The Purchasing Process

Before we get to the actual challenge, let's talk about buying the Wii.

If you are like me any gaming console is a major expense, and you want to make sure you get the best deal possible. Doing due diligence is important to make sure you are buying the right product at the right price.

I did a lot of reading and exploring on what to pay for a Wii and Wii Fit. Most people will tell you to go to ebay. Right now, that might not be the best idea for you. It sure wasn't for me.

People have been paying "Whatever it takes" to get a Wii for quite awhile now. Stock has not kept up with demand for this product, so it has been tough for anyone to find one. This has inflated the value of the Wii on ebay, and seems to have created a frenzy that has people paying more than retail.

As of the end of March 2009 stock has caught up with demand for the Wii according to Cnet reporters, and you can indeed find the Wii in stock in many stores. It seems that is going to take awhile to trickle down to the ebay consumers.

I spent a week bidding on Wii and Wii Fit bundles on ebay and never even came close to winning one. Here are the parameters I set:

The Wii with Sports bundle retails for $249.99, the Fit for $89.99 giving you a retail price of $339.98. If you go to your local Walmart taxes apply etc. Going to Amazon you get the $339.98 with no taxes and Free Super Saver Shipping.

So my baseline was $340. I decided from that that I did not want to pay more than $320 with shipping included for it to be a "deal" on ebay. Over the course of my week "playing" on ebay I saw ONE Wii and Wii Fit bundle go for less than $325. Most of them were bid up to $350-380 or more by the time the bidding was over.

With that in mind, I decided to stop playing the odds and go with the sure thing. I ordered from Amazon. Now there are some places other than Amazon that will run a good deal from time to time. I love Newegg, and they have some good deals for the Wii, but I live in one of the States they have a warehouse in, which means I get to add tax to my order. So Amazon it was. This site has a Amazon affiliate link, so if you have not ordered your Wii and decide that Amazon is the best deal for you as well, please consider connecting to Amazon through our Link to make your purchase. It won't cost you any more, but we get a small cut for referring you to them.

Now will Ebay eventually catch up to the fact that Wii are now broadly available, probably, and likely somewhat by the time you read this post it will have already come down some, so my advice is do your research, set the price you are willing to spend and stick with it. The Wii is a good product, but you don't need to spend more than retail for it. Consider your timetable as well before you delve into ebay. Unless you have incredibly good luck, you probably won't win the first Wii you bid on, or the third, so you should decide how long you are willing to play ebay before you buy retail.

Be leery of ebay packages that include the moon. The Wii, Wii Fit, Mario Kart, extra games, chargers, controllers. Do the math before you hit that Buy it Now button. Sometimes you are getting a little savings off retail, but a lot of times it will cost you less to go to Walmart or Amazon.

In the end, no matter how you get your Wii, once you have it and unpack it you are on your way! Set up took me about 10 minutes, I got connected to the Wi-Fi, did a firmware update, and am on my way!