So how bad is the Switch stock situation?

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I've been ignoring this thread since April...i'm surprised this is still hard to find. I'm glad I pre-ordered.

The only thing I'm having trouble getting are the 2 blue joy-con pack. The Nintendo NYC store didn't even have it. searching again this week.
 
I wanted to pick one up while I was in Portland this weekend to avoid my 8.5 % sales tax and pay 0%. No dice though :( I picked up two pairs of shoes and some new ray ban sunglasses.
 
If I wanted a Switch on Sunday and I lived in Seattle, what would be the best route to go? Find a Toys R Us and get there an hour before they open? Or a Best Buy? Target?
 
Ofcourse but if Nintendo starts being a bitch there too, than most retailers will tell them to "fuck off!". Nintendo can't deliver the goods, and doesn't allow them to start a stock for the holidays (so they don't get crazy situations with people fighting over them). Well then many retailers will tell Nintendo to "Screw you guys, we're going Sony.".

So Nintendo will be lenient in this, they have to. Retail partners are a key part of the success of the switch. Nintendo has major issues with production at the moment, and they already know they are duping retailers with this. (Retailers are the ones having to deal with the customers). So if Nintendo starts to litigate for not selling what they have, retailers will simply pull out. Those 7 switches they sell each month (The total amount of Switches supplied to them), will not make a dent in the total monthly revenue.

When Nintendo can supply them in quantity again, in say 1 or 2 years, the retailer will start to order again. So it is also in Nintendo's best interest to allow these retailers to make some stockpile before the holidays.

You really have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. Breach of contract suits can lose a retailer hundreds of millions of dollars, and expose them to excess scrutiny from all of their merchandise suppliers due to fear of similar practices and tank the retailer's stock, on top of really bad PR from the practice being exposed to the public.

And if Nintendo were to win such a breach of contract suit and a retailer pitches such a tantrum because they violated the terms of the retail agreement they signed, Nintendo can just say "bye Felicia", because they can sell their stock allocations easily on Amazon and at other retailers, along with whatever money they earned from the legal proceedings against the retailer, to boot.

What you propose is a lose-lose scenario for retailers. You're being delusional. But with so many conspiracy theorists around this topic, I can't say a delusional opinion is uncommon.
 
Hopefully the Switch I ordered on Friday from Gamestop ships this week. Would love to have it for the E3 conference.

Shit, I still need to get Mario Kart.
 
You really have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. Breach of contract suits can lose a retailer hundreds of millions of dollars, and expose them to excess scrutiny from all of their merchandise suppliers due to fear of similar practices and tank the retailer's stock, on top of really bad PR from the practice being exposed to the public.

And if Nintendo were to win such a breach of contract suit and a retailer pitches such a tantrum because they violated the terms of the retail agreement they signed, Nintendo can just say "bye Felicia", because they can sell their stock allocations easily on Amazon and at other retailers, along with whatever money they earned from the legal proceedings against the retailer, to boot.

What you propose is a lose-lose scenario for retailers. You're being delusional. But with so many conspiracy theorists around this topic, I can't say a delusional opinion is uncommon.

Then, as a retailer I would stop stocking Switch, until they get their production in check. I wouldn't want my shop to be overrun by idiots fighting come the black friday sales... and only having like 7 in stock. For my employee safety and damages caused to my store, I'd simply not stock it. PERIOD.

IF Nintendo would litigate against me trying to get a decent amount for the holidays, due to their slow manner of producing the thing, then I might as well rely instead for giving me some great Black Friday Deal options I can pull off.

But I'm sure Nintendo is not that unwilling to you selling half and stocking the other half, to sell on special events for the same price (so not scalping). In fact in Europe they don't even set an advice price, and some stores have been stocking here and even scalping without any litigation from Nintendo. I know you don't want to hear that, but there are shops selling the Switch about 50% above the 330 Euro price. They can get away with it, but maybe it is different in the USA. Were Nintendo actually seems to care a bit more about it's customers. In Europe Nintendo didn't even set a retail price you know.

And "Bye felicia" and "lose lose" they can only sell like 7 a week at BEST in most stores. That is PEANUTS compared to the other products they sell, most of them actually do go through the big chains like Amazon and Gamestop. If you're a small retailer Nintendo simply isn't making an impact for you, at least not until they can deliver larger amounts. You forget that Nintendo also needs their retailers, as one of the reasons Sony is as big as they are in Europe? Great relations with their retailers, both big AND small.
 
Then, as a retailer I would stop stocking Switch, until they get their production in check. I wouldn't want my shop to be overrun by idiots fighting come the black friday sales... and only having like 7 in stock. For my employee safety and damages caused to my store, I'd simply not stock it. PERIOD.

