Nintendo Wii

BUYER BEWARE!

I cannot believe how many people are shelling out so much money for items that should not cost that much. I myself have recently been doing a lot of research as I just bought a Nintendo Wii system at Toys R' Us but had originally considered buying it on eBay (hence, the reason I created an account in the first place), so I got a pretty good grip on the prices. So let me break it down for you (keep in mind that this article relates only to brand new items):

A Nintendo Wii's retail value (as in just the box: the system bundled with a remote, a nunchuck and Wii Sports (5 sport games included) - along with other components necessary for the console) is about $250 (about $271 including taxes), so due to the unavalability of the system, I would be willing to spend up to around $310 (it must include a receipt) for it on eBay if I just had to have it ($350 tops). Now, you maybe thinking, "Easy for you to say, you already have one!" - in that case, read on to the end of this article for some advice.

Some of you may see that the bundle you could bid on has 14 games in it. Now, most of the 14 game bundles I've seen are just the Nintendo Wii bundle w/ Wii Sports plus Wii Play, which comes with a remote, (some auctions may also include an extra nunchuck). Now the retail value for Wii Play is around $50+tax (and an extra nunchuck is about $20+tax). Therefore, the entire bundle is about $325 without the nunchuck (around $347 with the nunchuck). If you just have to have it, I personally would only be willing to pay up to $450 (w/receipt) when the extra nunchuck is included ($500 tops).

Now, if you're at the point where you're willing to pay much more than you should (even more than I've suggested) in order to get the Wii, my ADVICE is this: A bundle that has more than just Wii Sports is better, but if you can get 2 or more actual video games* (because Wii Play is really one video game advertised as 9 games) added on to the bundle, you're bidding on a much better deal; for example: if the auction title said "Nintendo Wii Bundle w/ 8 games and receipt(s)" and when you click on it, you see that it has -- a Nintendo Wii bundle box (including Wii Sports) ($250+tax retail value) plus "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" ($50+tax retail value), "Tony Hawk's: Proving Ground" ($50+tax retail value), "Bleach: Shattered Blade" ($50+tax retail value), and the receipt(s) -- this together is about $400+tax retail value, which is a much better deal than getting the 14 game bundle that has Wii Play and an extra nunchuck (again, around $347 total). For my example I would be willing to pay up $550 ($575-600 tops). As you can see, you can be more confident to bid if the auction included real video games* as I like to call anything that's not Wii Play or Carnival Games, and the more games the merrier (especially if they come with a receipt) - if you're going to pay a lot, at least bid on bundles that get you a better deal because less people know about them and you're paying more for something that actually costs more.

So BOTTOM LINE, since every place is sold out, it's understandable to pay more for the bundles; just make sure your bundle comes with more real video games* (see previous paragraph if you skipped to the bottom of the article) - in a lot of cases, it may be a better deal to bet on the bundles where the auction title says it comes with 7-13 games rather than the more common 14 game bundle.