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Feature: The Decline of the PS3 Grey Market
By: Michael Fahey
The rise and fall of the PlayStation 3 on eBay is one of the most talked about gaming stories of the year. In order to paint a broader picture, I've tracked pricing trends from preorders to Christmas Eve and surveyed retailers to determine just how hard the PS3 grey market has crashed.
In the days leading up to the PlayStation 3 launch in mid-November, people all over the country lined up with dollar signs in their eyes, hoping to cash in on what was sure to be the most sought after gift this holiday season. I talked to many people planning on financing college, cars, vacations, and countless other dream items with the fruits of their labor. A week later those hopes and dreams were crushed, as reports of plummeting eBay prices poured in. Just how fast did the PS3 grey market crash? Take a look for yourself, and feel free to click the graph for a larger version.
Within two days of the system's launch the going price dropped by over $1000. eBay prospectors across the country were stunned at the rapid depreciation of their investment. While they were still looking at $600 profit on average, it was a far cry from the windfall everyone had been expecting.
The smart thing to do in that situation would be to wait, right? Several enterprising folks I talked to during the launch festivities predicted a glut early on, and planned on holding their systems until Christmas, when demand would be at its highest. As the graph indicates, that wasn't the wisest move. Four days before Christmas PS3 auctions hit the lowest point ever, bottoming out at just $724. Figuring in sales tax, that's less than $100 profit on a 60GB system.
Clearly the way to go for the PS3 prospector was preorders. On November 16th, as the reality of the system shortages began to sink in, buyers spent an average of $2,367 to secure themselves on of the 600 or so preorders sold that day, and from the point eBay started allowing receipt-verified presales prices maintained a steady average of around $1500.
How are retail stores being affected?
With the prices dropping so low, many eBay hopefuls have been returning their purchases to the stores they procured them from. Between packing, shipping, and taxes, it's much less of a hassle just to get a refund and forget the whole thing ever happened. I decided to survey several popular retail 'superstores' to get a feel for just how big a trend grey market returns were.
Here's how this worked. I called a random selection of stores across the country from each of the four retailers listed below. I asked to speak to their electronics department first, and then called back to speak with customer service. I made sure to specify intact, boxed returns to avoid clouding data with random defective units. Interestingly enough, not one store I spoke to mentioned any defective returns. If anything the PS3 is a solid machine. Bear in mind that these are not hard numbers. I spoke to whoever was staffing the departments at the time I called, and only counted the answers applying directly to those people. While I'd like to say you could safely double the returned system numbers below, there are far too many factors involved to make it an accurate estimate.
I picked the four below for various reasons. Fry's because of its unique bundling policy, Best Buy because of its huge initial allotments, Target as a major retailer that isn't focused on electronics, and Wal-Mart because I am apparently a glutton for punishment. All four stores had people wait in line for the consoles...one of the reasons you don't see GameStop represented, another reason being that many GameStop systems went to either employees or regulars to the store tipped off by employees. "But GameStop wasn't allowed to sell to employees!" Where do you think I got mine?
Store Findings:
Fry's Electronics
Number Called: 10 - Called double what I had planned for Fry's because the first five all reported having systems in stock.
Average Returns: two per store
Systems Available? Yes
Fry's stands out from the other retailers I've surveyed in that they still insist on selling their PS3 systems in ridiculous bundle packs with eight or so games. Every single store I called reported having plenty of bundles available for purchase. On average each store had received two returns, with the Alpharetta Georgia location, a favorite of mine, reporting four. Systems at Fry's can only be returned with the full bundle intact, and are resold the same way.
Conclusion: Nothing too surprising here. When I was working at GameStop on Christmas Eve I had countless customers tell me that Fry's had PlayStation 3s just sitting there, with no one buying. The only thing harder than trying to turn a profit off of a PS3 on eBay is trying to turn a profit off an $1100 bundle filled with games no one wants to play.
Target
Number Called: five - they're a major retailer, but they weren't exactly a big launch location.
Average Returns: two
Systems Available? No, though two out of five stores did tell me I had "just missed one."
Conclusion: Target doesn't get many systems in, and when they do they generally last a day tops. One electronics rep I spoke to in Colorado told me they had gotten two returns earlier in the week, which didn't last more that 24 hours on the shelf. Low volume, relatively quick turnaround.
