Some dude is reselling 100 PS3s, gonna get paid

by Blake Snow { Nov 14th 2006 at 8:55PM }

Some Japanese consumer named Eiji (who we can only assume is a legitimate ninja) somehow managed to scoop up 100 PS3s in both 20GB and 60GB varieties and is reportedly planning to resell them. Forget the fact that he got his hands on more units than most (if not any) other retailer alone received. The point is, this reseller stands to make a lot of cash, most likely in the hundreds of thousands. Expect to see him in Forbes sometime next year.

[Thanks, nijah; via Digg]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

serb @ Nov 14th 2006 8:58PM

OMFG!!!!!!!
this guy probably held so many ppl up lol

Chris Clark @ Nov 14th 2006 8:58PM

You would have to be a moron to buy from that guy. At least in my opinion, those units have to be stolen. At least they were acquired through less than legitimate ways.

Sniper @ Nov 14th 2006 9:00PM

milliondollar.ytmnd.com

Optimus Prime @ Nov 14th 2006 9:01PM

Seriously WTF; are the Yukaza into PS3 scalping now?

Lansing @ Nov 14th 2006 9:03PM

if he were to sell each at 2000 dollars he could make 140k!!!!!!!!!!

phantom @ Nov 14th 2006 9:03PM

Definitely mob-related.

jason @ Nov 14th 2006 9:05PM

maybe he had 100 friends who didnt care about ps3s wait in line for him, and then he shares the cut of profit...

cuz ive done that before with other things on ebay. you just need friends who are not greedy likeyourself. haha

Dux @ Nov 14th 2006 9:07PM

amazing.

Francisco @ Nov 14th 2006 9:08PM

i guess this explains the .98 unit to game ratio.

Lex @ Nov 14th 2006 9:08PM

Remember that email Kotaku posted talking about how the first 20 or so consoles went to people who were just there to stand in line and buy hardware only. Well ladies and gents this is where those consoles ended up.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php

DaveTehWave @ Nov 14th 2006 9:09PM

I would honestly buy a Porsche Turbo (or maybe a GT2) after reselling all of those.

TwilightKnight @ Nov 14th 2006 9:10PM

I want more pictures! Like him building a little home out of PS3s or covering the floor and all the walls with the boxes.

I want a giant pillar of PS3s! GET ON IT!

dokool @ Nov 14th 2006 9:10PM

Well, I'm impressed.

Josh* @ Nov 14th 2006 9:11PM

Well, it's a more surefire way to double your $50,000 investment than on the Blackjack tables.

carg0 @ Nov 14th 2006 9:23PM

speaking of ninjas, how bout we all start a collection to commission a real one to kill this scumbag?

we'd be doing the gaming community a great service.

$Money$ @ Nov 14th 2006 9:23PM

come on guys lets be serious for a moment..u guys actually think that there are ps3 systems in those boxes...those are empty boxes that he got from people that didn't want them..and when he sells them people will be dissappointed that they spent 2000 dollars for cardboard

megid @ Nov 14th 2006 9:26PM

Last time I checked, 100 times 2000 is NOT 140k.

houkoholic @ Nov 14th 2006 9:31PM

He will not make hundreds of thousands.
Considering that the current markup for PS3 in Japan is only 20,000yen of RRP and still *dropping* because demand is so weak and the market is already flooded with resellers (PS3 prices at Akihabara saw a net in price from the peak 140k yen to 90k yen in 2 days due to oversupply and no demand), even selling all 100 he will only make 2mil yen net profit, which is only US$17k. Hardly enough to even buy the body of a Porsche Turbo, let alone making it into Forbes :rolls eyes:

Nice sum of cash yes, but hardly big MONEY.

Keil Joy @ Nov 14th 2006 9:32PM

I bet you that guy gets robbed..

SteveZ @ Nov 14th 2006 9:32PM

lol don't get jealous just because Eiji is a ninja

~=*n1nj@s 5TR1k3 Ag@1N!!11*=~ haha

brandon @ Nov 14th 2006 9:34PM

17 - maybe consider the fact that it costs money to buy a ps3 and so sale at 2000 dollars would not be 2000 dollars of profit but rather 1400 dollars of profit. this might be where math is betraying you.

MaX PL @ Nov 14th 2006 9:43PM

davewave, id sure as hell get myself an 07 turbo as well if i sold all of those.

Steve @ Nov 14th 2006 9:45PM

Unless they were stolen, I believe this was more sophisticated than some guy managing to get 100 PS3s. He probably had the help of family and friends under the agreement that if he pays for the system and does all the work reselling them that the original buyer will get a cut of the profits.

Nice job! I commend the guy for his ambition.

Anonymouse Rep @ Nov 14th 2006 9:53PM

Can anyone tell if the little sealing dot is on those cases? If not, then chances are those are just For Display Only boxes - a whole lot like what I have sitting on my shelf right now. Companies send those out to reps so that we can build massive and impressive displays - that then the stores won't let us put up.

Hey, and if he resells them to Europe, then Sony will go after him as the new Lik-Sang!

