Shoppers in Norwich have been fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on this year's must-have Christmas gifts. They are being forced to pay inflated prices for the latest iPods, Xbox 360 games consoles and Sony PSPs on auction websites.
From the new Xbox 360 to the Bedlam Cube puzzle, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus sets, this year's most wanted pressies are like gold dust for eager-to-please parents.
High Street stores say they are unlikely to have much new stock before February. Every retailer contacted by the Evening Standard had sold out of Microsoft's £299 Xbox 360 with the result that prices for the console on the eBay website have rocketed to £750.
A spokesman for John Lewis said, "The demand has outweighed supply and there is currently no stock available, we have no information from Microsoft regarding allocations in 2006 but our assumption is that we will not be receiving stock in January.
"However, we are about to receive a delivery of the Sony PSP console and expect unreserved stock to be available in all branches for at least the first half of the week," he added.
"The demand has been incredible and we are well aware that many gamers are disappointed not to have got their Xbox 360 on day one. We are working around the clock to manufacture as many Xbox 360s as we can." Microsoft spokesman said.
Microsoft claims it will deliver three million new consoles to shops by February but will not say exactly when.
"We don't want to get into short-term projections right now because any number we provide will become grossly outdated very quickly," said the spokesman.
"Retail replenishment varies from market to market and consumers should check with their retailers frequently."
An eBay spokesman said, "Sales of the Xbox 360 on its site had rocketed. Prices are incredibly strong but we would warn people to be careful when buying these high-price items, always make sure the seller is genuine."
Sony's portable console, launched in September, is in short supply. A Sony spokesman said: "We have shipped hundreds of thousands of PSPs into retail and will continue to do so until Christmas and beyond. They seem to be selling as fast as we are supplying them.
"We apologise to our customers who may be finding it difficult to buy one and would ask them to be patient."
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