Rumor: Retail Chain Scalping Wiis on Ebay

Ars Technica is reporting that a chain of Illinois/Missouri game stores called Slackers is scalping its shipments of Wiis by listing them on eBay.

An anonymous tipster who claims to be a Slackers employee says that none of the Wiis that the stores get actually make it to the store front, instead winding up listed on the Slackers eBay site at a huge markup.

"The real crime is that we get Wii shipments regularly. In fact, right now we have about 20," said the source.

Originally listed at $499 each, the Wiis have since been lowered to the Buy It Now price of $400 and are "New With Game"--Wii Sports. Well, at least the shipping's free.

Sleazy, certainly, but is it any worse than being forced to buy an in-store bundle that tacks on games and controllers that you don't necessarily want or need?

UPDATE: Myth confirmed! A Slackers employee emailed Game|Life to provide the following insight:

I just read your rumor article about how Slackers is selling their Wiis online for a huge markup, and it's absolutely true. The only discrepancy I saw was your speculation at the end that our customers don't know about our eBay store. I'm not exactly sure whether or not we're supposed to, but when asked if we'll ever get any Wiis in, most of us take the opportunity to complain that any we would get in get sold on eBay at a huge markup. I can't speak for all our locations, but at least some of us let people know what's up.

Retail chain scalping Wii allotment on eBay [Ars Technica]