eBay: No PS3 for UK
by Justin Murray 
{ Nov 16th 2006 at 3:00AM }
The PS3 certainly is a hot item now that it's officially launched (in Japan at least). With Sony's inability to launch in Europe until March 2007 (at the earliest), European gamers are going to have to wait for their PS3 ... or hit up eBay and import a unit. Unfortunately, they've shut that option down post-haste.
eBay's decided to put a stop to all that nonsense in the UK, stating that "PlayStation 3 consoles obtained outside of the EU cannot be listed on eBay.co.uk." This essentially means that Brits are going to have to find a different way to "smuggle" their PS3 into the country. We can logically assume that eBay will do the same in the rest of the EU markets they service.
eBay's decision doesn't come as much of a shock. After the legal troubles Lik-Sang went through, the world's biggest garage sale is most likely unwilling to test Sony's patience. We can (somewhat) understand the legalities of blocking a retailer from selling product over borders, but this recent blockage makes us wonder; what is the problem with an individual in Japan or North America firing his PS3 off to someone in the UK? Is there some PS3 Proliferation treaty out there we're not aware of?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vlad Bien-Aim @ Nov 16th 2006 3:23AM
Doesn't it have to do with that recent England law about not being able to have devices that have a standby mode?
K @ Nov 16th 2006 3:26AM
By the same logic, eBay should ban all auctions even shipping out of the country, period. The ruling was ridiculous.
Action Hank @ Nov 16th 2006 7:17PM
Just because a seller cannot list on Ebay.co.uk, canot's someone from the UK just bid on an auction from eBay.com, so long as the seller is willing to ship worldwide?
Most US sellers will be listing on eBay.com, and so long as they are willing to ship worldwide there is no way to monitor which country the seller does actually ship to.
Ripperrim @ Nov 16th 2006 12:38PM
I'm pretty sure that standby law hasnt come into place yet...I'm guessing its because Sony want to say "We sold all our product instantly!" instead of people not buying it because they got an American or Japanese one
rosemeyer1939 @ Nov 16th 2006 3:49AM
That 'law' regarding Standby is a long way from actually coming into force.
It's just ebay desperately trying to be seen as the good guy, and not just another rip off artist... They'd be guaranteed bad publicity in the run up to xmas, the papers love an 'ebay is a con' story.
Werbal @ Nov 16th 2006 3:52AM
Yep. Just hedging their bets in case something bad happened. They don't want Sony's bad press spilling over to them, considering that every story I've read about the PS3 in the mainstream press has mentioned the eBay sales.
Pixelbox @ Nov 16th 2006 3:53AM
All of the PS3 auctions in the US just got updated to say, "YES! I SHIP WORLDWIDE!!!"
Eric Von Shpeel @ Nov 16th 2006 3:54AM
it is NOT stopping you importing, just stopping people in america listing their item on the .co.uk site under the unfair impression that it is in the country which is fair play. Check ebay.co.uk and you will see tonnes of PSP, NS, and especially GBA stuff that is listed on the .co.uk site but in the small print mentions it ships from Hong Kong
FSK405K @ Nov 16th 2006 5:08AM
Easy solution....if I decide to off my PS3, I'll list it at www.ebay.com and not eBay.co.uk. If some Brit or German or whomever wins the auction, all the better for him/her. If they cover shipping, I'll send it.
Yogarine @ Nov 16th 2006 5:38AM
Could everyone please stop blaming Sony for putting Lik-Sang out of business...? If anyone did only the slightest effort to investigate the Sony - Lik-Sang case they would know that:
1.) Lik-Sang hadn't paid Sony anything yet. (And it's the question if they even could have been forced to, since they operate in Hong-Kong, and Hong-Kong no longer is British territory.
2.) Lik-Sang didn't defend it's case in court (so also didn't incur any fees for that)
3.) Sony must have sent various cease and desist letters before sueing them in the first place. (Which they propably didn't respond.)
So if Lik-Sang had plenty of better options, outside of closing their shop.
A.) After the first CaD letter they could just have given in and stop selling the PSP to other regions.
B.) They could've contacted Sony to try and work out some kind of agreement.
C.) Even after the lawsuit, they could've just stopped selling PSP's to other regions!
So, in the end, Lik-Sang decision to close down was just to harm Sony. It is possible that they actually were forced out of business, but rather because of their own finances or other factors. But trust me, Sony really can't be blamed for anything.
Now with the launch of the PS3 and Wii, Lik-Sang has made a REALLY bad business decision. Everyone in the world was probably planning on buying a Wii or PS3 through Lik-Sang. (I know I was...) That's a lot of money they're missing out on there.
Anyway, STOP BLAMING SONY FOR PUTTIN LIK-SANG OUT OF BUSINESS: SONY DIDNT RECEIVE ONE PENNY FROM LIK-SANG, LIK-SANG DIDN'T SHOW UP ON COURT, LIK-SANG IGNORED CEASE AND DESIST LETTERS, IT WAS LIK-SANGS OWN STUPID DECISION!
Well, I hope that clears everything up.
FuzzyPickles @ Nov 16th 2006 6:49AM
Got a huge fucking asshole? Become a PS3 mule today!!!
