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Did my friend get ripped off?

Shacklebolt

Shacklebolt

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 2, 2004
596
0
My friend has been wanting a Wii forever. She recently got a raise at work, and then another, so she can splurge and treat herself to one. However, she hasn't been able to find one in stores for 3 months.

Until a guy who worked down the hall from her mentioned that he had one that he hadn't played in months (and I assumed owned for ~1 year) and was willing to sell her. She proposed 300 dollars + some cupcakes. He accepted. The deal was for a working Wii + Zelda. Don't know about Wii Sports... probably.

I think she kind of got ripped - or at least, that the guy was kind of sleazy in selling a year old Wii to her for that much. She says that it was worth that much to her, which is perfectly reasonable.

What do you think?
 
If she's happy then no. I think 250 with the game would be fair, but market demand drives prices....

Paul
 
$300 for a slightly used $250 console plus a $50 game. And she received exactly what she expected (i.e. nothing was busted or anything like that)?

She willingly paid a slight premium for a hard to find item but I don't think she got ripped off.


Lethal
 
The part the surprised me was that it was from someone she knows. I'd feel bad charging a premium to a friend of mine.
 
I don't think its a bad deal. That price was what it took for him to sell it, and thats a price that she was happy with, or she wouldn't have bought it. If she had waited, or looked around more, she could have found a better deal. But the point is that she found what she wanted and didn't want to wait any longer. Price vs. demand.
 
I sold my Wii, 4 wiimotes, 2 games, nunchuck and classic controller for $500 this xmas (which is close to what it all cost when new). The people I sold it to were so happy that I saved xmas for their kids that they gave me a $100 gift card to a nice restaurant a few weeks later.

No, your friend got a good deal. Although I think the fact that so many people are selling the Wii after owning it for a year is telling of the long term viability of the system. Everyone I know in their 20's has dumped their Wii in the last 6 months.

\Kids still love it
\\Gets old if you can handle a real controller
 
Markleshark said:
You'd suck at owning your own business then. :p
Click to expand...

Yep, they do say those willing to screw people and steal money tend to rise quickest -- even if you don't do it, the personality to trample on people helps.

You're going to get sued, at least make it for a decent reason.
 
Shacklebolt said:
My friend has been wanting a Wii forever. She recently got a raise at work, and then another, so she can splurge and treat herself to one. However, she hasn't been able to find one in stores for 3 months.

Until a guy who worked down the hall from her mentioned that he had one that he hadn't played in months (and I assumed owned for ~1 year) and was willing to sell her. She proposed 300 dollars + some cupcakes. He accepted. The deal was for a working Wii + Zelda. Don't know about Wii Sports... probably.

I think she kind of got ripped - or at least, that the guy was kind of sleazy in selling a year old Wii to her for that much. She says that it was worth that much to her, which is perfectly reasonable.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Compared to what they go for on Craigslist that's not too bad, but it's still more than retail for a USED console.

A brand new Wii + Zelda costs $300 anyway (maybe slightly less, I don't know if Zelda is still $50), but a used one should be cheaper. But then there's the rarity factor. So if it was worth it to her...

I wonder if it had any Virtual Console games on it?
 
She got a console she wanted for less than market value. Good find.

As for people in their 20's selling the Wii, most people I know who have done it, did it because they were broke, didn't want their parents knowing they had it (if they're in college), or they finished with Zelda, and were waiting for SSBB or Mario Galaxy and couldn't justify keeping it for 6 months when they go for $300+ used on eBay.

TEG
 
JackAxe said:
Where did you get your medical MJ?

<]=)
Click to expand...
On the streets, for sho... haha

While this isn't true for everyone I found the controller to be more frustrating than a revolution. It's cool, don't get me wrong, but too imprecise for my tastes. To each his own.
 
kuyu said:
On the streets, for sho... haha

While this isn't true for everyone I found the controller to be more frustrating than a revolution. It's cool, don't get me wrong, but too imprecise for my tastes. To each his own.
Click to expand...

You can get that stuff on the streets... ¬¬

For me it depends on the game. I don't like using a Wiimote to steer, but I definitely don't like using any gamepad to aim. :eek:

I've had frustrating moments with the motion, especially with early Wii games, but as a pointer, even with some of the early crap, it's only as precise as one's setup. It makes a huge difference for shooters when everything is positioned properly and the developer has experience beyond making another thumb-shooter. I've always been able to find a good placement on my friend's sets for the bar, from there it was just a matter of them getting used to aiming instead of pushing.

When I was younger(teens/twenties), I sold my consoles for money -- I sold my PSOne after 5 months. But once I got the N64, was married, and got my career going, that stopped. I didn't even sell my Cube when I got my Wii, I gave it to a friend.

<]=)
 
Actually, I think I'm the offending party here. Can't be too many people selling Wiis to people down the hall at work for 300 plus cupcakes. Yes, Wii Sports comes with it. I thought about putting it up on ebay, but would rather that someone I know enjoys it. I bought it in April, so 10 months old. It works fine, just don't really play it anymore.

BTW, the fact that this is on MacRumors is hilarious.
 
surferfb said:
Actually, I think I'm the offending party here. Can't be too many people selling Wiis to people down the hall at work for 300 plus cupcakes. Yes, Wii Sports comes with it. I thought about putting it up on ebay, but would rather that someone I know enjoys it. I bought it in April, so 10 months old. It works fine, just don't really play it anymore.

BTW, the fact that this is on MacRumors is hilarious.
Click to expand...

BWAHAHA! *cracks up*

That's amazing :D

Eh, I don't consider it to be a ripoff- It's better than market value. I sold a 20 GB PS3 at launch to some guy for a $750 who wanted it.
 
Antares said:
You can't get ripped off if you're the one proposing how much to pay.
Click to expand...
I think this sums it up pretty well.

This actually reminds me of a skit on the Dana Carvey show ages ago(I think that's what it was...), when they would go to places like a McDonald's order $50 worth of food, pay for it, and when the employee would go to get the food, they would drive off laughing about how they 'ripped off' the store. :)

Edit: It was the Dana Carvey show! With Steve Carrell! I didn't realize he was in it. Here's a clip if anyone is interested. :D
 
kuyu said:
Although I think the fact that so many people are selling the Wii after owning it for a year is telling of the long term viability of the system. Everyone I know in their 20's has dumped their Wii in the last 6 months.
Click to expand...

Also I've noticed that this year it doesn't look like there are as many good games. Mostly just Brawl, Mario Kart, and a few others. This is why I just got a PS3 but I will still keep my Wii for Brawl :D.
 
Anyone who dumps their system this early is a flat out idiot.

It's worthwhile keeping for the Virtual Console releases along, much less all the actual retail games.
 
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