Best Buy
Number Called: 15 - Best Buy had the greatest launch allocations, so I gave them a bit more attention while conducting the survey.
Average Returns: Four - One customer service rep said she had seen as many as eight returned, though she worked at a midnight launch store with a much larger console allocation than the rest.
Systems Available? Not a one, at any store. Most likely a corporate sponsored lie, however, as we've been getting several reports on Best Buy holding systems until New Year's Eve.
Conclusion: A much larger allocation equals a slightly higher number of returns. This whole sitting on items for big holiday sales severely screws up survey data. As well as forcing their employees to lie, they also forced me to lie. When I mentioned I was writing a story, I was told they couldn't comment to the press. I had to tell them I was a father looking in to buying one for his son, trying to figure out if the system was reliable. If anyone asks, my son's name is Rufus, and he has a glandular disorder.
Wal-Mart
Number called: Five before I gave up out of sheer frustration
Average Returns: Inconclusive. While I did have one store tell me they'd seen a couple come back, most of them couldn't figure out how to transfer me to customer service.
Systems Available? Possibly. They might not even know what it is.
Conclusion: While I've known some very helpful and intelligent Wal-Mart employees in my time, all of them must have been off over the past two days. I got through to one customer service rep and one electronics department out of five stores, the rest of the time spent either waiting endlessly on hold or being accidentally hung up on.
While return numbers seem to be relatively low, when you figure in the transactions the employees I spoke to weren't privy to, and then multiply the number by even a fraction of the stores these retailers have scattered across the country, and things start adding up. In an ironic twist to the whole story, it seems as though your best bet for securing a PlayStation 3 console, unless you want to shell out $1100 for a bundle at Fry's, is eBay. As of this writing there are over 7,000 up for auction, looking for a good home.
The Grand Conclusion, with a Personal Note
To be completely honest, when I first secured my PS3 preorder with GameStop the first thought in my head was the massive amount of money I could make from selling it. That's how I got approval from my girlfriend to put down the $100. The TMX Elmo had just been released and was selling for ten times retail price. I figured I could triple my money, pick myself up a nice flat panel HDTV...hell, I might even have enough left over for another PS3 once the dust cleared.
What changed? Well the more I thought about the PS3, the more articles I read, and the more videos I watched, until the gamer in me basically slapped the profiteer silly. The PlayStation 3 has real potential. Lair. Motorstorm. Resistance. Soon dreams of a giant TV faded away, replaced by the gnawing anticipation I'm prone to get whenever something big is going to happen in the gaming industry. That, and I got this gig at Kotaku. If you guys ever got wind of me eBaying a PS3 I'd never hear the end of it.
As it turns out my gamer instincts and the threat of hordes of angry readers steered me clear of potential disaster. Aside from a couple brief spikes, there is no way I'd have been able to pull off the television, and I know damn well I would have waited for Christmas like so many others did, only to lose even more.
The moral of this story? There's no such creature as a sure thing. The majority of eBay prospectors walked away from this experience with that lesson burned into the back of their brains. My suggestion for the future? If you want to gamble, go to Vegas. If you want to invest, try mutual funds. Leave the video game system buying to the gamers. We'll all be happier for it.
How I collected the graph data:
To track eBay sales I used a website called Terapeak, which is of of the most trusted eBay market research tools available. I looked at data for the US eBay site each day utilizing the keyword "PlayStation 3" in the Video Games/Systems category. I set the price range for $200 through $10,000 to weed out any artificially inflated auctions as well as any bogus "PS3 Buying Guide" type offerings. Keep in mind that the statistics provided are for both the 60GB and 20GB models combined. Many sellers neglected to specify which version they were auctioning, so weeding out one from the other was nigh impossible. Counterbalancing that slightly are auctions including games and extra controllers, which are also figured into the statistics.
While certainly not a completely infallible system, I believe it led to a more accurate overview of the eBay PlayStation 3 market than simply searching for PlayStation 3 and leaving it at that.
