Ars Technica: Slackers scalping Wii consoles over eBay

Ars Technica expose writer Ben Kuchera brings another ground breaking story as he infiltratesd local video games retail chain Slackers and interviewed some employees about some of the business practices there. Apparently it was confirmed that employees mislead their customers by inaccurately reporting actual Wii stocks in the store and instead selling the extra ones on eBay at a premium.

For more information, read the full article after the jump!

We all know that Wii consoles are selling like hotcakes this holiday season and stocks of the best-selling console have been running rather thin this Christmas. However, what would you do if you found out that the local video games retailer was holding out on its customers and was scalping Wiis online for a much higher price?

This was the report compiled by Ars Technica expose writer Ben Kuchera as he infiltrated local retail chain Slackers and found out that they’ve been telling customers inaccurate amounts of its Wii consoles in stock, while actually selling for a premium of US$ 400 online on eBay.

An employee from Slackers was quoted having said this: “Also, it may say we have three, but that is just to make it appear as though we don’t have a stockpile. The actual number is usually much higher”.

Since this story was broken, several other employees have stepped up and given their own experiences on how the operation was ran. Kurt Jellinek, President of Slackers CDs and Games, has put out his own statement on the Slackers website explaining that this move was linked mostly to the fact that their relatively small market range of 11 stores puts them at a disadvantage with other big distributors.

While he admits that Slackers has sold 5 Wii units at US$ 400 online, he was rather adamant about his stand and took offense with the article written against him and his company. He goes on to defend the company’s actions on an official statement in the official website of Slackers.