Hardware What's up with the demand/price spike?

[Deleted User]

So with the Nintendo Switch coming out I decided to put my N3DS XL on eBay to have some extra money to help afford one. When searching around to see how I should price it, I start seeing super high auction going up to almost $300! And if a system had A9LH and NTR installed the prices went up even higher. And yes there were actually bids on them.

So I'm like "Hell yes I'll sell mine, I only paid like $180 for it when it came out" and ebay even wants to give me a $250 guarantee price.

What the hecks going on? N3DS XLs certainly aren't rare I could easily buy one for normal price at any store near me.

 

[astrangeone]

Think it's the Christmas stuff affecting it. But, I have seen N3DS XLes for $180 here.

I know that there are no 3DSes in stock at every EBGames I walk into.

 

[Danne2]

There hasn't been any stock in a while because of Christmas. Back at the end of October, I bought a 2DS for ~$70 on ebay. Looking in December they were up to like ~120 and haven't dropped. I haven't seen any stock in stores though. I think it's just because the massive amount of stock on ebay got wiped around Christmas and there hasn't been much other stock since in stores so ebay prices go up

 

[SmileCitrus]

One thing to remember is that lots of those "sales" are never paid for. Looking at a search of recently completed listings only shows the ending prices, but it doesn't tell you which auctions were actually paid for. So the average price paid for 3DS consoles is probably a good bit less than the average ending price. Although even having said that, I've also noticed some crazy prices lately

There are also lots of occasions in the electronics categories where sellers will use throwaway accounts to bid up items listed by competitors so that the competitor's items get tied up in unpaid item disputes for 6 days, leaving less competition for them on their own selling accounts.