EB-Gamestop & eBay not conspiring to cancel PS3 pre-orders

by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 1st 2006 at 8:45PM }

The rumor -- PlayStation 3 pre-orders sold on eBay will be cancelled by EB-Gamestop -- was a stretch when it first surfaced two days ago, and now EB-Gamestop's director of public & media relations Chris Olivera has officially debunked it. "Are we canceling pre-orders that appear on eBay? The answer to that is no," Olivera confirmed.

eBay will continue to moderate PlayStation 3 (and Wii) pre-order auctions using these guidelines:

Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console
The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection
The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now
The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description

Tags: auction, EB Games, eBay, EbGames, Gamestop, pre-order, PS3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Stewart Bananas @ Nov 1st 2006 9:01PM

Welcome to yesterday's news :|

bryan t @ Nov 1st 2006 9:11PM

50 feeback?

Not that I would buy a Ps3 or Wii to sell, but I don't have 50 feedback, nor would I imagine many of the people who plan on buying and selling would.

Zak @ Nov 1st 2006 9:20PM

Bryan, that's the whole point.

And DWells, any petition against EA spyware is null and void with your price gouging.

Eih'Beir @ Nov 1st 2006 9:32PM

Zak wins.

DWells55 @ Nov 1st 2006 9:41PM

That's darn right they aren't cancelling them. I just sodl and got paid $1,500 for my PS3 preorder and Resistance: Fall of Man. Now I can afford a Wii!

-D. Wells
Join me in boycotting EA's spyware and if you'd like, their games altogether: http://www.petitiononline.com/bf2142ad/petition.html

DWells55 @ Nov 1st 2006 9:41PM

Price gouging? How about, "supply and demand" - one of the simplest concepts of economy. There's an extremely limited supply of PS3 systems available. I camped out to preorder one. Someone else didn't want to, and was willing to bid on my item and it eventually reached upwards of $1,500. They could've camped out, but preferred to buy mine.

Everyone is out to make a profit. Everyone. No company survives by losing money. Sorry you don't like capitalism, there might be a nice spot for you somewhere in China.

-D. Wells
Join me in boycotting EA's spyware and if you'd like, their games altogether: http://www.petitiononline.com/bf2142ad/petition.html

Neoxkc @ Nov 1st 2006 10:04PM

@ DWells55

That's a dumb reason coming from someone who wants to boycott EA, they are just out to get your money, it governs ever poor decision they make.

Eih'Beir @ Nov 1st 2006 10:06PM

Easy, Dwells. No need to be so sensitive about your profiteering. We all get it, and you're not the first.

Zak was just noticing similiarities between you, being a money whore, and your futile online petition against EA, a money-whoring comapny.

Lynx @ Nov 1st 2006 10:06PM

It's called greed. The sooner you can admit that to yourself, the sooner we all can move on. Don't insult us with your little pep talk on economy. It is what it is, you can call it what you like, but greed is greed.

I'd be interested to see how you'd react in a bread shortage. Supply and demand, eh?

minus_273 @ Nov 1st 2006 10:20PM

#8.

right, doing something and selling your time is money whoring. maybe you should stop working (or do you live in your mom's basement?). If you work, by working you are selling your services you money whore. Stop working.

Dwells is not selling a PS3, he is selling a service. He waited in line so someone else didnt have to. He sells this service to the highest bidder and makes a profit. There is nothing wrong with that.

Stupid hippies like you make want to puke. You shoudl be shipped off to North Korea to starve in the workers paradise.

minus_273 @ Nov 1st 2006 10:23PM

#9 Lynx,

"I'd be interested to see how you'd react in a bread shortage. Supply and demand, eh?"

