A day before the Triforce-adorned, Legend of Zelda–themed Switch 2 consoles were supposed to arrive at people’s doorsteps, several people who had pre-ordered through Walmart are receiving emails informing them that their orders have been suddenly canceled.

Affected buyers received a message telling them that their delivery order was “out of stock,” which is usually not supposed to happen when you pre-order, as the way the system usually works is that retailers have an allocated stock of a given item for people to reserve by paying for said item early. That’s the whole purpose of the system.

Walmart Pre-Order Cancelled 1 Day Prior to Arrival
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According to past customers in Reddit threads on the situation, however, this is par for the course for Walmart, which has canceled preorders for other items in the past. Now, although the console is still listed as out of stock on the company’s website, it’s also showing up for $700, which is nearly $200 more than the bundle was initially listed for when the affected buyers pre-ordered, though this may be a price set by a third-party seller using Walmart as a platform to scalp.

“This is unethical sales practice,” a buyer whose pre-order was canceled said on Reddit. “They shouldn’t allow pre-orders beyond what they can stock. This denied their competitors a sale and denied an excited customer a chance at limited edition merch. I’ll try again elsewhere but think consumers should be aware.”

Those who have gotten in contact with customer service representatives say that Walmart oversold pre-orders and there “literally isn’t [a console] in stock to send me and I just was one of the unlucky patrons who got fucked.”

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