eBay has announced that it won't tolerate scalpers who will sell the Super NES Classic Edition with insane markups on the site when it launches. For its part, eBay will pull such listings and detriment scalpers' ill intentions.
Super NES Classic Edition: A Scalper's Dream
As soon as Nintendo announced Super NES Classic Edition, fans went crazy. Not long after raving about the news, however, fans immediately expressed concerns over whether Nintendo can keep up with the demand this time around.
By contrast, the preceding NES Classic Edition became an instant hit upon its launch in November — it was a such a hit, in fact, that many people couldn't even manage to purchase one without pulling a few strings or giving in to ridiculously priced units on eBay, set by money-grubbing scalpers who exploited Nintendo's apparent supply problem without an ounce of shame.
With the Super NES Classic Edition, things surely need to change. For its part, Nintendo has addressed potential supply and demand problems by confirming that it will release more Super NES Classic Edition units than the NES Classic Edition, but that's barely a confirmation that customers who want one will get one. There are still scalpers to worry about.
Thankfully, an eBay representative confirmed to Eurogamer that preorder items can only be listed on the site if they're available within 30 days from the purchase date — which, in the case of the Super NES Classic Edition, is Sept. 29.
"We will remove listings for pre-release items and accessories if the release date of the item is more than 30 days away," the spokesperson said. This will essentially bar people from reselling items before they're even released in the first place.
Other retailers such as Amazon UK are also taking measures to make sure no one attempts to hoard units and resell them at dubiously high price points. The retailer, who had opened up preorders for the mini console, backtracked and limited purchases to just one unit per customer.
Given the Super NES Classic Edition's technological leap from the NES Classic Edition, and in addition to the fact that it comes with an unreleased Star Fox title Nintendo had canceled more than a decade ago, the console will likely be a huge retail hit. Customers have to hope that Nintendo has learned its lesson from the troubles its NES Classic Edition faced.
Super NES Classic Edition
The Super NES Classic Edition looks just like a Super NES, only smaller and packed with 21 games, from Earthbound to Super Mario to Donkey Kong Country, and more. It'll come with two controllers out of the box as opposed to the NES Classic Edition single controller. It launches on Sept. 29 for $79.99.
Check out our mini guide if you want to secure a preorder.
