SNES Classics Preorders Already on eBay, With Huge Mark-Ups

Bid at your own risk.

By Seth G. Macy

Of all the social sciences, economics is perhaps the coldest and most unfeeling. If you need any proof, look no further than the outrageous mark-ups some sellers are already attaching to the only-just revealed Super NES Classic.

Econ 101 teaches us that when supply is vastly out-paced by demand, prices will rise, something that already played out with the NES Classic. Scalpers famously grabbed up as many as they could, choking off any readily available supply, and Nintendo itself only churned out a finite number, increasing the disparity even further. The result? NES Classics still sell for twice or more the manufacturer's suggested retail price.

As you can see from the slides, scalpers, or rather "resellers" are expecting similar supply and demand imbalances with the SNES Classic. We're hoping Nintendo learns from its mistakes with the NES Classic, but there's also the problem of unconstrained orders from online retailers. People used automated bots to order multiple units, causing headaches for anyone on the level and sometimes crashing retailer websites.

Nintendo said it plans to produce more SNES Classics, but it also said it'll only be making them through the end of 2017, already sparking fears of shortages among Nintendo fans. Since the SNES Classic also marks the first ever official release of Star Fox 2, it becomes more than just an amazing collectible object. It's the only legitimate way to play a previously unreleased Super Nintendo game.

The eBay auctions are strange and probably shouldn't be trusted, because as of right now, there hasn't even been mention of pre-orders outside of the UK version on Amazon. And honestly, if you're going to spend that kind of money, you'd be better off trying to get your hands on one legitimately and then use the money you save to get the infinitely cooler Super Famicom Mini, too.

Seth Macy is IGN's weekend web producer and just wants to be your friend. Follow him on Twitter @sethmacy, or subscribe to Seth Macy's YouTube channel.

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