Using the same guidelines outlined above, I poked about for a few more interesting tidbits regarding system demand. For instance, auctions ending on or before November 16th, meaning preorders, had a 96.5% success rate. In the period after the system was released the figure dropped to 73%. Hazarding a guess I would say those figures are due largely in part to unrealistic reserve price auctions.
- best buy
- consumerist
- ebay
- feature
- fry's
- gizmodo
- original
- ps3
- ps3 grey market
- ps3 launch
- sony
- statistics
- target
- top
- valleywag
- wal-mart
Toneman
says:
Excellent story. You've got some intersting information in there.
Too bad about the TV though, I sacrificed my PS3 temporarily to get a new TV.
PronKing
says:
Lol at the drop from 11/16 to 11/18...
Never recovered after that plunge.
Hype > Actual Goods
Spilt_Milk
says:
I went to target this morning and they had 2 ps3's that had been sitting there all week. They got in 10+ wii's and I picked one up for my dad who after seeing it at xmas, made me promise to find one for him and he has never played a video game in his life. Anyhow, I stopped by Gamestop next door and they also had ps3's that they could not gete rid off all week but not a wii to be had. I dropped back in target and all the wii's had been snapped up with only the 2 sad sad ps3's left sitting on the shelf left as evidence that they do, indeed, sell consoles.
crecente
says:
I suppose looking at the Wii and Xbox 360 could be interesting, but the story this year really was the PS3 grey market. Remember, people were robbed and shot, stores burgled, UPS shipments scammed all because of this.
peacefuloutrage
says:
Great feature. Nice read.
If reports are true about the PS3 selling like it has been out for aa year are true (which would be sad considering the number of people who get cash and giftcards now for Christmas), I wonder what strategy Sony will use to sel more. It would make sense that they would offer some incentive other than a price drop, as that would cost them more than paying $$ for an exclusivity deal.
peacefuloutrage
says:
I used to work in retail when the PS2 was released, and I remember a number of UPS and FedEx shipments disappearing from seasonal or unethical employees. We didn't recieve some of our shipments, and the guuys at Gamestop said that emlpoyess were being "tricked" into signing for the incorrect number of boxes, empty boxes, or they just didn't get their shipment either.
harkonnen
says:
Nice work. I hope scalpers remember this 6 years from now and just let the gamers buy them firsthand.
dvddesign
says:
Excellent read.
Honestly, I was stupefied at how few of these actually sold for high dollar amounts. I really applaud consumers for thinking with their $ and looking at the quality, experience, and cost of a product before madly buying the hot toy for their kids for xmas. And this is coming from someone who sold a PS3 on ebay...
The only thing I'd argue is the point about not selling consoles period for profit. I'm kinda hoping that the PS3's misery will have burned casual types from doing it again because I've made a decent amount of cash off of console sales in the past. Again, I don't see it as scamming anyone or scalping. I'm fortunate and fast enough to find consoles when other people can't. Call it a skill, I guess. I've seen no less than 4 Wii systems (including my own) and a PS3 this xmas go through my home. Everyone knows that sad sample so often quoted about "a parent not finding one for their kid for xmas". Last Wii I bought, I was the first person in line, buying one for my boss, and every person in line looking to get one for their kid showed up within the last 20 minutes before the store opened. You can't clue a person in on stuff like this. That console would be sold either way, to a scalper or to the many parents for xmas. Do you want one for YOUR kid? My boss sure didn't get it. He just told me to get him one at the end, since he obviously couldn't bother with it on his own. So a kid would lose out on any hopes of getting one for xmas if it weren't for my efforts.
I certainly wasn't doing it to get rich. Never had $$$$ in my eyes or anything. It's just something I know how to do, and I did it.
@werk
says:
Great f'n post! I love the dribble and meaningless stories but this was a very interesing read. I'm not an English teacher so I couldn't rate your style but your approach and work you put in is first rate.
Congrats!
gwangi
says:
I was at Walmart this morning and decided to stop by the electronics section. They had 2 PS3s and no Wii. I laughed and walked away.
blot
says:
Nice article. It will be interesting to see how this affects profiteering attempts with future console releases.
sol705
says:
Great article Michael. You obviously took a lot of time and did some research. I think the lesson to be learned here is that scalpers are scum =P
Jabbertrack
says:
It went exactly as I thought it would. My little gamer heart leaped for joy as the crash happened. It's a shame the PS3 sucks so bad right now... this launch is a bit of a tarnish on the Playstation brand.
