forced bundles.

I'd say wait till after christmas. If it's a present for a little someone, get him a sweater and make him wait.

[soopahfly]

They did this when I bought my NDS. NDS + 3 games. Picked my three games, handed over my money then said I've got 3 games i'd like to trade in.

Got my NDS for RRP then.

[streetster]

you think its wiilegal? eh? someone had to

[GranddadAl]

If you don't like Gamestation's policy you might try unexpected sources. I got a Wii with nunchuck & Wii sports at my local Sainsburys £179.99

[Bazzlad]

I've also been thinking, when are GAME going to be hit with a monopoly lawsuit?

Think of computer game shops in the UK:
GAME
EB (Bought by Game and rebranded)
GAMESTATION
Blockbuster
Choices (possibly)

All owned by GAME Group plc. Shocking.

And Gamestaion used to have SUCH good trade in prices.
Not anymore.

Example:
Bought MGS on Gamecube for &#163;39.99.
Completed it within the week.
Took it back to Gamestation. Trade in price? &#163;32.99
Superb.

[Funkstar]

And Gamestaion used to have SUCH good trade in prices.
Not anymore.

Example:
Bought MGS on Gamecube for &#163;39.99.
Completed it within the week.
Took it back to Gamestation. Trade in price? &#163;32.99
Superb.

And thats probably one reason they ended up being bought up. I can't see how they would make decent money with those trade in prices. What were they selling thetraded games at? Anything more than 10&#37; markup and they aren't going to sell, any less and they make next to no money, especially with 2% credit card fees if someone buys with MasterCard or Visa.

Oh, and i had no idea all those stores were owned by the same company.

[kalniel]

I've also been thinking, when are GAME going to be hit with a monopoly lawsuit?

Not until Woolies, HMV, Virgin, Amazon, play.com, PC World/DSG, Tesco and others all fall over.

And even then all they have to do is allow the Gamestation branch some independance to get around it

Not to mention Gamestop would just step into the UK finally.

[BlackDwarf]

Game have been told they have to keep Gamestation as a separate company, purely to stop a monopoly on high-street game stores, as it would not give the customer as much choice.

So don't expect to see Gamestations going purple and black any time soon.

[Whiternoise]

Just a quick update, i know my GAME store definitely sell Wii's on their own - we had about 6 in today (i bought the last one XD) along with the other bundles. So yeah, 179.99 if you're willing to keep banging on to stores - no need to pay extra really - we still had them in stock by 4pm which was crazy!