Home » PS3, WTF?
No One Is Buying PS3′s To Play Them!
Submitted by Richard Windsor on October 10, 2006 – 11:43 am17 Comments
I decided that I would check out a local Gamestop to talk with some of the people in line who were desperately wanting to get their hands on a guaranteed console. What I found was that the majority of people at the Gamestop did not even want a PS3. Out of 15 people in line that I spoke with, only 4 were actually going to keep and play the console. The other 11 had eBay in mind for their pre-orders. One gentleman named Todd told me he is selling it on eBay so he can afford to buy every good 360 game and accessory over the holiday season.
17 Comments »
Leave a comment!
While I agree that the ebay resell is horrible, there’s no reason for Ebay to change. They’re an auction house, and this scenario is the perfect reason for ebay to exist.
And it’s not just game consoles. Concert tickets are WORSE. 5 minutes after the tickets go on sale people snap them up and relist them on ebay, usually reaping huge profits. It sucks, but when you can buy and sell online, it’s going to happen. And ebay would just be giving away money by stopping it.
Free Market at work
Oh I know its unlikely eBay will change but I can alwsys dream can’t I!
Interesting little mini-feature
Can’t say I’m surprised by what you found though, those damn eBay pirates dictate every major launch it seems…
You can dream but it just won’t happen. Ebay makes money off every PS3 sold. I don’t really like this either but honestly, there is nothing wrong with it.
You could go get a preorder too. Right?
I mean, if they keep track of preorders well enough to ensure they have one when people want them, they deserve the money. Lets also not forget, the people who are buying them at these prices obviously have lots of money and would never take the time to stand in line all night in the rain to get a unit at launch. Basically, this is not an example of swindlers taking advantage of everyday people, rather its an example of people with initiative taking advantage of people with lots of money. In the end, it may seem like the everyday gamer loses out, but the everyday gamer can wait a few more months for demand to settle down. Who needs the thing the very day it comes out anyway. That being said, I’ll be in line for a Wii on the night of its launch and if I don’t get one, I’ll strangle someone.
just kidding………sort of.
I don’t fault anyone for buying a PS3 and putting it on ebay. If someone is willing to pay extra for it, then why not? It’s a hunk of plastic that two people are agreeing on a price for. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy it. If you don’t want to pay that much for it, then don’t buy it. Wait a couple of months. It’s pretty simple.
I am buying the PS3 to play it. However, if someone came to my house and offered me $1000+ for it, I would probably give it up.
This is true with any hot “item” I mean look at concert tickets. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that 50% or so of the people that purchase concert tickets have no interest in going to the shows at all, they buy them and scalp them or sell them on ebay. Tool played here in Boston back in March, they played a venue that could only hold about 4,000 people, at face value the tickets were $60, the show sold out in 5 minutes, and tickets were on ebay for $1000+. Its the way things go.
If you really think about it…its our faults. If people are willing to spend $2000 for a PS3, people are gonna sell it at that price. I missed this presale, and I hope to get a PS3 by waiting in line, I plan to buy it and keep it for myself. Theres no way I will spend $2000 at ebay though, I can wait till more units ship.
If the PS3 is anything like its predecessor, I foresee people trying to sell their defective units in six months on ebay.
I wouldn’t give even $300 for one unless Sony guaranteed a reasonable period of use that is in line with what we’ve come to expect over the last 25+ years.
“It might be time for eBay to step up and do something about this kind of thing. I say they should not allow consoles to be sold until after their first 6 months on the market, by that time Sony will be able to ship many more consoles and getting one will not be so hard….. come on eBay, do the right thing!”
I totally disagree. I may be void of a moral compass (and repetative of some of the previous comments), but what’s wrong with using Ebay to sell consules that people are willing to pay for? If you have the money, want the PS3, and don’t have the time to camp out…why not buy it on Ebay? Why should some entity, corporation, “big brother” or anything else have to regulate on that?