NinjaBall
says:
It's like I said from the beginning: too many people saw the xbox 360 eBay scenario and banked on the ps3 being a repeat. But with that many people all flocking to make it happen a second time, there was no chance of it ever materializing.
Look at it this way: A few prospectors find a gold vein and manage to walk away with about a thousand bucks each. News travels, and the next day, ten thousand prospectors show up. Think they'll all be as lucky as the few before them?
Of course everyone that camped the ps3 to resell it didn't get rich. There was no way it was going to happen this time around. Too many people got way too greedy. I don't feel the least bit bad for them.
WPack911
says:
Fantastic read, this really shows just how much demand for the PS3 is already at post launch levels. While this is a sad state of affairs to be sure for Sony, this is great news for Nintendo since this just shows how well they have done at launch compared to Sony and that they are more then poised right now to take back the console market.
I could not be happier as a person that loved their PS2, Sony really seems to have gone off the deep end a bit with PS3 and they need the big wake up call a loss of their crown in the console market can bring them. Hopefully they learn and become a better company from this.
-WPack911
Comic
says:
And this is why I didn't plan to buy a PS3, since I was sure most of the demand came from people trying to make a profit rather than people honestly trying to buy the system. At least those of you who want to buy it can, now.
Zim
says:
Nice article and all but buying a console for potential? O.o Couldn't you just wait until it fills that potential and then buy it for a likely lower price?
snowferret
says:
This is a great little peice of jurnalisim, you should be proud of yourself. Tells us everything we wanted to know and then a little without tripping over itself and confusing us.
Thankyou.
If you look at ebay ps3 prices even the 60 gigs can be had for less then retail even with shipping added.
Wiis on the other hand are selling close to 340 dollars with shipping. Clearly more demand and more profit to be made reselling wiis.
For those claiming to be in stores with a shelf full of wiis buy most of them and put them on ebay. You will make your money back and a little profit. Or you could do the right thing and but a set price to cover your sales tax, purchase as well as shipping costs. With an explanation as to what you are doing you will make back your purchase in no time.
Another thing that hurt the scalpers was that most of the PS3s bought early appear to have been by other scalpers hoping to make more money come Christmass time.
MJD
says:
I posted on craigslist for people not to buy the Wii and PS3 from these chotches who just want money. I even said they'd have to return it eventually after nobody buys it and they have no profit. The posting was immediately removed by the community (aka the 40 people trying to sell PS3's). I personally would never buy and resell something like that. It just seems like a dick move. I'm just glad all these dicks got dicked over. dick
@
says:
You complain when it sells for over $1000...and you complain after prices drop, Idiots. : )
Were you guys at Kotaku sleeping when PS3 sales in Japan encreased by 60% last week while Wii sales dropped from 350,358 to 85,439.
Kept that under wraps huh boys...but you did manage to talk down PS3 sales. If you don't see a trend btw, Sony's PSs3 has actually been selling better now that production has increased. ( OMG....produciton affects sales)
Unlike the Wii..which I predict will be nearing a DRAMATIC retail drop within the coming weeks, PS3 will hold a steady incline.
Market Structure: Learn it, Live it....Love It.
Ess
says:
Perhaps this has been commented elsewhere but a buddy who works a certain large on-line retailer told me that said retailer recently made their most recent shipments of Wiis and PS3s available for their employees.
Apparently the Wii allotment sold out in under one minute. And the PS3 are still available.
Nintendo clearly has a runaway hit on their hands. As to whether that tranlates into a long term victory is anybody's guess.
sailentshadow
says:
That's what those stupid fucks get. NYAAAA :P
I think, that Sony shoulda just sold that shit on the blackmarket(b/f launch) for 1.25k ;) That way, they wouldn't've lost SOOOOOO much, HAHAHAHA
Finally PS3's are going down, though. :)
dead_red_eyes
says:
@, wow ... what a shitty comment. Why do you feel the need to be a griefer?
These nuts : Learn them, Live them....Love them.
@ you may want to double check that. Auction prices for PS3s in Japan drastically decreased a few weeks before it did in America.