IF Nintendo would litigate against me trying to get a decent amount for the holidays, due to their slow manner of producing the thing, then I might as well rely instead for giving me some great Black Friday Deal options I can pull off.

But I'm sure Nintendo is not that unwilling to you selling half and stocking the other half, to sell on special events for the same price (so not scalping). In fact in Europe they don't even set an advice price, and some stores have been stocking here and even scalping without any litigation from Nintendo. I know you don't want to hear that, but there are shops selling the Switch about 50% above the 330 Euro price. They can get away with it, but maybe it is different in the USA. Were Nintendo actually seems to care a bit more about it's customers. In Europe Nintendo didn't even set a retail price you know.

If a retailer refuses to stock Nintendo products then Nintendo will just write them off. No retailer is going to sanely make that decision.
 
Then, as a retailer I would stop stocking Switch, until they get their production in check. I wouldn't want my shop to be overrun by idiots fighting come the black friday sales... and only having like 7 in stock. For my employee safety and damages caused to my store, I'd simply not stock it. PERIOD.

IF Nintendo would litigate against me trying to get a decent amount for the holidays, due to their slow manner of producing the thing, then I might as well rely instead for giving me some great Black Friday Deal options I can pull off.

But I'm sure Nintendo is not that unwilling to you selling half and stocking the other half, to sell on special events for the same price (so not scalping). In fact in Europe they don't even set an advice price, and some stores have been stocking here and even scalping without any litigation from Nintendo. I know you don't want to hear that, but there are shops selling the Switch about 50% above the 330 Euro price. They can get away with it, but maybe it is different in the USA. Were Nintendo actually seems to care a bit more about it's customers. In Europe Nintendo didn't even set a retail price you know.

And "Bye felicia" and "lose lose" they can only sell like 7 a week at BEST in most stores. That is PEANUTS compared to the other products they sell, most of them actually do go through the big chains like Amazon and Gamestop. If you're a small retailer Nintendo simply isn't making an impact for you, at least not until they can deliver larger amounts. You forget that Nintendo also needs their retailers, as one of the reasons Sony is as big as they are in Europe? Great relations with their retailers, both big AND small.


All retailers will do is just hold stock for ad releases (not for the holidays). They do it for all kinds of products (iPhone's every year is done this way). Best Buy does it pretty regularly when I worked there. They will generally continue to do it every month or so until supply/demand evens out. Based on the last monthly figures they are still selling more then other consoles so not sure why you say it's not worth it to a retailer even if it's supply constrained.
 
Then, as a retailer I would stop stocking Switch, until they get their production in check. I wouldn't want my shop to be overrun by idiots fighting come the black friday sales... and only having like 7 in stock. For my employee safety and damages caused to my store, I'd simply not stock it. PERIOD.

IF Nintendo would litigate against me trying to get a decent amount for the holidays, due to their slow manner of producing the thing, then I might as well rely instead for giving me some great Black Friday Deal options I can pull off.

But I'm sure Nintendo is not that unwilling to you selling half and stocking the other half, to sell on special events for the same price (so not scalping). In fact in Europe they don't even set an advice price, and some stores have been stocking here and even scalping without any litigation from Nintendo. I know you don't want to hear that, but there are shops selling the Switch about 50% above the 330 Euro price. They can get away with it, but maybe it is different in the USA. Were Nintendo actually seems to care a bit more about it's customers. In Europe Nintendo didn't even set a retail price you know.

And "Bye felicia" and "lose lose" they can only sell like 7 a week at BEST in most stores. That is PEANUTS compared to the other products they sell, most of them actually do go through the big chains like Amazon and Gamestop. If you're a small retailer Nintendo simply isn't making an impact for you, at least not until they can deliver larger amounts. You forget that Nintendo also needs their retailers, as one of the reasons Sony is as big as they are in Europe? Great relations with their retailers, both big AND small.

Large retailers make a lot of money on slotting fees, or income earned through permanently-allocated retail space for a specified product. Those fees are not "peanuts", I can assure you. Choosing not to retail it means not collecting or returning those fees collected.

You also run another risk not retailing the product, because when stock does enter into abundance and continues to have demand, you lose the opportunity to capitalize on that, ceding that opportunity to other retail chains and ending up with a relationship that needs to be re-instated before doing so, which isn't easy if the manufacturer doesn't feel a financial impact from your absence.

You didn't see these tactics you describe with Sony's PSVR for the same reason.

