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News and tests about board games, games and entertainment > Article > video Games > Selling out the Nintendo Switch: Are retailers supporting the shortage through purchase bots?
Newsvideo Games

Selling out the Nintendo Switch: Are retailers supporting the shortage through purchase bots?

Andre Volkman
Last updated: April 21, 2020 08:45 p.m
Andre Volkman
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Anyone who currently owns a Nintendo Switch can be happy. Photo: André Volkmann
Anyone who currently owns a Nintendo Switch can be happy. Photo: André Volkmann
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Anyone who wants to buy a Nintendo Switch is currently looking at either empty shopping carts or horrendous prices. According to a report by the lifestyle magazine Vice, there are automatic purchase bot programs in circulation that are currently searching through the stocks of shops and automatically buying consoles as soon as they are available. This could currently lead to a shortage Nintendo Switch beitragen.


The Popularity of the Nintendo Switch, coupled with the current low inventory levels lead to rising prices - exactly that is what retailers could use for themselves. According to a report in Vice magazine* some retailers could at least support the scarcity of the Nintendo Switch through the use of purchase bots.

Selling out the Nintendo Switch artificially created?

The drastically increased prices of the Nintendo Switch could at least partially have been generated artificially or be maintained. Instead of being satisfied with the regular sales prices, some dealers are seizing the opportunity and taking action. According to the tech experts at Motherboard, this succeeds with automatic program routines in order to discover cheap retail prices of the switch and then strike.

These purchasing bots apparently not only compare prices, but also automatically fill the shopping carts and even complete the purchase in record time, so that “normal customers” have no chance of making one Nintendo Switch available at the normal price.

Only the original version of the Nintendo Switch, i.e. the one with a docking station, is affected by the shortage. Photo: André Volkmann
Only the original version of the Nintendo Switch, i.e. the one with a dock, is affected by the shortage. Photo: Volkmann

The reason then lies in a lucrative return. While the Nintendo Switch usually costs around 300 to 330 euros, retailers are currently charging almost twice as much due to the tight stocks.

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In order for this automated system to work, some technical tricks are necessary. Shops usually filter out bot purchases. According to the Vice post, such automatic programs are currently so popular that the creators behind the bot even set up a Discord server to help users set it up. According to the makers, the bot is intended for both dealers and normal buyers who want to get hold of a Nintendo Switch.

[atkp_product id = '9592 ′ template =' secondwide '] [/ atkp_product]

The scarcity of the Nintendo Switch is not a problem unique to the United States. British retailers, for example, are also reporting low Switch stocks. In this country, interested parties are feeling the situation directly: even large online shops like Amazon or Otto don't have any consoles in stock and are waiting for supplies, things don't look much better on Ebay, where the Nintendo Switch is also sold over the virtual counter at much higher prices – The special editions, such as those for the new one, are particularly popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

In the short term, the availability situation does not seem to ease. If you want to buy a Nintendo Switch, you currently have to spend a lot of money or use the lite version - this is still available in stores at normal prices.

Other consoles, such as the Playstation 4 or Xbox One, are not affected by the shortage - despite some sales promotions. An indication of how great the popularity of the Nintendo Switch compared to the competition at a hunt.

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André Volkmann is a journalist who specializes in local news, games and entertainment.
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