The Wii is outselling the PS3 by a considerable margin in Japan. PS3 software sales are complete crap.
br549
says:
I'm glad the scalpers got theirs. Maybe the lines for the next console to release will be filled with people who want to buy them to play (such as myself), not resell.
Got to mark Joystiq down for injecting a personal bias by saying Best Buy was lying about having them. I'm not saying Best Buy never lies, but if you're writing a journalistic article, you really need to have evidence to the contrary before calling someone a liar. All it would have taken was going to a single store in person and seeing one to get this evidence.
Bunnyspatial
says:
pingpong - Thanks for reading through the entire story and having only that to say! I appreciate your insight deeply, and from now on, in your honor, all my graphs will start with a random /roll from World of Warcraft.
irondef
says:
Something that nearly every ebay & craigslist ps3 listing had in common- Making a point about how the package they are selling include the "Talledega Nights blu-ray movie"
Uh, yeah, does not every ps3 come with that disc? You are selling the "black" ps3 right? I don't know why this stuck in my craw so bad.
I have enjoyed watching Craigslist ads during this whole launch period, particularly the guys who had pictures of ps3 pyramids they had,the boxes stacked up like gold ingots. Now the same boobs are posting these ads-
I STILL HAVE 4 PS3S LEFT NEED TO SELL TODAY ASAP GET THEM WHILE YOU CAN $650 EACH SAVE MONEY BUY TOO COMES WITH TALLEDEGA NIGHTS BLUE RAY DVD CALL ASAP OBO etc. etc.
FanDam
says:
dvddesign said:
"I'm fortunate and fast enough to find consoles when other people can't. Call it a skill, I guess... Last Wii I bought, I was the first person in line..."
No offense, but from your story it seems like your "skill" is just getting there early and sitting.
Great article, by the way. Well done.
I have no real idea why they put in Talledga Nights in as a movie pack in instead of a game or movie collection people would actually be interested in showing off.
I laughed maybe once in Talledga Nights and that was due to the character Sacha Cohen plays.
I spent most of the movie watching expierence fiddling with a graphic novel. I would have fallen asleep if I could have.
Konchu
says:
I hope this serves to lessen future resellers. I mean there were people camping for 3 and 4(some cases more) days to buy a system to sell. I hope this is a reality check to leave more systems for gamers cause it really isnt worth the time. That said it is a free country and If someone wants to resell that is there buisness.
People did it for the 360 as well I know but really most people that waited, waited no more that overnight. Overnight is as hardcore as waiting for a system should ever get stores should not allow people there longer in my opinion.
AlteredBeast
says:
I CALLED IT!
Back when the PS3 launched, I said this would happen...and it even made it into the comment round up!
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/kotaku/multitap-a-week-in-com...
I REALLY think people are overestimating how much they can resell a PS3 for on eBay. I see interviews were people expect to make up to a $2,000 profit! With soooo many that are going to end up on eBay, and a decent chance that stores might get more stock in within a week after launch, I doubt most PS3s will sell for more than $1,000 (total). So those camping out, doing the math that they are going to make enough money to justify the hours spent there....they are probably gonna get shafted. The hours spent will probably yeild less profit than a minimum wage job.
AlteredBeast
says:
Yay! I called it back when the PS3 launched!
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/kotaku/multitap-a-week-in-com...
I REALLY think people are overestimating how much they can resell a PS3 for on eBay. I see interviews were people expect to make up to a $2,000 profit! With soooo many that are going to end up on eBay, and a decent chance that stores might get more stock in within a week after launch, I doubt most PS3s will sell for more than $1,000 (total). So those camping out, doing the math that they are going to make enough money to justify the hours spent there....they are probably gonna get shafted. The hours spent will probably yeild less profit than a minimum wage job.
t0yrobo
says:
I'm not really suprised the ebay prices dropped that quickly. All the reasonable people quickly realized that $600 for a game system is really pushing and anything over $1000 is just fucking stupid. All the while Wii's are more in number and apparently more desiarable since they're selling for a fair profit on ebay and not very common in stores. Perhaps Sony really has outpriced themselves.
xhazeleyes01x
says:
*gives alteredbeast a cookie*
this is a great feature. i've been wanting to see some sort of comparison like this for awhile now on the ebay price drops.