Yeah i know, people can't survive without a PS3. I guess all the wii60 folks are going to die a horrible death.

otakucode @ Nov 1st 2006 10:25PM

When the eBay limitations on the auctions was reported before, lots of people balked at the Paypal-only requirement. I don't think there's much to that, since it does given them greater control over combatting fraud. eBay is a den of fraud and cheats and has been for a good while now, so they know what they're dealing with. That's the reason for the 50 feedback and good feedback rating (though their feedback system is a bit screwed up since if you leave negative feedback, it can be challenged and unless you pay SquareTrade $20 to back up your feedback, it gets repealed) requirement.

What I find unexplainable is the ban on Buy It Now items. I don't see how they would open up the possibility of fraud. Perhaps I'm just not as crafty as fraudulent sellers/buyers on eBay, if you know a good reason for eBay to instate this requirement, please let me know. If I had to come up with a reason, the only one that seems to work is that it would drive traffic to eBay and increase the prices PS3s go for overall. You have to keep checking back and bidding higher if you're like most of the braindead buyers that use eBay that don't just bid what they're willing to pay and then ignore the auction from then on. Most people get sucked into bidding higher and higher and their involvement just propels them to bid more.

I don't have a problem with people getting a mint for PS3s. They cost a bundle to begin with, and the supply and demand factor is amplified greatly by Sony (it is not outside of Sonys power to hold off the launch for a month to ramp up supply, or even hire more manufacturing plants to more quickly produce units). Anyone getting a price above retail for a Wii is a bit disingenuous though. The Wii is not going to be hard to get, so they're just taking advantage of the mental illnesses that take hold when people get on eBay and bid like addicts.

Paying more than retail price for new goods on eBay is most definitely nothing new, it happens every second of every day, but people selling Wii-orders for above retail are trying to drum it up to sound like there will be a shortage when all signs point to that not being the case.

DWells55 @ Nov 1st 2006 10:27PM

EA is spying on your viewing tendencies in-game and forcing ads into a game you already paid full-price for. You don't get to choose not have the ads, either.

Someone chose to pay for my PS3. It wasn't a matter of life and death, they just chose to save themselves the time and pain of cmaping out in front of a store for 20+ hours. It's like sellign a baseball card for an insanely high price. Happens all the time - it's a rare item, someone wants it, and pays a lot more for it. Same concept here.

I see minus_273 has some common sense around here. I chose to camp out for a system and make an investment. I then chose to profit off that. Live with it, people.

PS: How'd my post go from 1st to 5th?

ZeroCorpse @ Nov 1st 2006 10:29PM

I second the rolling of my eyes in regards to the "it's capitalism" bullshite. It is NOT supply and demand, and anyone who says so has obviously never taken a single class on economics. It is ARTIFICIAL PRICE INFLATION, which is otherwise known around the world as profiteering.

When people SKEW the market by buying up all of a product with the SOLE INTENTION of making it impossible to find through normal channels, thus ARTIFICIALLY driving the price higher because there is no legitimate way to purchase at the real price, that is borderline illegal.

Oh, yes. You performed a SERVICE. You waited in a line to get something you intended to resell at a higher price. What about the guy at the end of the line who just wanted one for himself or his kids? Because you bought one with NO INTENTION of keeping it, he was forced out of the legitimate market and into the profiteer's market. If oh-so-generous guys like you didn't populate the lines, then the line would be made up of legitimate buyers and the market would not be inflated... The people who want one would GET ONE the first time around, and wouldn't have to turn to eBay to find their kids' Xmas present.

Enjoy your ill-gotten money. If it doesn't bug you, then I suggest you write your next term paper on Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" as I think that kind of self-absorbed, deluded greed might be right up your alley.

Personally, I don't care if people pay $1500 for the PS3. As far as I'm concerned it's a good thing, because I would like to see Sony fail this time (call it penance for their arrogance) and profiteers artificially driving the price into the stratosphere is just the kind of thing to make the casual gamers and families skip the PS3 and purchase a Wii or 360 this XMas.

