How to Ensure You Can Find a Nintendo Wii This Christmas

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The Nintendo Wii has proven to be one of the most popular video game consoles. Despite early skepticism, the gaming unit remains in high demand even though its been on the market for nearly two years. Here are some tips for ensuring you get your hands on a Wii for yourself or your loved one.

You have a choice of buying your Wii online or offline at a local merchant. Both online and offline stores have experienced difficulty keeping the Wii in stock.

If you want to buy from a local store, try the following.

* Make a list of all the stores within your local area that sell the Wii. You may want to limit that number to 3 or 5, depending on how much time you have to devote to this project.

* Personally go and meet the manager and/or the employees of the store (or the electronics area if it is a department store). Let them know you wish to buy a Wii and ask them when they receive their deliveries. More to the point, ask when those new deliveries normally get placed on the store shelves.

* From here it’s just a numbers game. Make a point to either be in the store or call them shortly after their new deliveries arrive, and ask “Did you receive any Wiis today?” If the answer is “yes” and you are not physically in the store, ask if they will hold one for five minutes (or whatever length of time it will take you to get to the store). Some will and some will not, but you will never know without asking.

If you want to buy from an online store, here are are some ideas for you.

* Set your maximum price. Some individual sellers on Amazon, eBay and other venues are charging far more than the retail price and you may be tempted to pay their price if your search is initially fruitless. Decide upfront what your top dollar is and do not exceed that.

* Make a list of all the stores you are willing to consider buying from. Consider whether you have bought from the online store before, what their return or replacement policy is in the event the unit arrives damaged, and whether they will guarantee your shipment will arrive when you need it. You may also want to calculate the total cost including shipping and rule out the highest price store on your list.

* Decide whether you are going to buy any additional games, controllers, or other accessories. With most of these stores, you will be presented with options to purchase all of these when you check out. You might as well be prepared.

* Prepare a schedule of how often you will check the online store to see if they have the unit in stock. Some online stores will allow you to sign up and get notified when the Wii comes back into stock.

You may want to employ methods to check both online and offline stores until you find your Wii.

It may seem like a great deal of work, but it will be worth it once you finally have the Wii in hand for yourself, your child, or other loved one.

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