QVC Tricks Thousands Into Overpaying For Wii and Accessories

Reader Joe/Mordecai spotted an awful QVC deal on a Wii, a crappy game and some accessories.

He writes:

While channel surfing this evening I happened to skim by the QVC channel (around 6:50pm CST Sunday night) and noticed they were selling Wiis for the holiday season. The only thing that struck me as weird was the insane price they were selling this item.

Looking at the prices (on tv):

$349.00 + $13.97 S&H = $362.97

for the following items:

Nintendo Wii console retail (with Wii Sports)
Go Play Circus Star Games
Handgun Accessory
Golf Accessory
Tennis Accessory
Baseball Accessory
Steering Wheel

but seeing what these items are retail:

Nintendo Wii console: $199.00 MSRP
Go Play Circus Star Games: $14.99 (new at GameStop)
Wii sports pack (has all accessoies sans handgun accessory): $19.99 (new at GameStop)
Handgun Accessory: $5.99 (new at Sears)

All of these is $239.97 plus tax.

I wonder where they are getting this $140+ amount from. 😐

Is QVC trying to cash in for the Christmas rush? All through out the show they were saying that the wii was going to be “rare”. They were also saying that the Wii had true HD output which is totally untrue (unless 480p is considered HD). It just seemed unreal to me. Oh, and they sold about 2800+ of these.

To confirm what Joe/Mordecai suspects, the Wii is not in HD and Nintendo has repeatedly said the slumping-sales system will not be hard to come by this holiday season.

In the time since he sent the email, QVC got crrrrrazy and slashed the price to a low, low $318.20 before tax, shipping and handling. Only an $80 markup?! They’re practically giving it away!

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.