The infamous stapler that ruined a host of day one Nintendo Switch 2 consoles is being sold off for charity on eBay.
Aside from the expected stock shortages, the Nintendo Switch 2 launched without a hitch here in the UK. However, you might have heard that things weren’t so smooth in the US, at least for those who had bought their console from GameStop during a midnight launch event in Staten Island, New York.
Word quickly spread of customers finding their new Switch 2s damaged, straight out of the box. It wasn’t Nintendo’s fault though, as employees had stapled receipts to the box and because of how the Switch 2 is positioned inside, the staples had pierced all the way through to damage the screen.
GameStop offered replacements for any Switch 2 damaged in this way but now, over a month later, it’s turned what it calls the Staplegate incident into a marketing stunt by auctioning off the offending stapler.
This eBay listing includes the stapler, the first Switch 2 console to have been damaged (which is now repaired and presumably still comes with a download code for Mario Kart World), the box it came in (which still has the puncture marks), and even the specific staple used, now preserved in a small display pouch.
The items are described as ‘authentic relics from the now infamous Staplegate incident,’ with the stapler itself said to have been used ‘in a moment of launch night excitement and misjudged enthusiasm.’
At the time, it was claimed on Reddit that the reason receipts were being stapled to the Switch 2 boxes in the first place was because the store’s air conditioner was broken, which left the store too humid for sticky tape to stay in place.
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It’s all worked out for the best though, as the auction is being used to raise funds for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The auction is scheduled to last until the afternoon of Wednesday, July 16 – less than a week from now – and it’s already attracted 181 bids at the time of writing.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen also said on X he’d throw in his own underwear should the bids reach the six-figure mark and with the highest offer currently standing at $108,895 (£80,000), people will no doubt try to hold him accountable even if he was only joking.
$108,895 may seem like a lot to drop on a stapler, but the internet has seen far worse than that before, and at least this is for charity. People bid tens of thousands of dollars on a single Cheeto just because it looked like a pokémon, which finally sold for $87,840 (£64,500).
The Cheeto was probably no longer edible but at least with the stapler you get a working Switch 2 through in, which aren’t particularly easy to come by right now. Although sadly the auction doesn’t ship outside the US.
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