Following a number of rumors that it was going to happen, Nintendo recently announced a Super Nintendo Classic Edition would arrive on September 29 for $79.99. After the limited production run of last year's NES Classic Mini saw units sell out almost instantly, the company promised there would be "significantly more" stock of the new console. But this hasn't stopped scalpers taking advantage of people's fear that they'll miss out.
With the system still more than three months away from release, several listings have appeared on eBay offering to sell "guaranteed" pre-orders at a huge markup over the retail price. Ars Technica reports that there are 23 "sold" SNES Classics now on the site with a median price of $199. The most expensive unit having been sold for $389.99 - $310 more than the what the console costs.
Most US retailers haven't even started listing pre-orders for the SNES Classic Edition yet, and are only offering in-stock alerts. Online pre-orders were available on some British retail sites earlier this week, but they sold out very quickly. One US sellers wrote he had "confirmed 6 acquisition of the new mini Nintendo SNES from UK."
Nintendo sold almost 200,000 NES Classics in the US within about a month of its launch. Production ended in April following estimated sales of around 2.3 million units, but this hasn't satisfied demand, with systems still appearing on resale sites for $200 - $300. If these early indications are anything to go by, it looks as if the console's successor could face the same issues, especially as Nintendo only plans to ship the SNES Classic Edition until the end of the year.