feauturing article

eBay restrictions on PS3 and Wii Auctions

by TANK| Published: Thursday, October 26 @ 15:03:11 EDT
There's this type of person who buys a new console not to play it, but to re-sell it. This 'type' of person compounds supply issues by buying up stock at retail price not strictly to make a fast buck. Meanwhile the eager game system fanboy looses out because he has to pay 3,4,5 times the retail price to get that system now because 1/2 the supply is up on eBay for sale to the highest bidder.

We saw this with the Xbox360 and it's only going to be worse with the Playstation 3. Remember all those scams on eBay last year? A few people were selling just their Xbox360 box so they had a photo of just the box and people were bidding 600, 700 bucks for it. Some clown had a brown cardboard box and with marker drew an X on it and put it up online as an X box and it drew a stupid amount of money in bidding frenzy.

Well... eBay feels your pain and has put rules in place well in advance to stop some of the insanity. Effective immediately eBay has set in place the following rules for Playstation 3 and Wii auctions:

  • Only one of each console can be listed per seller at a time prior to the system launch dates.
  • The seller must only accept PayPal payments and have a minimum of 50 feedback and a rating of 98% or higher to qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.
  • The pre-sale can only be in Auction format, no Buy It Now listings will be accepted
  • The listing must include a clear photo of the pre-order receipt in the description of your auction

That all sounds like a pretty good step forward. Except I'm a bit suspicious on the PayPal thing. eBay stands to make a lot of money double dipping fees because they make money on the auction closing amount as well as they make 3% basically on the PayPal transaction. It does however help prevent wire and check fraud.


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Reader Comments

Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By darththorn on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:07:21 EDT
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Hopefully folks won't get hosed too badly now.


Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By Lunatik-ZX on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:26:48 EDT
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theres always a way




Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By darththorn on Thursday, October 26 @ 17:51:42 EDT
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True.





Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By Lunatik-ZX on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:27:51 EDT
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I think buyin a console the day it comes out is a bit crazy ... and buying it over ebay is stoopid ill wait for codemonkey to sell them ...LOL


Benefits (Score: 1)
Posted By fecknmental on Sunday, October 29 @ 10:35:31 EST
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There are benefits of buying consoles on the first day of launch as in you get a console thats is easier to hack if you want that kinda thing.
Obviously regarding Ebay all i can say is FOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLSSSSSSSS!!!!!

lol





X box cardboard (Score: 1)
Posted By Angelito on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:30:43 EDT
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The man that did the x box cardboard is a genius. LOL
$600 for a cardboard box with an X on it.
Sonny would have better changes with a guy like that on their marketing team. :)



i agree (Score: 1)
Posted By FFDragonwarrior on Friday, October 27 @ 06:23:49 EDT
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i bet that dudes face was priceless when he first laid eyes on what he actually bought... lol

"W..T..F? wwwWTF!!! ITS A BOX!!! A FN CARDBOARDBOX!"




Nope.... (Score: 1)
Posted By Angelito on Friday, October 27 @ 08:17:39 EDT
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It is not a FN CARDBOARDBOX.
IT IS A CARDBOARDBOX WITH AN X ON IT :)





I guess ebay has to save the stupid people from themselves... (Score: 1)
Posted By DIE75 on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:45:00 EDT
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Come on, how dumb do you have to be to bid that much money on something without either, a) reading the description; or b) making sure the person has some decent feedback?!?!?

Just wait a few months for cryin' out loud!

Patience is not only a virtue, it's a necessity...


But Stupidity is a constant :) (Score: 1)
Posted By codemonkey on Thursday, October 26 @ 15:53:40 EDT
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I watched those things get sold. I read the description and was like "huh?"

They made it extremely clear "THIS IS A BOX ONLY" in bold text. Yet, people still bid on it. It's amazing what eBay people will do when they close their eyes and click click click.

CodeMonkey




Couldn't agree more... (Score: 1)
Posted By DIE75 on Thursday, October 26 @ 16:00:23 EDT
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If it takes a lesson like that to teach someone common-freaking-knowledge; then let them spend...





Kudos to EBay (Score: 1)
Posted By UnwashedMass on Thursday, October 26 @ 16:03:17 EDT
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Sounds like they would rather stand to lose a bit of the bottom line in order to keep the bs that comes with the bogus/hoax auctions to a minimum. Sure they make their cash on the end-auction amounts, but how many labor hours are expended in sorting through the complaints and issues? It'll probably balance out in the end, IMHO.



Before Launch (Score: 1)
Posted By Chemterror on Thursday, October 26 @ 16:07:36 EDT
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This policy only applies to selling the rights to your pre-ordered system. Some people did this with the 360, then didn't get one (Gamestop, EB) and had to refund money. You can sell as many PS3s and Wiis as you can get your hands on after launch.



