Sold Out Kindles Going For Up To $1,500 On Ebay
Amazon's new Kindle ebook device sold out almost immediately after going on sale. And there won't be any more available until after Christmas: … The device, which sells for $400, also is unavailable outside of the U.S. So if you want one now …
Context & Ripple Effects
The sellout was predictable from the launch: Amazon's first Kindle moved through initial stock in 5.5 hours in late November 2007, and three weeks later there is still no restock before Christmas. The device's $400 price and U.S.-only availability mean the entire global audience plus late domestic gift-buyers are funneled into a single constrained channel.
First-order effects
- Late holiday buyers who want a Kindle before Christmas must pay reseller prices — listings reach $1,500 on eBay, nearly four times the $400 retail tag.
- Every unserved order is deferred revenue for Amazon into the post-holiday window, when gift demand has already been captured by scalpers instead.
Second-order effects
- eBay becomes the de facto pricing mechanism for the shortage, revealing willingness-to-pay far above list and giving Amazon free market research on what the device could bear.
- Competing e-readers gain a seasonal opening: any rival with shelf stock during the holiday window can capture buyers Amazon cannot serve.
Third-order effects
- A repeatable pattern takes shape where hardware launches under-supply deliberately or accidentally, letting secondary markets set the real clearing price — if the pattern holds, launch scarcity becomes part of the product strategy rather than a supply-chain failure.
The trend: Constrained hardware launches are pushing price discovery onto resale marketplaces like eBay, where the gap between list and street price measures true demand.