Ryan @ Nov 14th 2006 10:06PM

Why sell them? You could just keep them and make the most expensive fort of all time.

JRo @ Nov 14th 2006 10:16PM

It's too bad that there's such a large number of gamers out there willing to pay anything for this thing. I'd love nothing more than to see this guy stuck with all of them and go broke. Then the bank can reposess them and sell them at an auction.

vakerorokero @ Nov 14th 2006 10:29PM

Guess he wasn't using his house anyways, might as well get 100 Ps3s.

is @ Nov 14th 2006 10:29PM

Its probably a sony run operation. They need all the money they can get right now - it would make sense to shave off a few to sell at an actual profit.

Dr Pill @ Nov 14th 2006 10:39PM

Pshaw. Not impressed. Show me a photo of someone actually playing a PS3 purchased at retail. Now that would be something.

Dan @ Nov 14th 2006 10:44PM

Yeah, this is very likely one of those businessmen paying poor and homeless people $100 or so to stand in line for him.

Boxthor @ Nov 14th 2006 11:05PM

Look for some JPS3s on ebay soon!

I assume some of you will want em?

=D

Boxthor @ Nov 14th 2006 11:19PM

Also, it's 150, not 100.

Docc Occ @ Nov 14th 2006 11:20PM

He paid homeless people to wait in line I'm guessing. Thinking about doing this myself honestly. Not for 100 of them but maybe 3. Have 3 homeless people out there a day in advance & give them a bottle of rum for their wait.

ackmondual @ Nov 14th 2006 11:21PM

it's a terrorist plot. This is all going to fund Al Queda, Al Gageer, and all the other "Al"s war for terrorism ;)

Negativecool @ Nov 14th 2006 11:35PM

I hope that fuck stain goes to hell (pardon my French). He no doubt exploited the poor Chinese. Probably gave them a nice shiny nickel (or equivalent Japanese currency) for their trouble. Link provided by Lex #10.

Too bad nobody that will bid on his haul knows or cares the shady way he acquired his PS3's, otherwise anyone with any sense of justice would underbid for the them...making the winning bid for all of his 150(?) PS3's at .05 dollars each. Then that bastard would get what he deserves—a net loss of about $87,000.

Profiteer @ Nov 15th 2006 2:05AM

$150 is overpriced. I've got 5 guys lined up for me already that are going to "camp" out Thursday/Friday for 5 of them. 6 with me. I'm giving all of them cash + $100 for their trouble and they are looking at it as "hey its better than going to school on Thursday, and its $100". I'm looking at it as $5,000+ easy money...

moclippa @ Nov 15th 2006 2:41AM

I thought this was going to be a great month for gaming... but it seems we've just hit one of its ugliest moments.

Less actual gamers are getting the systems on launch then resellers looking to make triple profits off sales. I don't know what is sadder, the fact that this practice is occuring to such degrees, or that there are actually enough rich assholes out there willing to put down 2000+ for a system on launch.... I mean, nothing against rich people, I was born into a well off family... but come on, what the heck is going on???

Dark-Pen @ Nov 15th 2006 4:04AM

i think this could possibly be related to that article on kotaku about how there were a bunch of poor chinese people being paid to be in line...

/sigh

amedjones @ Nov 15th 2006 4:08AM

watch this dude show up on Japanese COPS!!
what he needs next is 500 WII and 1/2 xbox360 - and he's all set

John @ Nov 15th 2006 5:51AM

im thinking photoshop!

lol

markus @ Nov 15th 2006 7:15AM

damn, can he send one to me?:D:DDD

MSTK @ Nov 15th 2006 10:08AM

This is just pure genius. The PS3 is region-free, so the should work internationally, as well. You could buy them from anywhere in the world.

However by introducing that much more units into the grey market, he's going to start devaluing them, though. Not much of a problem for him, but for those entrepreneurs buying one or two and selling them online, they'll be finding a much lower price than expected.

kftgr @ Nov 15th 2006 12:35PM

think deeper, megid, think deeper.

number40one @ Nov 15th 2006 1:42PM

**Round of applause**

Well played, dude. As long as this isn't an empty box scam, rock on wit' yur bad self!

Tomas @ Nov 15th 2006 5:54PM

i call yakuza on this guy.

Yakumo @ Nov 15th 2006 6:32PM

So, this buying a homeless persons time thing... why isn't anyone questioning why they wouldn't take the money and run, or take the PS3 and try sell it themselves.

pete @ Nov 16th 2006 11:17AM

your math is flawed. suppose they still have the 100$ down in japan to reserve and suppose he sells each one for 2000$. thats 2000 * 100 = 200,000 revenue, minus 100 * 100 = 10,000 for the down payment. for a net profit of 190,000$, not 140k

slestak @ Nov 16th 2006 3:37PM

@48 YOUR math is flawed. If he sells 100 @ $2000, he nets $200,000. But he had to pay $600 each for them (100 @ $600 = $60,000).

$200,000-$60,000 = $140,000.

Down payment has nothing to do with it, because he still had to pay for it in full before he bought it. Not to mention all the n00bs he had to pay to stand in line for days.