Amazon.co.uk Aims to Stop SNES Classic Edition Scalpers by Limiting Purchases

Amazon.uk has decided that it is going to do something to stop scalpers from preventing normal folks from getting their hands on the new Super Nintendo Entertainment System classic Edition. To keep as many units as possible from entering the highly marked up secondary markets, Amazon.co.uk has started notifying people who ordered more than one console that their orders are being cut back to a single unit.

Amazon was the place that many scalpers were getting their inventory to mark up via eBay and other reseller sites. At times these scalped systems turned back up on Amazon at marked up prices. Many of the Nintendo Switch game consoles that are on Amazon in the US are marked up in this method.

With the NES Classic some of the scalpers were asking as much as $250 and higher for the small retro gaming console when the device carried an MSRP of $59.99. Retailers allowing scalpers to purchase as many of the consoles as they wanted is in part what led to the crazy markups.

HotHardware reports that Amazon.co.uk is sending an email to people who purchased more than one console that reads, “We’re writing about your Amazon.co.uk order [number redacted], which includes more than one Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Unfortunately, there’s been a change to the availability of this item on Amazon.co.uk. As a result, there is now only one listing for the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System available… As such, we have reduced the quantity of the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System in your order to one (1) unit. We understand this isn’t what you expected when you placed your order and apologize for the inconvenience.”

The downside to this policy is that normal folks trying to get more than one console for kids who don’t intend to mark the systems up and try to resell them are going to see their orders cut back as well. This is the price we all pay in a world where scalpers are rampant as they are now. The SNES Classic Edition is selling for about $80 and includes two controllers with longer cords than the NES Classic Edition. Nintendo has already promised that there will be more SNES Classic Edition consoles making them easier to find.