Step in the right direction (Score: 1)
Posted By Pulsaris on Thursday, October 26 @ 16:45:44 EDT
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It's good that they are at least doing something. While it doesn't solve the problem, it certainly will make it a bit better. I still anticipate high costs, but hopefully they wont be as bad, and will hopefully stop a few "x box" cardboard sellers and buyers as well.



Ripping People of on Ebay for Consoles Just Stinks (Score: 1)
Posted By Surlymike on Thursday, October 26 @ 20:00:56 EDT
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I really hate it, the practise of somebody who either doesn't want one, or has no problem with waiting, taking a console out of someone's hands who is frothing at the mouth for it and selling it for a ridiculous amount of coin. I say that as someone who's never lined up on launch day for any console, even my 360 which was the first console I ever bought right away, I waited until I could easily walk into future shop and pick it up off the shelf. So it's not like its ever affected me personally but it really is a shitty thing to do, I have no time for it.


look what fun we can have by the same reasoning.... (Score: 1)
Posted By Megaera on Friday, October 27 @ 12:57:57 EDT
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interesting reasoning. lets apply that same reasoning elsewhere...

Lets take for example an orange.
*I would really like an orange.
*I know that if i grew one myself, it would cost me a few cents.
*I also know that growing an orange would take years. I dont want to wait that long.
*Because i dont want to wait on the cheapest way to get an orange, my next option is to go buy one from someone who has already grown one.
*Theres a guy somewhere with a farm of oranges.
*This farmer anticipated taht eventually, someone was going to want an orange and be too impatient to grow it themselves.
*This farmer is opportunistic in the sense that he plans to charge a heightened fee for his orange in order to cash in on the person who wants his already grown orange.
*This farmer decides to make his oranges available for 25 cents to people who want an orange RIGHT NOW!
*I now know that i can go to this farmer and buy his orange for 25 cents rather than pay 3 cents for a seed and grow my own.
*This farmer is located 200 miles from me.
*I do not want to drive 200 miles for this orange. i do not want the inconveniece of going a long way for my orange and i dont want to take the time. I WANT MY ORANGE RIGHT NOW!
*There is a store owner. he anticipates that at some point, someone is going to want an orange. this person will not want to travel for it or wait to grow it.
*This store owner sees the oppotunity to make money by buying oranges from the farmer at 25 cents each, and making them available more conveniently to people in his area for a higher price.
*This store owner decides to sell his oranges for 50 cents.
*I go to this store and buy an orange for 50 cents, knowing that this price is over 10 times what it would have cost me if i was patient enough to wait longer, or motivated enough to drive to the farm. I am content with this because the cost was worth it to me to satiate my desire to have that orange right then and there.

now, by your reasoning, because this store owner does not buy the oranges for himself, he only buys them in order to sell to someone who wants it badly and is to impatient to wait for a cheaper orange, this seller is immoral.

everyone is failing to take into account that everything they buy operates in this manner. this PS3 situation is no better or worse, just maybe more obvious. Whats even more ridiculous is that the PS3 situation is actually more consumer friendly than the store owner in my orange scenario above. in that scenario, the farmer and the store owner set the prices as they wanted them, and the consumers just have to suck it up and pay what they demand, or just not pay at all. With this PS3 situation, ebay exposes a true, pure capitalism - the item sells for PRECISELY what consumers are willing to pay for it. The consumer decides exactly how much the convenience is worth to them. The consumer decides EXACTLY how much having it right then is worth to them vs. waiting for it to be cheaper.

show me how the people upset by the PS3 situation are not hypocrites. if you are going to complain about the PS3, you need to cmplain about every other thing you ever buy. you need to complain about yourself too. your job is also opportunistic. even if you are secretary. you are taking someone's money to do work for them they dont want to or have time to otherwise do. and you are charging a high preimum for this. i could answer a phone call myself for free, but a secretary charges me $5 to do it for me (assuming a 30 minute call on a $10 an hour wage).
but now, i dont see anyone soap-boxing on how they are immoral for the work they do. nor do i see you all screaming about how every store in the world operates. this goes all the way back to the beginning of cilvilization. its how it has always been, get over it already.




So true (Score: 1)
Posted By the5thchild on Friday, October 27 @ 13:55:30 EDT
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I may be a litle pissed that I wont be able to walk into my local game store and purchase a PS3 at launch, but this is actually the purest form of capitalism. People pay want they want to pay. For me, the PS3 (or even the Wii) is not "worth" the mark-up to get it "right now". I can wait.




Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By Surlymike on Saturday, October 28 @ 01:19:46 EDT
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Geez thanks for that wonderful education on laissez faire capitalism, maybe I should get into the orange business. And soapboxing?! Man, I'm not the one writing a handicapped thesis on cut throat capitalism for everyone’s (or people like me, whichever) benefit. I just threw my two cents in, take it or leave it.

Your Dick and Jane, broken, orange economy is melting my mind though so I'll say this: That is NOT how a functional economy works, you are talking in black and white and reality bears no resemblance to either. You are saying that because someone allows you do to something to them then it is okay to go ahead and do it, doesn't matter what it is, just along as they are dumb enough to let it happen. Your pure capitalism society does not exist and it never could. If your fold over and fall into he ground faster than you could say "oops!"

And by the way, your example of the going price on ebay being precisely what the consumer is willing to pay. Who's this consumer entity? You talk like it is one unit and has one set of traits. The guy who stands out there waiting overnight for his console is most certainly not the guy trying to spend a fortune on one from ebay the next day. The guy on ebay looking to buy is a rich arsehole, the guy in line is probably not. You think It’s functional economically to charge exorbitant fees only 1% of the population can afford? You think if the economy of your country was run like that it could function, with only 1% being able to have anything?

Which brings me to your telling me how opportunistic I am in my work. First of all you have no idea what I do so to say you are being ridiculous is an understatement. Your view that everybody takes advantage of everybody as much as they can is just not true. A secretary is taking someone else’s money, as much as she can no doubt, to do a job they can do but don’t want to? Well its more like this I think: Someone in need of a job finds one and takes the best pay THE EMPLOYEER is willing to give her/him and then does a job their employer is not qualified to do. You think everyone can do everything and there’s just not enough time? What a joke.

I know you think it doesn’t matter what I do, that I rape and bleed people for all they’re worth but here’s the reality, and it applies to most people providing a service I think. I’m an engineer, I go to other countries and set up operations for companies who need something done/automated/built. My job requires me to be a problem solver and this is actually convenient to my argument because you can charge a goddamned high premium for that and I have to interact with many other people who have different qualifications than mine to get a job done. Now I’ve worked for many companies in many countries and I’ve met many people in my line of work. You think I go around ripping people off do you, or making them suffer a high price because I know they “need” the work done. It doesn’t work like that, people or representatives of companies have to work together more than anything else. Some people like to rip others off but the ones participating in a symbiotic relationship are getting more done and are the ones responsible for pushing forward in whatever it is they do.

Every store operates like a guy selling a playstation 3 on ebay and it has been so since the beginning of time? So that’s what it’s like in upside down land. Wacky.





98% ! (Score: 1)
Posted By Sheriff_Bullock on Thursday, October 26 @ 23:10:09 EDT
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98% feedback rating is way strict. I have 125 feedback, but my rating is 97.8%. (Because someone left me negative feedback at the beginning of July... 2005!) Good thing I don't plan on buying/re-selling a PS3. I'm not that kind of person (read: opportunist) anyway. But good luck to anybody that tries to win themselves a console off Ebay this year.



ahh man! (Score: 1)
Posted By FFDragonwarrior on Friday, October 27 @ 06:20:47 EDT
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There go my chances to turn a quick profit of 1,300 US dollars... stupid Ebay and thier "no scamming" sissy rules.
i say if thier stupid enough to buy a box with nothing in it, then i deserve thier money!

seriously though when i worked part time at game stop we had a guy trying to buy our whole first shipment of 360's, then got pissed when i told him to go F himself (well maybe not those words) some ppl just disgust me like that..




Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By Rythmdevl on Friday, October 27 @ 11:27:33 EDT
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As with anything in this world, IF YOU DONT LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING, DONT BUY IT! If noone bought their inflated priced B$, then they'd be stuck with the consoles. Supply and demand.


Untitled (Score: 1)
Posted By fecknmental on Sunday, October 29 @ 10:38:01 EST
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Yeah but then these people are spoiling it for the genuine gamers who cant afford to pay £1,000,000 for a wireless controller lol.





Smart move. (Score: 1)
Posted By OilsFan on Friday, October 27 @ 11:47:39 EDT
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I believe in the idea of "Buyer Beware", but an auction service like Ebay runs a risk of people blaming the SERVICE as well as the seller for a bad transaction.

If a person has a very bad experience buying from ebay then they are unlikely to use it in the future. It's a smartmove for ebay to try and limit blatent rip-offs. In the end, it's thier business and they can run it how they wish (Though the restrictions seem a bit on the harsh side - 98% is a very high rating, and there are other protected ways to purchase besides Pay-Pal). Note that this seems to be for PRE-ORDERS only. Once people have units in thier hot little hands in less than a month, it's business as ususal.