Please, though, don't have any illusions that what you're doing is somehow good for the economy or ANYBODY except for you. The only demand is one that YOU created by purchasing with the intention of cleaning out the market and making normal transactions impossible.

ZeroCorpse @ Nov 1st 2006 10:36PM

Not at all like a baseball card. Rarity of baseball cards has to do with time and condition of the card, and not on the fact that you woke up 10 minutes earlier than someone else.

Face it: The legitimate buyers who were in line behind you got screwed by your greed. They could have gotten one for retail, but because a dishonest, greedy jerk rushed into line before them, they were given NO CHOICE in the matter.

Karma's a bitch, my friend. Things like this have a way of balancing out, and I suspect you'll not like being on the negative end of this kind of "service" some day in your future.

Kevin @ Nov 1st 2006 10:48PM

People love money, and people will do whatever it takes to make as much as they can.

It just sucks to see the whole point of buying a gaming system now a days is to sell it right back to someone else that wants to play it for a higher price.

get over it @ Nov 1st 2006 10:57PM

otakucode,
the buy it now listing isn't allowed for the pre-orders because you're supposed to ship the item once it is purchased... not several weeks later.

Foetoid @ Nov 1st 2006 11:26PM

All this bickering and price-gouging is making me even more glad that i am not getting a PS3 till the price comes down to AUS$400 (the current Wii price). It's gonna be even worse here in Australia when the PS3 comes out.

A straight conversion from US$600 comes to about AUS$805, but we pay AUS$999.99, which is BS. A thousand dollars for a gaming system where the only half enjoyable games are gonna be DMC 4 and FFXIII..... I can't wait to see what the people here in aus pay for a ps3 on ebay.com.au once march '07 rolls around. By that time I'll have 40 or so Wii games (probably 30 of em VC titles) and people will be running around mindlessly looking for a PS3 somewhere, paying AUS$2500+ for one off ebay. Suckers!!

Jeremy @ Nov 1st 2006 11:47PM

What exactly do you or Sony think will happen when they release 400,000 consoles when they know good and well that millions want one? You are shocked that they are being resold? Are you as an AMERICAN really saying that it should be illegal to resell items above retail?

Reselling can not and will not be stopped. If they really wanted to stop this they would wait to release when they had enough consoles to fill demand.

Combo4 @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:05AM

i am reminded of the commercial with baby doll that begins to cry, and speak like a demon, while sitting in a strange room across from a PS3.

brilliant. it made me want one instantly.

Eih'Beir @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:27AM

Yeah, that creeped me out.

Kevin @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:38AM

More like Pay B3yond, lol

j/k

Count Zero @ Nov 2nd 2006 12:57AM

So they said it's not true. I've heard this confirmed by managers and Assistant Managers from three local EB stores. Maybe it's just EB Canada. Who knows.

Also, since when did the fact that a PR say "It's not true" mean it isn't true. It usually just means "Whoops, we got caught. Umm, we deny this"

ZeroCorpse has zero sense @ Nov 2nd 2006 1:34AM

Oh poor guy at the back of the line that wanted a $600 toy for his kids, I hope he survives. I loved the bread analogy too. Comparing essential items with a video game system shows great wisdom.

Zak @ Nov 2nd 2006 2:25AM

So...Dwells...you're a company who is out for profit...or just some guy who knows he can prey on a product shortage, a shortage that you are only helping.

I hope you get hit by a car on the way to get your PS3.

n8dogg @ Nov 2nd 2006 2:25AM

Ah, but Jeremy, that would be what they're doing with Europe. And everyone knows Europe is a happy place when it comes to Sony.

Seriously, they're kind of in a no-win situation at the moment. Don't say something obvious and stupild like that.

Don Jose @ Nov 2nd 2006 6:05AM

I can't figure out who's less intelligent.

Is it the people who actually buy insanely marked-up consoles on ebay, or the whiny, bitchy losers who are fully aware that people will buy them, but still want to get up on their soapboxes and gripe about the ethics of the preordering capitalist?

