All, sorry about the errors this morning on Sears price. I made a few adjustments last night and now have fixed the issue. While the stock status of Sears will continue to be an issue because of their site displaying incorrect inventory status, the pricing is fixed. I am sure quite a few of you were a little shocked by the price sent in the email. I trap the stock status as well as the prices and sometimes when sites make adjustments the price has the potential to get messed up. We should be good from here on out.

As Best Buy preps for the holidays, so does NowInStock.net. I just added the 3 bundles they have on the site. These new bundles are not overly priced like we saw last year from a lot of retailers. Here is what the following bundles include:

• Starter Bundle – Console, Wii Play w/Remote, Mario Party 8, Extra Nunchuk, and My Mii Manager
• Nintendo Fan Bundle – Console, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Extra Remote Controller
• Sports Bundle – Console, Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Extra Remote Controller

To be notified as soon as they come in stock, visit the Wii Tracker page and subscribe to the email alerts. The links will lead you to the Games & Toys page, from there just go to the top right Games & Toys link and select Wii from the drop-down menu.

Santa, if you want a Wii for Christmas, I suggest you sign up for Wii alerts right now. There is no way Santa Claus will be able to deliver Wii orders unless you get in line early!
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Nearly 10 months after the initial release of the Nintendo Wii, Best Buy has finally released the Wii on their site for the first time. They are the last of the major retailers to do so. They must still feel that driving customers to the store is priority number one. Come this holiday season, I wonder if they will continue to offer the Wii online?

Today, for 49 minutes straight, beginning at 1:00 PM EST the Wii was in stock at Amazon. This is by far the largest time frame that the Wii has been in stock at Amazon since the release of this unit back in November of 2006. Simply amazing. Those of you that might have missed this opportunity, make sure that you sign up for Wii In Stock email alerts to be notified of the next opportunity.

For those of you that have not been in tune with the Wii, it is still one of the hottest items on the market. Demand is still so high that market analysts have extended their estimates to mid-2008 before the Wii market will be saturated. This means this holiday season will end up being good for Nintendo, but maybe not that good. Nintendo has stated that production will continue to be low as a result of third-party parts still be delayed. If you had any thoughts of getting a Wii for the kiddies this holiday season, better start looking now. What better place than signing up for our Wii in Stock Alerts! We have helped thousands since last November and are planning on continuing our tradition this holiday season.

Wow, after 20 long minutes, the Wii is still in stock at Amazon. We may set a new record here on the length from first being in stock to sold out!

All, I just wanted to quickly address the in stock alerts for the Wii Console at Amazon showing up for $349. Obviously, or maybe not that obvious to some, this unit is being sold by a 3rd party Hubbagames. While this tactic is commonplace on Amazon for other products, this is actually the first time since the Wii launched late last year that I have seen Amazon allow a 3rd party reseller show up in this manner.

With that said, the way my spidering script works, it checks to see if the price is viewable and does a few other checks before alerting. As a result of this 3rd party and its reference to the Wii in this manner, my script is showing in stock as it does on Amazon, but at $349. My question to all… Should I take the time to fix this or does it not bother you?

On average, Wii stock at Amazon sells out in 4-8 minutes. Hence, over the past few months the Amazon Wii alerts have not been quick enough. While I have managed to receive the email alerts with time to click the link and order one while they were still in stock, I do realize that most people are not in tune with their email as much as I am. Even at that, there have been times when I have been slow enough and they were gone. One of the reasons for this is the fact that my spiders check the pages on average every 3-4 minutes. So, if Wii’s come in stock at Amazon and my spider doesn’t run for another 2-4 minutes, coupled with the time for you to receive the email, it is too late already.

In order to combat this, I have decided to run Amazon seperately on a faster schedule. This should increase the time to actual alert to more around the 1-1.5 minute time frame. In essence, this is a dramatic shift because 2-4 minutes difference can mean the difference between “in stock” or “sold out”. I may decide to crank up this checking even further, but I still can only send emails so fast. So, when you receive an alert for Amazon, you need to act FAST!

We shall see how this new script pans out. I expect that this week Amazon will receive another shipment on Thursday or Friday. If not this week, I would say next week for sure.

GameStop has once again changed up their Wii Bundles with the introduction of the Big Bundle and the Mario Bundle. I have gone ahead and replaced the previously existing bundles with these new bundles so if you were subscribed to these alerts in the past, you are already set, unless you were not subscribed to both bundles and want alerts for the other one.

In order to see which bundles you are subscribed to, always consult with the list here.

On a side note, the direct link to the Mario Bundle was not working properly so I made the link head straight to the Wii Bundle list.

I have updated eToys and added new Wii Bundles, #9 & #10 replacing the previously existing Bundles #7 & #8. If you were previously signed up for either #7 or #8, then you are automatically signed up for #9 & #10 respectively. However, if you were not, you better act quick and grab one of the Wii units currently in stock (July 26th) or sign up for future alerts.