1. Research
2. Availability
3. Pricing (again retail is for suckers)
4. Timing
So I waited for 11/19, the Nintendo Wii launch date. I staked out some local Walmarts and Targets out and was planning on maybe waiting in line a few hours for a Wii which I would later place up on eBay. So as everyone knows, the release was over the top crazy!!! I was too late to wait in line, and no way I was going to sit out in the rain for one. The Wii sold out in a matter of seconds when the stores opened. So I went to plan B. I staked out Amazon.com.
I read posts which I thought were credible so I waited till midnight on 11/19 and refreshed the browser like crazy to see if I could nab one. They never went up on sale. I checked some gaming posts and the thought was that they would go up at 12am PST. That's 3am EST. So I figured what the heck, I'm usually up till 1am normally, I'll stay up and get one. So I stayed up and again nothing. So I went to sleep, the next day was Sunday, so as usual Sharkey and I went to church. I came back and just for giggles I logged back on to Amazon to see what was up. I'm setup on Amazon for Quick Checkout, so I looked at my shopping list, and to my surprise the Wii was on there!! I mouse clicked like a frantic madman, and got it to my cart and then had to enter my password in order to checkout. Hit the keys, I can type pretty fast, and then hit the checkout button, the message I received:
"This item is currently unavailable from the seller, please try again at a later time"
"CCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP!!!" shot through my mind.
Here's where our story takes a dark twist. I started reading more about the Wii and the reviews it was getting on CNet since that weekend. I also read the gamer sites and this thing is just revolutionary. The controller is wireless and motion sensitive, so no longer are you moving a joystick and pressing buttons. You can now swing the controller like a golf club, or do fighting games and swing the controller like a sword, or make like you are fishing and make casting motions. It's a very cool little piece of technology. Ah, herein lies the rub. If you read JP Jargon, you know my interests are what??? Golf and technology. So my greed turned into, "Hey I think I want one of these things."
So here's where we are. JP wanted a Wii to sell, now JP wants a Wii to keep. So why did he mention his Amazon campaign? So I go to Amazon and check out the Nintendo Wii and it shows as this:
Nintendo Wii
Other products by Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Wii
(170 customer reviews)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Availability: This item is currently not available.
8 used & new available from $535.00
We are currently out of stock: We sold out of our initial supply of the Wii on Sunday morning, November 19, in less than one minute. We expect to receive periodic shipments of the Wii from Nintendo throughout the holidays and we will post availability updates in this section of the product detail page as well as in the customer discussions below.
But I went to my shopping cart just to see if I could add the thing to my checkout cart, and it went in!!!! WHOOOOOAAAA!!! Pulse quickens, neurons in the brain fire, adrenaline starts to pump through the body, and the hunt is on like Donkey Kong!!! Excitement is rising!!! So I yell out a big "WHOOOHOOOOOO!!!" and go to see if I can go to quick checkout. The one problem is Sharkey is here sitting next to me. My voice of reason, she's the love of my life and I truly do not know what I'd do without her. She knows me better than anyone. She's made me a better man. But tonight I whined, I justified like a madman, I figured out how the JP Fun Fund will be impacted by this purchase at the end of December and despite her sound reasoning and call to a better, reasonable way, I pushed THE BUTTON. Forgive me Sharkey for my foolishness...
Houston we have Wii!!! We have Wii!!!!!
Ya I know, I'm nuts and I'm 37 going on 7. Suzieq and Cherie, go for it, I'm an open target...
6 comments:
"The hunt is on like Donkey Kong." Too funny.
So...what was Sharkey's reaction? She probably had a heart attack and died from NOT surprise! (I stole that line from Aladdin.) Seriously, she couldn't have been too mad since she knows you better than anyone. She knew you'd get yourself one.
It may be a different story once you throw the Wiimote at the TV and break it though!
You aren't going to hear a peep out of me J.P.
Um, my Wii arrived yesterday from Amazon. I left work for awhile to go snag it off the porch & brought it back to work (didn't want any kids trying to steal it from me!)
I *WAS* one of the ones who snagged it on the 19th in less than a minute ;-)
One thing that I have heard (my Brother told me as he's the one who got me into this whole ugly mess with his obsession and I blame him entirely) is that some people are accidentally busting their TVs when they let go of the wand. So hang on tight Mr. Man! Oh wait, I see that CB already warned you, she must know you don't have a good grip. I keed, I keed!
I'm probably going to sell mine though. In FACT, if you must know I even told the Hubs that if you didn't find one that I'd offer it to you AT COST (I don't scalp my friends, just so you know). I assumed you wanted one to keep...you didn't strike me as the scalping type (what? I told you it's not my normal character, my Brother is a bad influence!)
My 9 year old Nephew is already getting one for Christmas (my Brother snagged like 4 of them!), so I can't give it to him.
I'm really not looking forward to the hassle of selling it, but like I said my Brother got me drunk and talked me into it. Now I have it, but I'm not all that into golf so I really have no reason to talk myself into keeping it ;-)
My theory is that he invested in the Wii so that he could break the TV, necessitating the purchase of a new flat-panel model.
CB Ya, she was "disappointed" but she likes to see me happy, so she's pretty much accepted the purchase.
suzieq So you got one! Geeze! I would've never even imagined that one. Still I think it is very sweet of you to offer the Wii at cost. Happy eBaying
sharkey New LCD? What makes you think I want one of those?
So how is it?
I am dissappointed in Soozie Q for being a capitalist...I mean scalper.
william I'll let you know. I'll definitely post about it. Amazon has it getting to me by 12/14. Hopefully it comes sooner than that.
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