And no, if Nintendo wants stock reserved to sell with a particular game, then they don't release the inventory to retailers until such a time. Retailers may have leeway depending on the retail agreement, but withholding stock indefinitely for months at a time (like until the holiday season, for example) is not part of that.
 
Finally found stock in the wild. My Wal Mart has about 4-5 grey System and 1 neon System. May be worth checking your store for those trying to find them but fair warning I live in a pretty small town now so probably not going to sell as fast as other places.
 
There was a lone Neon Switch at Bull Moose. Picked it up along with used copies of Zelda and Mario Kart at 40 bucks each. I was going to wait but it was there and I had the money so I figured why not. Hoping for a killer E3.
 
Hopefully the Switch I ordered on Friday from Gamestop ships this week. Would love to have it for the E3 conference.

Shit, I still need to get Mario Kart.

Gamestop originally said the 16th, but I'm getting it this week. Ordered Mario Kart as well.
 
I got my Switch last night and was blown away. Everything about the system is awesome. Besides the small charger it comes with. Wish it was longer.

GAF, this thing needs to be successful.
 
Ofcourse but if Nintendo starts being a bitch there too, than most retailers will tell them to "fuck off!". Nintendo can't deliver the goods, and doesn't allow them to start a stock for the holidays (so they don't get crazy situations with people fighting over them). Well then many retailers will tell Nintendo to "Screw you guys, we're going Sony.".

So Nintendo will be lenient in this, they have to. Retail partners are a key part of the success of the switch. Nintendo has major issues with production at the moment, and they already know they are duping retailers with this. (Retailers are the ones having to deal with the customers). So if Nintendo starts to litigate for not selling what they have, retailers will simply pull out. Those 7 switches they sell each month (The total amount of Switches supplied to them), will not make a dent in the total monthly revenue.

When Nintendo can supply them in quantity again, in say 1 or 2 years, the retailer will start to order again. So it is also in Nintendo's best interest to allow these retailers to make some stockpile before the holidays.


Outside of being rampant speculation, this is just factually wrong. Best Buy and Target had positive Q1 results in large part due to switch sales. To the extent that it notably drove up their share prices
 
I've been hunting them on Amazon daily and I must've missed it because they were probably available for a very short time which makes my point still stand. NoA's has a pathetic supply chain management and has had one for years now.

Set up an alert through nowinstock and you will get a text the second it goes live.
 
Currently scarce as far as I understand with new stock expected later this month (ARMS release window probably).

I think that is likely.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/170502e.pdf

Q3 If demand for Nintendo Switch reaches the same levels that Wii did, isn’t it likely that the product will be sold out during the holiday season if you can’t secure sufficient inventory levels by the fall? Are you taking any steps to address this, such as establishing an expandable assembly line?

A3 Kimishima:
Our initial plan for the Nintendo Switch hardware shipments for the last fiscal year was 2 million units, but we saw the high anticipation from consumers prior to launch and began additional production, allowing us to ultimately ship 2.74 million units. We are planning to ship 10 million units this fiscal year, and this figure takes into account the fantastic response we have received from consumers. Planning to ship 10 million units means that we actually plan to produce more than that including units in our warehouse and in-transit product. We are not currently producing this full amount all at once. We expect that the number of consumers who want to buy the hardware will increase as we release titles such as ARMS, Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey, so our current production model takes that into account.

Kimishima states in the last paragraph that they expect more consumers buying hardware as ARMS and Splatoon 2 releases, so that means they must be setting up bigger/more shipments for those releases mentioned.
 
I walked into a Walmart this morning to get a gold PS4 for a family member, and when they didn't have it, I went to another Walmart. The second Walmart just happened to have a Switch sitting on the shelf, so I decided to buy it. Going to go hunt for that gold PS4 after work, but I'm not sure if I'll keep the Switch or not. Figured it was better to buy it and think about it, because I know these will be impossible to find when Mario comes out.
 
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Surprised to see plenty in stock at the Peterson Target in Chicago.
 
Apparently I waited too long to pre-order the Neon Yellow joycon.

It is listed as coming soon on the Best Buy website when I saw it available beforehand.
 
Found one at Target in Sherwood of all places after driving to Fry's in Wilsonville and them NOT having it like they said online... Target said they got 15 in this morning.. not sure what was left.. one in case.. rest at guest services.

Kids will be happy tonight for sure!
 
My local Target in California received 5 Neons this morning. I arrived about an hour after opening and they had 3 left, 2 after I got mine. They said they will definitely sell out by the end of the day.
 
UK Gaffer here: is it worth ordering a Switch directly from Nintendo UK?

The shipping estimate is for late June but I have no idea as to their reliability.
 
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