Wiis sold out across the UK on day one

Wiimania has hit the United Kingdom in full force, with the console selling out on its first day of sales -- 50,000 units in 12 hours. However, many of the pre-orders could not be fulfilled as there were predictable shortages, with some opting to take refunds instead of waiting until January for subsequent shipments. Predictably, many of the Wiis ended up on eBay, and according to the BBC, have hit high closing bids of £500 (nearly $1000), compared to the retail price of £180 ($350). Still, as seen in Wii UK's YouTube vid (see continued) buyers seemed to be in high spirits at the Wii main launch event at the Oxford Street HMV retailer in London, where crowds were regaled as former English footballer Ian Wright (left) took on boxing champion Ricky Hatton (right) in a quick bout at Wii Boxing. (Wright was victorious, if you must know). Let's just hope that our British friends are a little more dignified when it comes to waiting for consumer electronics than we are.

[Via HipHopSix]

Read - The Times (photo courtesy)
Read - BBC
Read - Reuters

[Sergio @ Dec 9th 2006 4:09AM]

Jeez, why is the UK Wii so much more expensive? Its just like what Sony is doing with the PS3: the UK PS3 will also be �600, but that is equivalent to $792.147 USD!

[Sergio @ Dec 9th 2006 4:21AM]

*Correction

The PS3 is actually �425, but is still expensive as ****

[knobjockey @ Dec 9th 2006 10:47AM]

$792?????????? more like $1173 at todays exchange rate.

Now you see why we're called rip off Britain. But aslong as we continue to let ourselves get butt f****d by these people the prices will remain high

[mikey @ Dec 9th 2006 10:56AM]

"the UK PS3 will also be �600, but that is equivalent to $792.147 USD!".

No it's not, you tard.

[Eddie @ Dec 9th 2006 4:11AM]

Surprising...NOT!!!

[Andazeus @ Dec 9th 2006 4:17AM]

Things in Germany are somewhat similar:

I just got my preorder because I stood in line 2 hours before opening. They had 20 consoles and 30 preorders, so although I had a preorder, I had to run for my life ;)
Oh, they also had only 3(!) Nunchucks, so this was actually the very first item I grabbed :D

[Emil @ Dec 9th 2006 4:53AM]

Huge shortages in sweden too... "my" store got 6 consoles! And i came in like a seven in the line outside of the store. Got damn!

[Ryan @ Dec 9th 2006 5:20AM]

This ebay shit is going too far. Talk about taking the fun out of console launches. By my rough estimates about 250 units ended up in the greater Tallahassee, FL area and about 150 ended up on ebay in a 20 mile radius around the city center. 60% of the units sold ended up on ebay, most of them in the $400-$500 range.

[Cro @ Dec 9th 2006 5:48AM]

Yeah damn fuckin ebayers

[Nick @ Dec 9th 2006 6:15AM]

I love those asian dudes at the end - legends!

[FinalFan3 @ Dec 9th 2006 6:24AM]

RIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAACER!

[Zoey @ Dec 9th 2006 6:25AM]

I tend to look at the "BIGGER PICTURE" in life... we all love TOYS no matter how much it cost. Its said that ADULT take fun away from children... We all try to re-live our youth... what kid can afford $600 and up for a PUCK'IN VIDEO GAME... let them have the fun... I'm not trying to be an ASSWIPE... In truth for medical reasons I haven't mature naturally... butt I do think of other before me... so bring it on??? Tell me how bad I am or shit-face for saying my 1cent mind. POWER TO A.D.D. (TeeHee) PS: I am helping my NEPHEW getting a PS3...

[VV @ Dec 9th 2006 6:42AM]

Sergio (#1): the UK price includes sales tax at 17.5%. If you take off the tax, the Wii costs 152 UKP, or nearly $300. The rest can be accounted for by including the standard "rip off the Brits" tax that's favoured by Sony, Apple, Nintendo et al.

Perhaps some of the difference can be accounted for by the loss in the value of the dollar recently. Perhaps Nintendo should re-assess their prices to take this into account.

[LR @ Dec 9th 2006 6:52AM]

in NZ we only had 2000 or less units worldwide for around 5 million people and its been 3 days and only about 500 have sold........ its great!

[Mat @ Dec 9th 2006 7:35AM]

I thought we were running really low on stock?

[evilfixx @ Dec 9th 2006 7:04AM]

May I just point out that Nintendo subtlety stated many times that they're not going to have shortages, they'll have 4 million by years end.. They have 21 days.... If not I expect everyone here to call them out for lying as you've called Sony out.

[Semi @ Dec 9th 2006 7:05AM]

amazon and its lies..

1. will be delivered on the 8th of december
2. the estimate dates on the system are glitches
3. its at your local depot

MOFOS!
ParcelForce told me that its still at the amazon depot and has not been released.

now if i am lucky i'll get it next week, and wont be able to play it or see it til next weekend coz i'll be away from home for work.

arghhh!