@
says:
Im not sure why it is that Simple Facts make you nasty little geeks so catty...and although I so very much hate sticking around for the 2nd wave of geek discrimination that so rampantly rules this blog...I somehow felt that certain people were questioning my statements...while others who were in a sad little state denial over simple facts.
I could care less about brands & numbers, I like to enjoy what i feel is fun....but number make the world go round. : )
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=91228
(Go ahead and check that little sweetheart out.... oh, and then figure out whether you wanna get on your knees now, or maybe wait till you recieve your queue, LOL)
Johnny-C
says:
Like most people have said, great article, not only because of how well it was written, but also because of the outcome of the whole PS3 reselling fiasco.
WolfpackEE
says:
Great article. Could you run stats for the Wii? I'd be curious to see how it did in the same timeframe on ebay.
Eyerox
says:
Great article. Good find Kotaku.
Everything printed points to a bonus for the gamer.
Personally, I think people realized that the ebay prices were crazy and decided not to pay them. I also KNOW that the ps3 got constant shipments so there was ALWAYS hope of getting one. The xbox didn't arrive in a steady trickle like the ps3. I was one of the people driving to gamestop, meiyers, target, and BB every single day. My local targets, BB, and Gamestops got shipments on an average WEEKLY basis. It all came down to being in the right place at the right time.
I like my ps3 so far, but would not pay a giant premium for it. The xbox prices of last year caught everyone off-gaurd. Something like that will never happen in video games again.
crecente
says:
Dear @,
A haiku for you:
You are banned dear twit,
For name calling and because
We hate you. Truly
Sunjammer
says:
Gamepro is a steaming pile of horse diarrhea by any standard. Pulling gamepro stats is like throwing the gun at your opponent once your ammo is dry.
Nothing screams fanboy like screaming fanboy.
Ludwig
says:
*witness the awesome power of the haiku ban*.
- A simple event of bad investiment for them. Let's hope they learn the lesson. Doub-it.
doubtful
says:
Good article. I've got a question, though. What's the listing volume been? I'm wondering if that's also dropped and leveled off.
Coherent
says:
The Fry's nearest where I live (it's at Ventura near Rose Avenue and 101) has lots and lots of PS3's, hundreds of them. You can see them stacked up on a pallet in their secure cage at the front of the store.
Personally I don't see what "Potential" the PS3 has that the 360 hasn't already displayed. Will it have measurably better graphics, sound, FPS?
Which leaves blu-ray as it's sole selling point, and personally I haven't noticed that DVD's are particularly insufficient to my movie viewing needs. And I haven't seen that games are having trouble fitting on DVD's, data-space-wise.
So again, it's all about the software. When Sony manages to line up a must-have game for the PS3, I'll think about getting one. But the 360 has a couple of games I'm interested in so far, and Halo 3 isn't even out yet.
Meanwhile the Wii is a must-have already, if only for the party-game potential and the fact that it's so cheap. When more fun multiplayer games are written to take advantage of the wiimote and nunchuck, it could be a serious contender down the road. Meanwhile, it's already making money.
Mansteak
says:
Damnit, Crecente, I read the article he posted and was working on my response to hand him his own ass on a platter when I saw your haiku.
The funniest thing (even funnier than that trolling shitstain getting banned after 2 comments) was the fact that the article doesn't really support his argument. It talks about how the PS3 finally saw a rise in sales since the launch. Then the graph at the bottom shows how the Wii launch goes gangbusters and has a slower second week - but the second week data still easily tops the launch sales of the PS3 and doubles most other weeks sales. The launch week of the Wii hammers the SHIT out of the rest of the sales.
Most importantly, though, the article is about sales in Japan, and has less than nothing to do with the eBay grey market sales this post was about. Batting a thousand, champ!
Nice article, and I really liked how you detailed your information gathering process. That's infoporn, right there. Oh, and if there are no numbers approaching 0, there's no reason to start a graph there.
FIN.
Pixelantes Anonymous
says:
Where in the hell do you people live??? I actually WANT (not bad enough to pay a scalper though, or pay for 10 game bundles) to get a PS3, but I can't freakin' find one anywhere near me.
