Stock Informer

Wii U Pre-Orders

Posted Sun Sep 16 2012


Amazon.com Wii U Stock

Since Nintendo's Wii U press event this week a number of retailers such as GameStop, Target, Best buy and Kmart had started taking preorders for the forthcoming Wii U console. However, they all have now subsequently stopped taking online orders for the Deluxe Set model. Currently only GameStop are still accepting orders for the less popular Basic Set.

It isn't clear whether they have just used up their initial allocation of stock advised to them from Nintendo or whether they are taking a more cautious approach. The likelihood is that depending on progress made by Nintendo's manufacturing partners more stock allocations will be made nearer the launch date of 18th November. This will then enable these retailers to start taking pre-orders again.

Meanwhile, mystery surrounds Amazon.com's seemingly refusal to now stock Nintendo consoles. Wii U product pages have been setup at Amazon.com however all sales are via third party sellers (the same currently goes for the original Wii console and handheld 3DS Console). Internet forums suggest that a dispute has occurred between Amazon.com and Nintendo over returned 3DS consoles which suffered from scratched screens. Also, users who have previously registered on Amazon.com's email list to be notified when the Wii U would be available to order, have now received an email advising "I'm sorry, we don't have any more stock of Nintendo Wii U console right now, and we're not sure when we'll be able to get more". Even the official Nintendo Wii U webpage has now removed Amazon.com as a retailer that would be selling the new console. Amazon's European divisions have no problem selling Nintendo Products with Amazon.co.uk (UK), Amazon.de (Germany) and Amazon.fr (France) all currently taking Wii U preorders which will be fulfilled by them.

The original Wii console was plagued by stock shortages and these initial indications unfortunately don't point to a different scenario this time around.