[grahamb @ Dec 9th 2006 7:35AM]

My pre-ordered one didn't turn up, play.com didn't appear to have as many allocated as they took pre-orders for.

And they're selling on ebay for average price of �360, which is twice the list price.

I'll wait until the new year, but I'm really annoyed at Nintendo. Why cant I buy one direct from their website?

I suppose I could get one from play-asia.com but I dont know if it'll play UK titles. Are they region coded.

0/10 for Nintendo though. What a screw up!

[Steve @ Dec 9th 2006 8:54AM]

Why in the name of $Deity are you annoyed at Nintendo? It's only their fault if they didn't deliver the number of consoles they delivered to play.com. If play.com, or any other retailer for that matter, decides to allow more pre-orders than they have been promised on the theory that once a pre-order is placed they can delay it until the next batch and have a good chance of still making the sale, that's nothing to do with the manufacturor.

As for selling direct, do you know ANY manufacturer of consoles that does this? If Nintendo allowed pre-orders through their own web site for the wii they'd generate a huge amount of negative feeling from retailers who would consider it as taking 'their' sales and thus depriving them of a bug chunk of their profit margin.

Basically, what Sony did in the US (delivering half as many consoles as promised) can be considered a screw-up by the manufacturer. If it comes out that Nintendo shipped far fewer consoles than promised then blame Nintendo for you not getting your console. However, if it's play.com screwing you over (and they did the same thing with the X360 launch last year, took a ridiculous number of pre-orders then failed to delver. In fact they've got a bit of a reputation for this with major launches I'm sorry to say) then direct your frustration at them. Considering other retailers (argos, woolworths etc) seem to be getting pretty damn close to filling all their pre-orders and Amazon actually had a few for sale yesterday to the general public I know where I'd be pointing the finger.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Dec 11th 2006 4:32AM]

> I'll wait until the new year, but I'm really annoyed at Nintendo. Why cant I buy one direct from their website?

If you are big vendor, you better not annoy those guys from retail. In Europe running any business is expensive - retail business is doubly so.

From business POV, Nintendo does fine job: they seem to direct most units to the market where more games are sold (namely Japan) or market where there are least of regulations hiking up prices (namely USA).

We in Europe? With all the regulations, fees and taxes?? Poor excuse for market.

[ymmit @ Dec 9th 2006 7:38AM]

well - I got mine. Local woolworths got 3, mine was the 3rd pre-order for that store...

I reckon Nintendo will be going all out to get the preorders done for Christmas, I think the ebay thing is a bit OTT, but if my second pre-order arrives (which it didn't yesterday) that's where it's going.

And yes, it is as good as everyone says, and no, I didn't break anything last night with the controller.

[Jonathan B @ Dec 9th 2006 7:49AM]

I got mine from my preorder at Woolworths yesterday, since HMV were buggering about with the delivery stuff, and are now putting anyone on hold who even thinks of phoning.

I got another remote and a nunchuck too, and if the HMV one comes, I'll put it on ebay for a decent (non-ripoff) price.

[grahamb @ Dec 9th 2006 8:17AM]

There's 1650 currently listed on ebay in the UK alone...

[grahamb @ Dec 10th 2006 2:11AM]

Not especially annoyed at play.com, but I must say that the experience has tainted the launch for me. play.com offer no feedback on launch day, so I call them to find out if I were one of the lucky ones, and the sales rep says "may as well cancel your order as our next batch is due in the new year".

And I keep seeing adverts on the TV for the new Wii, and I'm thinking "Duh, yeah, great console, shame no one who actually really wanted one has one".

I'll stick the Gamecube in the attic together with the SNES, and N64 and all the Nintendo games I've wasted my money on over the years, and if I cant get a Wii before XMAS, I'll get an XBOX 360 instead.

Oh, and I'll keep my pre-order open with play.com, so I can join everyone else and sell their's on ebay for a mark up. If you cant beat them...

[Sergio @ Dec 9th 2006 12:40PM]

Ok ****head

I'm sorry if all the exchange websites tell me that same number.

[Ben @ Dec 9th 2006 12:18PM]

hundred bucks the british dont throw their wiimotes and break things

[Matthew @ Dec 9th 2006 3:39PM]

I don't mean to correct Engadget, ok I do, but if they just went to ebay.co.uk, they could see that the Wiis are not selling for �500, no they are selling for about �300. The ones going for close to �500 include games and/or extra controllers. There are some offers starting at those prices, but seriously, no one is bidding.
I got my Wii and I ain't giving it away, even though I could probably buy two with the proceeds.

[Matt @ Dec 9th 2006 7:22PM]

The Wiis are sold out worldwide...