eBay blocks PS3 sales

[awm]

What shock me the most is that people are willing to pay outragous prices for the PS3. For me the sticker the price is outrageous enough let alone paying 10X its price to have it a month sooner. If somene is paying $8000 for one to have it a month sooner that comes to about $200 a day that they could spend on a vacation in a warm sunny place.

[5lab]

tbh, i think all the prices above $2000 are fakes by disgruntled fans..

sticker price isnt too bad. alot cheaper than a pc with the same technology in..

[Nick]

That's what they've been doing over in Japan, bidding silly money to sabotage the auction.

[Synergy6]

Personally, the Hexus article on this isn't quite even-keeled enough to get into The Sun.

"so yeah, I’m all behind sabotaging an auction that plainly sets out to do so. " Hmm, "definitive technology news" "UK's biggest tech site" and we get this opinionated rubbish. If you want to engage in criminal acts against a site, so be it, but leave the encouragement to others perhaps?

At the end of the day, it's called supply and demand. Some fools want to pay, some people will supply. Ebay's announcement is just poking at the fringes, it won't drastically change the situation, other than to encourage a good bit of self-righteous ranting.

"protect desperate gamers" Riiight. The same desperate gamers who could have bought one off Ebay, now can't. Good job.

"gamers getting ripped off" Could someone show me where anyone has been forced to make an Ebay bid? Anyone? If someone chooses to pay for it from their own free will, they're not getting ripped off. They're getting exactly what they want, at a price they're prepared to pay.

"prevent the greedy from making money out of others’ desperation" The article makes it sounds like Sony have just released the cure for HIV/AIDS, and some people are profiteering from it. Get a grip. If you're so desperate for a console you have to be "legally protected" from the demons inside that would pay $5k+ on Ebay, you don't need Ebay's help. You need a shrink.

"now, officially, buggered." Of course, except the 1001 other ways you can flog a console...

"most profiteers" It's an AUCTION. What is an auction if not an exercise in profiteering? You put something up for sale, you try to get the highest price.

I must say, this article was a severe disappointment. I've come to regard Hexus as an occasionally strange but generally well-meaning purveyor of facts. Safe to say, that opinion went out the window

Synergy6

[Stewart]

"most profiteers" It's an AUCTION. What is an auction if not an exercise in profiteering? You put something up for sale, you try to get the highest price.

Exactly. There's a lot of point missing in this thread.

The PS3 is a high demand item, eBay is an auction site where high demand items can fetch a premium price.

So, if you have a PS3, selling it on eBay seems like a pretty sensible way to get rid for profit.

This is what makes the world go round. Morals don't come into it. Its market forces, supply and demand, a sellers market, etc, etc.

'"so yeah, I’m all behind sabotaging an auction that plainly sets out to do so."

To do what? Sell a PS3 for a big profit? Isn't eBay an auction site? So sort of what you are supposed to do is sell things for profit, if possible? And its perfectly legal?

[5lab]

ebay havent stopped you doing that. they've just stopped you selling a speculative console pre-order (which is fine, you can't sell something you don't have) and selling ps3s from overseas (which is fine, as you're not legally allowed to do that either)

[Steve B]

if sony knew the consoles were going to fetch a very high price, why didn't they just set the market price high when the first batch of consoles was released?

[Stewart]

Anyway, its not like the PS3 has done anything to justify the price tag and levels of excitment anyway. The way people are acting it has 15 AAA games avalible at launch, a FF7 remake pack-in and all that. It hasn't.

6 months from now, its a pretty safe bet, the best game anyone will have played on the 3 new systems will be Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Get a Wii, get Zelda, have fun, and see what the vastly expensive PS3 is doing in 6 months. That would be my advice.

[kalniel]

if sony knew the consoles were going to fetch a very high price, why didn't they just set the market price high when the first batch of consoles was released?

Because it would tarnish the Sony brand (some more).

[badass]

That's what they've been doing over in Japan, bidding silly money to sabotage the auction.

Someone tries that in this country, they open themselves to legal action from the seller.
A bid is still binding, online auction or not!

