by Doc – Owner, Founder, Why Is Scalping A Thing
Since literally day 1 of amiibo’s existence, scalpers have been targeting amiibo and making bank off of the amiibo community. I have previously predicted that Nintendo was diverting Min Min supply to make more Steve amiibo (and in retrospect, the Splatoon 3 amiibo), but demand for the Steve amiibo has been so outrageous that I don’t think it would’ve mattered much anyway.
Scalpers have jumped on this, and are already putting up Steve and Alex 2-packs online for $15 more than they originally went. I’ve been keeping an eye on the completed sales on eBay over the last two days since release, and the profit margins are getting larger and larger, with some going for up to $20 or $25 more than MSRP. It’s really quite shameful.
So how do we stop amiibo scalping?
Well, if you’re interested in amiibo collecting, you’re out of luck. Amiibo collectors are specific about what they want, and all they want are the figures themselves, which are in short supply.
If you’re into amiibo for the Smash Ultimate training, you’re in much better shape. While Steve and Alex amiibo cards aren’t nearly as exciting, they do function just fine as substitutes for the actual figure. eBay sellers are pretty trustworthy and competitive in their prices, so you’re best off going for that if you don’t want to feed the scalpers.
Unfortunately, Nintendo is kind of bringing this on themselves. I’d like to live in a world where nobody ever needed to invent amiibo card manufacturing because Nintendo manufactures enough amiibo for their fans, but that isn’t the case. As a result, scalpers know they can choke out supply and resell the amiibo to the most dedicated among us.
Amiibo Doctor 