FatherStorm
says:
I have to second the Wal-mart experience. I went there shorlt after the Wii launched hoping to score one of those, but instead found two PS3 60 GB consoles simply sitting at the bottom of the display case. When I asked an employee to unlock the case and get the system for me, she insisted that they didn't have any in stock and was rather shocked to find out she was mistaken. (She happened to be a Electronics department associate..). That console of curse went directly to eBay, with a Buy-It-now price just enough to make back my investment plust $300 for the Wii i actually eventually got. All-in-all Wal-mart usually does not know what stock they have or how to get a caller to the department they might need.
Zim
says:
Haha nice one crecente. Its funny as well how @ says how Kotaku didn't show those sales figures yet the latest japanese sale figures have the wii up to 280k clearly showing that the problem is they can't produce them fast enough not that people won't buy them.
The rapid decline in the grey market does show that demand isn't nearly as high as it was expected to be, but I still have to say one of most damaging things to Sony that doesn't seem to be mentioned enough is that they are still 3months away from launching in Europe. Here in the Uk we are only getting the premium as well and it will cost the equivalant of $830.
D_Imperial115
says:
not to state ther obvious but the wii cost $250 while the PS3 costs $600 of course places get rid of their wii stock first why even compare the two I got a wii but I will be getting a PS3 when I get paid again. especially now that I know that best buy has been sitting on them.
The grey market was horseshit from the beggining Im soooo glad it crashed cuz the people I knew that were trying to profit off PS3s were scumbag drug dealers too
stummies
says:
Wow Fahey, you need your girlfriend's approval to put down $100? cough*whipped*cough ;)
All kidding aside, I really enjoyed this feature! Well done and very insightful. You obviously put a lot of time into it, and it showed. The rollercoaster ride of the ps3 on ebay deserved to be looked into.
Muffin_Man
says:
This is the kind of stuff I like coming to Kotaku to read.
An intersting note as well, I've witnessed two PS3s returned by chance pre-X-mas, and since then been in 2 Gamestops, a Wal-mart, and a K-mart, all with PS3s in stock. Some having had thiers for days.
phinehas
says:
I made $500 profit selling my PS3 on ebay and I'd do it again. Without it, my family and friends wouldn't be enjoying Wii Sports on a daily basis, and I wouldn't have Zelda.
I would say the listing volume for PS3S has drastically dropped. A week after launch there were was in the neighborhood of 28,000 listings. Now it is like 8000. Wii listings outnumber PS3 listings by a considerable margin.
If you want a 60 gig PS3 so bad go on ebay. You can even with shipping get them under retail price.
This message brought to you by the wii opera browser.
hegemonyhog
says:
"not to state ther obvious but the wii cost $250 while the PS3 costs $600 of course places get rid of their wii stock first why even compare the two I got a wii but I will be getting a PS3 when I get paid again. especially now that I know that best buy has been sitting on them."
Not really.
The Gamecube's pretty much always been cheaper than the PS2, yet I'm pretty sure that at almost no point in the past five years have they flown off the shelves faster than PS2s.
SXGlory
says:
Great article.
And it sounds to me like the Playstion 3 had more supply than demand, the reverse of every other system launch over the last decade. Else it would still be fetching a pretty penny.
There was a point where Gamecubes were in short supply. It occured after the price drop to 99 dollars.
klew
says:
Would have been helpful to also chart number of listings per day and number of closed auctions/sales per day to possibly show supply going up and price going down.
GOLD5
says:
It would be cool to see a similar graph for 360 sales from that launch. [Hint, hint] Great work!
dvddesign
says:
@Fandam
"No offense, but from your story it seems like your "skill" is just getting there early and sitting."
You'd think, but it's not. One Wii I obtained with no wait at all. The PS3 I waited for.... 60 minutes and was #2 in line. When the DS launched, (phat), I got 5 DS systems on launch day, and 2 the next day. (half were given to friends who didn't want to go looking and knew I could find them easier myself.) Before that I'd gotten my GC, Xbox, PS2, N64, and Dreamcast systems all on launch, amidst shortages, with no preserverations, buying ONE console from a single store, and no waiting. Nor did I "know" someone on the inside. Just simple walk in and purchase.