Some people must have things regardless of the price, and some people don't mind exploiting this.

minus_273 @ Nov 2nd 2006 8:04AM

if someone wanted a Ps3 they could have gotten up earlier and gotten in line. The people who did got one and they have every right to do anything they want with it. Buy a ps3 and smash it, its your right. if you want to sell it on ebay, fine by me.

You socialist hippies comparing a ps3 shortage to bread shortage have serious issues.

DONT FUCKING TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY CAN AND CANT DO WITH THE STUFF THEY BOUGHT.

its their own damn business and you should mind your own.

The_Dog @ Nov 2nd 2006 8:37AM

All the talk of re-sell ... I just hope you're claiming your "gambling" profits on your taxes.

Because we all know it will probably fall either into "Gambling" or "Capital Gains" in the IRS's eyes. Paypal is an awesome electronic bookkeeping system, it probably won't get lost in the weeds.

Unless you're a business, then it falls into Sales Tax laws (ship out of state).

The_Dog @ Nov 2nd 2006 8:43AM

PS - That's capitalism.

Nintendo_Fanboy @ Nov 2nd 2006 9:41AM

I QUALIFY AND HAVE 2 (1 EB, 1 TRU)!!!!!!!!

crono141 @ Nov 2nd 2006 9:50AM

I'm pretty sure it falls under "Sales Tax" and "other income tax".

Capital gains governs stocks and bonds, and maybe real estate, and only once they are sold.

There is nothing ethically wrong with getting up before your neighbor to get an item you both want to sell. That is the nature of a capitalist market, and if I had the money or the ability, I would have done it as well.

Welcome to the free market, where people are rewarded for going the extra mile and putting in the extra hour. The early bird catches the worm. You don't see a bunch of birds bitching at the guy who got up early enough to get the worm.

DWells55 @ Nov 2nd 2006 11:30AM

@25. Zak
"So...Dwells...you're a company who is out for profit...or just some guy who knows he can prey on a product shortage, a shortage that you are only helping.

I hope you get hit by a car on the way to get your PS3."

I never said I was a company. I only compared it in the sense everyone wants a profit. I don't think I'm going to be hit by any cars. Traffic at midnight isn't much.

---------------

@15. ZeroCorpse
"Karma's a bitch, my friend. Things like this have a way of balancing out, and I suspect you'll not like being on the negative end of this kind of "service" some day in your future."

That's funny, because the only thing that resulted here is that a 16 year old without the ability to afford a Wii and Zelda now can. Not to mention I can finally afford driving school. And don't tell me to go get a job, at the moment I can't find a job that will fit in with my schedule.

If I wanted a PS3 for myself desperately enough, I would be out there camping for it. I wanted an Xbox 360 last year - soem guy whol likely sold it on eBay beat me to the preorder. I didn't whine about it and I certainly wasn't payign $2000 on eBay. I showed up at Best Buy and waited 16 hours in the rain in 38F weather. I dealt with it and got my 360 Premium. If someone wants a PS3 so bad, they can do that too, or they can pay the high price on eBay.

-------------

@ Anyone who supported me
Thanks for having some common sense in the matter here. I spent my time waiting in line, and I made some money. A lot of other people did the same thing and there isn't a darn thing wrong with that.

Deadpool @ Nov 2nd 2006 11:53AM

I think the key here is that DWells is selling a luxury item, if what he was doing was actually hurting someone I would be against it all the way.

This is a luxury piece of electronics however, if someone is foolish enough to pay triple the asking price for it, then so be it, I dont really see anything wrong with what he is doing.If I could have done the same thing when the playstation came out, back when I actually really needed the money, I am sure I would have.

Also, hoping that someone should be killed while doing something that one finds distastful is a really awful thing to do. I am sure you are just joking Zak, but still, I really think that taking one ps3 off of the general market is not worth a death sentence.