[shaithis]

ebay havent stopped you doing that. they've just stopped you selling a speculative console pre-order (which is fine, you can't sell something you don't have) and selling ps3s from overseas (which is fine, as you're not legally allowed to do that either)

I personally cannot see how its ILLEGAL to import a console.

I think the problem is Sony are thretening to sue companies who dont adhere to their selling guidelines.

[Nick]

Personally, the Hexus article on this isn't quite even-keeled enough to get into The Sun.

"so yeah, I’m all behind sabotaging an auction that plainly sets out to do so. " Hmm, "definitive technology news" "UK's biggest tech site" and we get this opinionated rubbish. If you want to engage in criminal acts against a site, so be it, but leave the encouragement to others perhaps?

At the end of the day, it's called supply and demand. Some fools want to pay, some people will supply. Ebay's announcement is just poking at the fringes, it won't drastically change the situation, other than to encourage a good bit of self-righteous ranting.

"protect desperate gamers" Riiight. The same desperate gamers who could have bought one off Ebay, now can't. Good job.

"gamers getting ripped off" Could someone show me where anyone has been forced to make an Ebay bid? Anyone? If someone chooses to pay for it from their own free will, they're not getting ripped off. They're getting exactly what they want, at a price they're prepared to pay.

"prevent the greedy from making money out of others’ desperation" The article makes it sounds like Sony have just released the cure for HIV/AIDS, and some people are profiteering from it. Get a grip. If you're so desperate for a console you have to be "legally protected" from the demons inside that would pay $5k+ on Ebay, you don't need Ebay's help. You need a shrink.

"now, officially, buggered." Of course, except the 1001 other ways you can flog a console...

"most profiteers" It's an AUCTION. What is an auction if not an exercise in profiteering? You put something up for sale, you try to get the highest price.

I must say, this article was a severe disappointment. I've come to regard Hexus as an occasionally strange but generally well-meaning purveyor of facts. Safe to say, that opinion went out the window

Synergy6

All your opinion which you are completely entitled to.

Your opinion is, of course, rubbish, but you're entitled to it all the same.

[Nick]

I personally cannot see how its ILLEGAL to import a console.

I think the problem is Sony are thretening to sue companies who dont adhere to their selling guidelines.

I've not heard that but Sony did recently win a High Court case against Lik-Sang preventing them from importing the PSP, which then set a precedent that would have made it far easier for Sony to block imports of any of their other consoles.

I don't think eBay are worried over being culpable in Sony's eyes for importing as, as far as I can see, there's nothing to stop you bidding on it. I think they just want to not have the bother.

[charleski]

I personally cannot see how its ILLEGAL to import a console.

Not for personal use. But it actually is illegal to distribute without permission goods obtained outside the EU. Here's a legal discussion of the situation specifically with regard to games consoles.

[Synergy6]

6 months from now, its a pretty safe bet, the best game anyone will have played on the 3 new systems will be Zelda: Twilight Princess.

I would *love* to know what, if anything, you're basing that on.

Your opinion is, of course, rubbish, but you're entitled to it all the same.

Hexus' reply to criticism. Unfortunately, it's not as surprising as it should be. Par for the course I suppose.

Synergy6

[Stoo]

So lets say you have a business, and you notice that one of your suppliers is getting rid of a load of their inventory at a third of the normal price, but there is a limited number of units available. You can buy their entire inventory and you know you will sell the lot in a week. If the supplier cant get rid, they will make the offer to the general public who will certainly snap it up.
Would it be immoral to buy up the lot and sell it at what the punters are willing to pay?

Actually following that logic, I guess Scan are immoral &*#@ aswell since they see products and what people are willing to pay, find them cheaper and sell them for what people are willing to pay.

Scan do that. Just not with PS3's or using ebay. They use their website.

Quite frankly, that's a load of bollards.

Scan don't buy things at the retail price after securing most of the stock and punt it for 10x the retail value.

It's a completely different thing buying stuff wholesale as a retailer, to being a greedy smegma based life-form screwing people over on eBay.