The HP liquidation sale happened just ten days ago, and the existing stock at retailers honouring the price was quickly wiped out as geeks decended on their local store to grab a cheap tablet. Since then, eBay, Kijiji, and other buy and sell sites have seen a surplus of the tablets, as a sudden frenzy from people trying to grab one cues those lucky enough to get one to flip them for some quick cash.

That may be short-lived however, as HP may be planning another production run to “meet unfulfilled demand” seen during the recent weeks. Whether this is due to an exec looking to cash in on the recent popularity of the device (misguided though that thinking may be), a surplus of parts that would more effectively be used than scrapped, of a bid to use the current momentum to gain a greater marketshare, HP has stated that if/when this happens, it won’t be for a few weeks yet.

It remains to be seen if the newly manufactured Touchpads will retail for the liquidation price, or if the “demand” referred to means that the sticker price will again return to its pre-announcement levels. Hopefully those behind the decision at HP have enough sense to realize that the current demand for the tablets has to do with the price, and retail the rest for an equivalent price. I wouldn’t go spending your money on eBay just yet in any case, given that you might be abvle to pay less for retail than you currently would from a price-gouging flipper.

[via: Tech Crunch]