A little more than a week after announcing that the infamousNintendo Switch 2console thatmanaged to get damaged by a staple on launch night at a New York-area GameStopstorewas going up for auction, with proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals charity, the console has sold.
As spotted by Polygon, the consolehas sold for an eye-popping $250,000, more than 500 times the recommended retail price of $449.99 for a standard Switch 2 console. In all, 282 bids were placed among 94 bidders, with just four customers retracting their bids.
The listing started out with a meager $1 starting price, and it didn’t take long to jump into the hundreds of thousands, as its first bid was for $109,621. From there, things quickly went back and forth in the thousands, before finally settling at $250,000. The user that won the item only bid on it twice, all at the last minute.
The Saga Began And Ended With A Regular Black Stapler
As the story goes, a gamer in New York shared the unfortunate situation they found themselves in, after GameStop stapled their pre-order receipts for the Switch 2 directly to the console box itself.
Because the console is directly behind the cardboard, with no barrier in between, the staples managed to puncture through to impact the screen, rendering the console damaged before it had even been turned on.
The incident was reportedly isolated to just one store, with the retailer quickly working to make things right, including accepting returns of the damaged console and replacing it with a non-damaged one.
Recognizing the virality of the situation, GameStop put every item involved up for auction. The stapler used, along with the console impacted were auctioned, alongside the actual staple itself and a certificate of authenticity for the whole thing. It’s worth noting that the console itself is fully functional, as the screen was repaired.
All that is to say, “Staple-gate” is officially done away with.