Besides, isn’t your train of thought placing the blame in the wrong direction? Really…blame Sony if you want to get all huffy about it. Maybe it’s time for Sony to figure out Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) (or research, or whatever else that slows them down) and produce enough in the first place. It’s almost sad how a once prosperous company is chumping it up so badly. I’d like to think that not creating enough units for launch is some part of their savy marketing strategy, but considering how much trouble they have been in lately (re-calls, taking out big loans, etc.)…I’m pretty sure they just dropped the ball (though they are not the first or last to do it). Gamers just create a demand that marketing people can’t resist making unrealistic promises to. Marketing Promises = let down. down
Well…Sony could the best business thing here…and auction off the first couple thousand or million PS3s. Why should someone other than sony get the profit from the high demand?
“It might be time for eBay to step up and do something about this kind of thing. I say they should not allow consoles to be sold until after their first 6 months on the market, by that time Sony will be able to ship many more consoles and getting one will not be so hard….. come on eBay, do the right thing!”
This makes no sense. The total number of PS3s Sony can ship in the first 6 months, or AFTER the first 6 months, has nothing to do with eBay. Hardcore gamers who want a PS3 in the first few months can either 1.) stand in line for a few days, or 2.) spend a lot of money on eBay. Either way, all of those PS3s will be in the hands of gamers… The people on eBay are just another middleman, like GameStop or WalMart. Anway, the people who can’t afford to spend a week in line want to be able to get one on eBay while the people who can’t afford one on eBay want to spend a week in line.
There’s no reason for eBay to stop pure capitalism–it’s supply versus demand. If people are willing to pay a premium for a product, then that is that product’s fair price. This applies to concert tickets, PS3s, anything. If you want a PS3, you either have to be fast, or willing to pay more than the other guy for it. Otherwise, wait until the price comes naturally down.
So, let me get this straight:
it’s eBay’s fault that PS3s are going to sell for insane prices this Christmas?
Funny, I would have thought it was Sony’s fault for not planning their launch properly and guaranteeing that supply cannot even come close to meeting demand.
Not really much you can do about it though, and I’m not bothered. If people are prepared to pay that amount for one on ebay then they’re either stinking rich or raving mad.
Besides, for example, when people won the tickets for live 8 in the UK (charity gig)most went straight on ebay and eBay didn’t stop it until the last minute when people realised how to F*ck up the infrasystem on the auctions.
P.S. Bid an unspeakable amount (1mill or more)
Why blame Ebay. Sony has gone out of its way to delay release of the console. What is really more the shame. Is that more than a few people are willing to rake others over the coals for an already over priced gameing system. I don’t know about others, but I not going to layout $600.+ for any system till I get to play it. But as always there is the ones who have to be able to say I got it first. That is if their willing to pay a higher price.
First off I’d like to say Xbox 360 is the biggest waste of money i have ever spent. It sucks, the games are the same as they are on the regular version, and the damn thing skips. There are soo many problems with it, and I know other people experience them as well. Playstation is the best thing i ever bought, the PS2 at least didn’t charge it’s customers to play online like the freaken xbox did, they suck, to hell with microsoft.
Hey well I was one of those people who was looking to make a couple of extra bucks off selling ps3′s on e-bay so that i could buy a laptop.
I was thinking that they would sell for 1.5-2grand. Is that unreasonable to think that?
Also could someone tell me about how long you think I will have to wait in line to get 3 and my sis is na get like 2. so together we will have 5 and w/ profits from the other 4 we will be able to keep one and both be able to get a laptop. I didn’t do this ever before so don’t blame me for taking advantage of sony’s mistakes for my gain. I don’t think that sony should have done this, but if they are doing it and i can make money off it and also get a ps3 out of the deal…then hey ill do it. so if someone could please tell me this it would be greatly appreciated.
plan on standing in line 20 plus hours. Also its going to be impossible for you to get a hold of 5 consoles on the realease date. Every store i have talked to is just doing one per person. If you are doing it with your sis your best bet is hope to get two… oh and you cant use the same form of payment for both of them. As for myself i am going to the midnight release at Walmart. I plan on arriving at at 11:30 pm on Wed