Un-resold PS3s returned to stores

People who bought PS3s in the hope of turning a fast buck have had their plans spoiled by more consoles being supplied to stores by the manufacturer:

"I figured, hold it to Christmas and everyone will be rushing to get one for their kids."

"It's easy to get now," [another seller] said. "It's not a hot commodity."

Both said they plan to return the systems to the store.

Wii Wiilly Wiinky

There's no point Wee Willy Winky running through the town to make sure the children are in bed this Christmas. Yet again the hottest games consoles are in such short supply, they won't be in stockings this year without paying silly money.

Several major retailers have failed to secure sufficient supplies of the Nintendo Wii even to fulfil preorders, leading to a bidding frenzy on eBay. Richard Ambrose of eBay said:

We expect the trading of Nintendo Wii on eBay to be fast and furious in the coming weeks. If previous console launches are anything to go by, like the XBox360 last year, we can expect a large volume of Wii sales on eBay.co.uk as high street stocks run low and parents under pressure try to find the must-have present to put under the tree.

Of course with the Europe-wide shortage and failure even to fulfil preorders, prices will be pushed to astronomical levels. Priced at £179.00 the Nintendo Wii is already selling for over £700.00 on eBay. As more people fail to secure delivery of their preorder, the only way is up for prices. Our advice is to wait until next year when supply is more plentiful, and find your little ones something else for Christmas.

Paypal "limiting accounts of PS3 sellers"?

From Digg, a strange tale of Paypal and the PS3 :

I just got a call from PayPal, they said they are putting a account lock on everyone who sold a PS3 or Wii.

This is bizarre even by the standards of stories that people tell about Paypal. Given that the poster seems unsure whether they've had a phone call or an email, I'm inclined to put this one down to poor communication on one side or both.

Nevertheless, if people who've previously earned and spent a few dollars here and there suddenly have thousands going through their accounts after selling PS3s for crazy money, who can really blame Paypal for thinking something dodgy might be going on? These are regulations designed to protect users as well as Paypal, and if my account suddenly had a hundred-fold increase in turnover, I think I'd want it security-flagged.

PS3 rip-offs for sale

Somehow, it seemed inevitable: a photograph of a PS3 has sold for US$840. While in absolutely no way condoning the seller's actions here, he has said twice in the listing "Please Note this Auction is for a picture of the PS3 system only." Don't people read *at all* before they bid?

Sometimes it's a little more obvious that something's wrong. Like seller #2 has stolen seller #1's pictures, so seller #1 fills the pictures with adverts for his own, off-eBay sales.

Screen shots in case eBay pull the listings; click to embiggen:

Priceless...

The prize for listing error of the week must go to the poor seller who started the bidding on his PS3 at 99c... only listed it as fixed price instead of auction. Oops.

"Cleavage doesn't have any discernible effect on bidding"

The ladies of eBay strip off to sell their PS3s.

PS3 listings pulled from eBay UK

The British arm of auction site eBay has removed all listings of imported Playstation 3 consoles until the official release date in the UK next February. Allegedly. A current search reveals a few US and HK sellers with very short listing times trying to take advantage of the British ban, along with a big red notice from eBay warning buyers to "BUY SAFELY" and wait until the official release period.

PS3 madness

As of 9:23 AM Friday, 174 PS3 consoles have sold for an average selling price of $2,618.47. A quick search of eBay's completed listings reveal even sillier prices, with a unit with a Buy It Now price of US$50,000 having sold within seven hours of listing.

It's certainly safer to stay indoors and buy on eBay than risk stampeding and shooting in the shops. But is it actually worth all the hype?

eBay move to stop PS3 scammers

Do you remember the great PS2 shortage of Christmas '04? So do eBay, and that's why they've placed severe restrictions on the sale of the PS3. Sellers may sell only machines in their actual possession, pictured with their sales receipt, and must accept Paypal, which offers buyers protection against non-receipt of goods.

There is no question that this was the right decision for eBay to have taken. Though some sellers have criticised the company for everything from "allowing itself to be bullied by Sony" to not having ended items listed before the policy was announced, it was absolutely correct and reasonable to expect eBay to ensure that this year's hottest Christmas present didn't become an excuse for scammers to wreak havoc across its site. With riots taking place in Walmart amongst those desperate to get their hands on the new machine, eBay don't need to be the Grinch that stole Christmas from hundreds of over-optimistic gamers.

A recent policy clarification now allows sellers who have more than one unit to sell all of them. From what I've seen, this is clearly eBay listening to sellers and amending policy accordingly: it's very nice to be able to say that.

Of course, one effect of this has been to advertise to the entire world that PS3s are available on eBay. With supply short even in Japan, is anyone really very surprised that a PS3 just sold on eBay for $9,000? Nice stock, if you can get it.