How to find Wii Fit without working up a sweat

Finding a copy of Wii Fit, Nintendo's innovative fitness video game, offers quite the workout -- for those who trek from store to store in search of the hard-to-find title. Like the Wii console itself, Wii Fit is in high demand and low supply, thanks to conservative planning by Nintendo and a weak dollar that has made sales of the game outside the U.S. more profitable for the Japanese company.

Fret not. Helpful readers of our weekend story about the shortage have written in with some advice. Here are their suggestions, along with some more of our own:

• Visit WiiAlerts, a site that notifies people via cellphone or e-mail when the game is in stock at a number of online merchants.
• Buddy up to store clerks. They sometimes know when a shipment is scheduled to arrive. Some might even call you when the game is in stock.
• Hit out-of-the way stores. You could get lucky.
• If you're desperate, check Craigslist or bid on EBay. The markups can be steep, however. We found the $90 game selling for $150 on EBay.
• Exercise patience. Instead of paying a premium, wait until the game is back in stores and snag a copy at retail price. You'll want to give your body a workout, not your bank account.

-- Alex Pham

Photo courtesy of Nintendo

Comments

[Aaron]

I agree. Paying $150 for a $90 unit is insane. I refuse to encourage the eBay scam artists in their rush to create an artificial shortage. I'll be waiting until I can walk into a local retailer and buy one. Part of the problem is Nintendo's distribution strategy, which leave shelves empty for weeks at a time.

[mark Mosley]

I think it is a scam by Nintendo to drive demand for the wii but after being duped by a few store clerks I am going on a bike ride and forgetting about Nintendo. It is just a scam to drive demand, not supply problems. Disney practices the same tactic.Wii purchasers- you have been played.

[John]

Theres another site like WiiAlerts that I use called http://findoos.com its basically the same idea but I've found they have a smaller user base and I recieve thier alerts faster.

[bill ishman]

Here are a couple of wii fit trackers that might help in your search for a wii fit
http://www.instockonline.org
http://zoolert.com/index.php

[marsha_tm]

I think I've logged more hours looking for a Wii Fit in the past few weeks than I have sleeping, eating or playing with my children combined. (The kids are fine, by the way - I told them it'd be worth it when they saw how toned my abs would be.)

So thank you, thank you for telling me about WiiAlerts. I signed up, and in a couple of hours had gotten an alert that BestBuy had them in stock. I got my order in immediately, and within minutes I saw that they were once again sold out online.

(And speaking of ripoffs, the Aahs chain is selling them for $199.99.)

[k. orzolek]

Whatever happened to the good old days when we didn't need technology to exercise? People need to understand that when it comes to a good workout we need to get up and actually do it rather than wait for some new toy to help us out. If you have enough money for a Wii Fit, you can probably afford a subscripsion at the local gym.

[Ryan]

I've been using http://Notifi.Me/ because the stock alerts get sent out within 1 minute of new stock. Plus they can send the alert to your email or your cell phone (via SMS).

Oh, they'll also alert you on conditions like "price change" or "stock out" too.

[Amazon Text Alert]

Cut the middlemen and sign up for Amazon's Text Alert service:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VJRU44

I GOT ONE TODAY WAITED OUTSIDE FOR 1 HOUR.. GOT THE LAST ONE. My suggestion to people who dont got one . Stay positive . go to stores ( not expecting to get one) . Go to a stroe thinkin ur gettin something eles odds are ull find it....... n if u see a line forming run ur ass off.. people have connections and no when stores get them.. so look at stores n if u see people waiting go on line FAST..... odds r ull find one.. i did that last night n got the last one. Good luck every one!

[Bob]

CHECK THE SUNDAY ADS! If you see a picture of a Wii Fit in the Sunday ads of Target, Best Buy etc... then they will have them... if you don't see a picture then the will NOT have them...

[Christie Jackson]

I was looking for a Wii Fit, too, and was having a pretty hard time finding it. Never ask a clerk in person because with my experience, they always say they don't know when they'll get a shipment. Talk to them on the phone and they sing like canaries! lol I guess it's some big secret they'll lose their jobs over! (sarcasm) Anyway, I had called and been all over when I finally tried Game Crazy and not only did they have one, they put it on hold for me. (yay!) I just want to say that there are people who find it easier to work out at home then to go to a gym. You are NOT sitting on your butt with this thing, you HAVE to get up and move. Consider it a very affordable personal trainer. And this is WAAYYY less expensive than a membership to a gym. Not only do you have to pay for your membership up front, but they hit you up every month after that. This is just one shot of $90. Do the math. Actually, I bought this because my son wanted it to go with the Skate it game (which is awesome exercise) but I figured I would stick up for those using it to work out. lol

[Otto]

About those saying shortages are a Nintendo strategy to drive demand??? Nintendo wants to make MONEY.

Limited production that cause people to wait for Fit to become available - Nintendo loses money.

Flooding the market with Wii Fits and then having them NOT sell - Nintendo loses money.

Flooding the market and HOPING it will sell? Risky in tough economic times!

If Nintendo was trying to 'drive demand' they would be hurting themselves (lost income) and their customers (low availability/high prices on eBay, etc) and only serve to benefit eBay traders, etc.

[Danny]

I work at a large national chain store and in all honesty we don't know when we're getting more. We're not trying to make it harder for customer. If we could, we'd order 100 of these things and start telling everyone when to show up and buy them, but that's not possible. There is a shortage and we pretty much don't know if we'll have them or not until they show up at the store. Some stores (especially the larger ones like Best Buy or Walmart) will hold on to a shipment so that they can release it on a given day; usually timed with a advertisment or special promotion. Pretty much in every case that decision is made at the corporate level so asking store employees is pointless. We don't know. It doesn't matter if you ask us in person or over the phone. Our managers don't know either. We're not trying to be mean or too lazy to find out.

[Hookem]

I was able to find wii fit at a site that I ended up being very happy with. venturebridgeelectronics.com had a great product selection and I did not even have to work up a sweat running around. I have already lost weight and am really enjoying the different fitness modes. Exercise is key to a healthy life!