On the other hand, if it was the government trying to protect people from thier own stupidity, I woulld be up in arms....



wow... (Score: 1)
Posted By Megaera on Friday, October 27 @ 12:10:42 EDT
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ok last i heard the u.s. was a capitalist country. anyone who has a problem with ebay prices should either
A. move to russia
-or-
B. not bid on ebay
-or-
C. not wait until the last minute to get a console.

its completely ridiculous what people pay for these at launch, but people are willing to pay a premium due to their impatience.

I can understand the excitement of a new system, but the people flaming ebay sellers are hypocrites. the real problem here is that people are too impatient to wait.


the "eager system fanboy" lost out when he wasn't "eager" enough to go out and wait in line for a presale or research online purchases as much as the "eager" ebay seller. It comes down to the fanboy being lazier than the ebay seller. pure and simple. maybe if fanboy stopped devouring junk food and peeled himself away from halo2 for 15 minutes to research the presale dates or run out to get in line, he wouldnt have this problem. no sympathy for these whiners.


Any other choices?? (Score: 1)
Posted By Spinal_Pap on Sunday, October 29 @ 03:11:39 EST
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If I have a problem with eBay prices, is Russia my only choice for a country to move to? Why not some place like Amsterdam?





uh oh... (Score: 1)
Posted By Megaera on Friday, October 27 @ 12:25:03 EDT
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before all the armchair journalists cheer too loudly for ebay's new policies, think about what is really going to happen now.

First , a history review
1. an estimated 10% of xbox 360's were sold on ebay at launch.
2. there were approx 500,000 total 360's in US, and 250,000 for europe if memory serves (please correct me here)
3. so, approx 50,000 launch consoles ended up on ebay for crazy prices

Now, the expected state of the PS3
1. maximum of 400,000 PS3s in the U.S. at launch, expected much lower #
2. NO PS3's for europe at launch
3. that means that between western nations, there is roughly half the supply of what there was for the 360.
4. if 10% are bought by speculators, that means 40,000 are in the hands of ebay sellers.
5. it stands to reason that many sellers purchased more than 1 for sale. lets just take a stab and say that there are 30,000 total ebay sellers.

Ok, so here's the bad situation potentially:
* the supply/demand ratio is twice as bad for the PS3 vs. the 360
* the amount of PS3's on ebay right at launch just got chopped up very badly by this one per seller rule

end result: the amount of available consoles for the U.S. and Europe at launch is further reduced now by the limiting of ebay sales.
the initial prices for the PS3 on ebay , due to the above are now going to be even higher than they would have been previously! this is awesome reasoning by ebay and the gamer community!

My preordered PS3 and one of my 2 preordered wii's are going up on ebay as a presale now unquestionably! for me, the evil ebay seller, this is the best news i've gotten all day!



PayPal Freezes accounts (Score: 1)
Posted By ps3connector on Friday, October 27 @ 13:35:56 EDT
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The imposed restrictions comply with PayPal buyer protection rules.

I have been receiving reports that even if the seller qualifies to post a PS3 or Wii for sale, that PayPal (the only allowed method accepted) will then freeze that account until a shipping tracking number is sent to the buyer.


Related digg


I think the point some people are missing here is: How much is your time worth?
You waited in line for the pre-sale, your going to wait in line again to pick up the system. Shouldn't you be able to turn around and make a buck. Simple supply and demand. The more power to the posters.



What absolutely stinks.. (Score: 1)
Posted By koguma on Friday, October 27 @ 16:18:01 EDT
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is that ebay pulled these new rules out of their ass AFTER the pre-orders started coming in. I was one of the early people to get a pre-order and I posted it up on eBay before their new rules were created. I had a photo of the receipt and everything. Well, ebay suspended by account and demanded proof which I sent them and eventually got my account re-instated.

My gripe is that this new 'policy' was created post-facto. And what's worse is the PayPal policy. That's absolutely double dipping. If people are going to be pissed about people like me who will post a pre-order on eBay, why not be pissed at eBay for milking it? On my original auction, I had put the pre-order up for payment through escrow.com. That's eBay preferred escrow service. Can't be scam, now can it? Yet, eBay won't allow me to use escrow.com even though it's much better protection for the buyer then PayPal. I guess they don't get as high a kickback from escrow as they do from PayPal.




My gripes (Score: 1)
Posted By fecknmental on Sunday, October 29 @ 10:46:20 EST
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I wont be entirely happy until E-Bay ban it altogether i dont agree at all with any of it. Its always us poor skint buggers that suffer all the time its the same with everything concerts and consoles.



Re: Suwalki 543 (Score: 1)
Posted By econom25 on Friday, June 06 @ 22:20:02 EDT
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