I tell you the easiest thing to grasp about what I do is I look for stock patterns with stores. How often they have copies of the hot new games, how often they restock, how often the Nintendo rep shows up, crap like that. The more popular a store, the less inclined I am to wait it out there. But a lower traffic'd store will get my attention. I found 4 PS2 broadband adapters on it's release day at 3 stores. I only needed one, but the fact remains that I know where to look for these things.
I've found recalled DVD's/VHS, unreleased DVD's, (including MST3K volume 10, 1st version of Ed Wood on DVD, Salo: Criterion, This is Spinal Tap: Criterion, Gremlins (1st version on DVD was recalled), Original run of Little shop of Horrors, Rescuers VHS tapes from 1997, a copy of Song of the South, the original (sub #2000 of #30,000) Speical Edition of Army of Darkness). Ebay any of these and you'll see some of these are damn rare.
If it has to be anything, I'm really lucky and manage to be in the right place at the right time, nearly whenever I want to be.
awbattles
says:
Best Buy is definitely evil. I'd been calling one every day for weeks, asking if they had gotten any PS3s in that day. They always said no, until finally on a Sunday I called and was told that they had gotten some in that day, but people had waited in line again and they sold out as the store opened. I still haven't figured out how people knew to wait in line at a store where they aren't allowed to tell people when they WILL be getting some in. To hell with them.
awbattles there are websites such as http://www.ps3seeker.com/ that detail when inv shipments come in.
Also go look on ebay you can get PS3s cheaper then retail even with shipping. You got the damn answer use ebay.
MaxRisen
says:
The price changes on the grey market shouldn't be an indicator of demand of the PS3, nor whether or not the PS3 is a sucessful machine. The article is great and interesting to read, but as far as the indication on the sucess of the system is concerned, it is not the least big significant. The PS3 should be sold at stock price, bottom line. Those who paid higher on ebay or other websites online are simply a tiny miniscule fraction of the overall market: wealthy early adopters who will pay any price to acquire a new piece of hardware.
In addition, in my opinion, the sales of Wii show no more popularity than the PS3. Since it is far cheaper than the PS3, it only makes sense that more people will be attracted to it. The Wii is a reasonable purchase for the cost-conscious (reasonable) market segement. But also, I expect the Wii numbers to slow down in comparison to the PS3. Those who want a Wii will buy one in the near future, but the PS3 will continue to attract a larger market segement when the prices go down.
Also, those who looked to profit off the PS3 shouldn't look at this market decline as bad. Get a real job and make some honest money instead of riding the unprofessional wave of making easy cash.
Bunnyspatial
says:
Right, exactly. This shouldn't be taken as an indication of the PS3's success, merely a cautionary tale for those who would seek to profit from keeping a new product out of the hands of those who truly want it.
Especially a system whose most major titles are still in the pipeline, because rather than spend high prices on eBay, many people decided to wait.
Vexorg
says:
I was out doing some shopping tonight, and saw at least 3 PS3s for sale at retail (1 each of 20GB and 60GB at a Gamestop, and 1 60GB at Target, but it sold while I was there.) I suspect I'd probably be able to find one somewhere around here whenever I want to get one. Exactly when that will be is still up in the air though.
Wernstar
says:
Great story Fahey, one of the better features I've read. Though I wonder if for the next console launch this will happen again. Will ebay scalpers wise up?
ponlork
says:
actually a large number of PS3 bidders were fraudulent non-paying buyers during that first week. These bidders would place outrageous bids jacking up the price trying to spoil PS3 auctions. I'm sure that affected the average tremendously. Also, too many people caught wind of the idea and tried re-selling PS3's on eBay and when you got PS3 selling every 30 seconds on eBay what happens is the market becomes over-saturated and the competition is too high and I doubt the demand was that high where bidders would be willing to pay 2 times the amount for a PS3 consistently every 30 seconds for a month. Maybe the first week or two, but once the hype dies down and the media stop covering it then you assed out
Bunnyspatial
says:
I actually took that into consideration, filtering out the outrageously high bids before taking the average. Believe me, the numbers would be much higher if I had included the bids over 10,000.
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