NoHitHair @ Nov 16th 2006 7:17AM
Regardless of the legality of the situation, the implementation of restricting imports through threat of lawsuit, especially to comparatively much smaller companies, is obviously a greedy and manipulative corporate ploy to retain as much as the world market as possible. As long as they can release product in regions when they want, they can accomplish two things: one, building an enormous amount of hype, advertising at their own pace without the threat of losing the market, and two, releasing to the public on their OWN timeline so as to secure the highest amount of profits.
Though Sony is not the only company in history to cheat as many as they can, it is alarming sometimes the rate at which their limitless gluttony surfaces, such as in the case of the DRMs.
Yogarine:
Your flawed evidence indicting Lik-Sang basically revolves around Lik-Sang's unwillingness to fight in court and lack of bowing to Sony's demands. Simply because a company demands you stop doing something doesn't inherently make it wrong - it's foolish to believe otherwise. Secondly, history has proven repeatedly (and continues to) that in a courtroom, the wealthier side wins (i.e., O.J. Simpson). It's highly likely that even assuming Lik-Sang could afford the initial litigation, there is absolutely no chance they could win with Sony through attrition, which is exactly what would happen. If anything, Lik-Sang probably foresaw the end result of a futile campaign and quit while they were ahead.
Perhaps learning to analyze and think out situations before you open your arrogant blowhole would lead you to more explored conclusions.
Pixelbox @ Nov 16th 2006 8:09AM
So... does Sony actually expect Europe to remain Sony fans? This is quite the ass-kicking those poor gamers are getting.
Sri Lumpa @ Nov 16th 2006 8:18AM
That's globalism 101: Big companies get to pick and choose the cheapest labour in different countries and yell "unfair trade restriction" if they can't but if individuals try to do the same thing with finished goods they get stomped on with lawsuits by the same fucking company.
I'm for real globalisation but I fucking hate the hypocrisy of the current one-sided globalisation that currently exists.
Griking @ Nov 16th 2006 8:23PM
"All of the PS3 auctions in the US just got updated to say, "YES! I SHIP WORLDWIDE!!!"
The hell with that!
The last thing that I'm going to do is accept a $600+ PayPal payment and ship an PS3 to someone in another country where I can't get delivery confirmation on the shipment and Paypal can't confirm their address. The buyer would file a chargeback as soon as it left my doorstep because they know that they'd easily win a Paypal chargeback.
I'd be like giving money away and every scammer out there knows it.
ChrisBo @ Nov 16th 2006 9:50AM
Is anybody else getting the feeling that Sony's going to post its people in airports to stop US-to-Europe passengers for random PS3 checks?
DrXym @ Nov 16th 2006 12:41PM
Who would be stupid enough to want a PS3 from the wrong region and wrong voltage anyway and zero warranty anyway? You'd have to buy a honking big down converter to run it, and chances are that none of the online stuff would work at all unless you had a US or Japanese credit card to register with.
It'll be out in 3 months in Europe, so why not use the time to see if the console is even worth buying.
John @ Nov 17th 2006 9:35AM
I could temporarily change my political views and sign up for the irish ebay (i live in northern ireland)
maybe that would work!
Yogarine @ Nov 18th 2006 7:04AM
"Your flawed evidence indicting Lik-Sang basically revolves around Lik-Sang's unwillingness to fight in court and lack of bowing to Sony's demands. Simply because a company demands you stop doing something doesn't inherently make it wrong - it's foolish to believe otherwise. Secondly, history has proven repeatedly (and continues to) that in a courtroom, the wealthier side wins (i.e., O.J. Simpson). It's highly likely that even assuming Lik-Sang could afford the initial litigation, there is absolutely no chance they could win with Sony through attrition, which is exactly what would happen. If anything, Lik-Sang probably foresaw the end result of a futile campaign and quit while they were ahead."
@NoHitHair
In response to that last sentence: So why didn't Lik-Sang just stop selling PSP's instead of killing their business? After all, all that Sony asked was for Lik-Sang to not sell their PSP's to Europe. If Lik-Sang would've just followed that advice, even if they don't agree, there wouldn't have been a lawsuit in the first place. (And in the meanwhile Lik-Sang could've been friendly with Sony, explain the situation and Sony might have even allowed Lik-Sang to sell PSP's to Europe after all...)
I didn't say that Sony wouldn't have won this Lawsuit if Lik-Sang would've showed up at court... I'm also not talking about who's right or wrong... But if you would've at least read my post properly, you would've know that I'm *only* saying that SONY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LIK-SANG CLOSING THEIR BUSINESS. Period.
It's not like Lik-Sang ONLY sell's PSP's ya know... And Sony hardware sales give *very* little net income anyway. Lik-Sang would've easily survived even if they would've stopped selling PSP's. Closing your well-selling shop just because you think a Sony is *wrong* is a very bad business decision if you ask me. Even if Sony's acting like a asshole, it's just not a good reason to close their shop.
Ohh and btw Lik-Sang broke their Privacy Policy by placing the names of the Sony director's on their page. That's about as low down as you can get. (And if I were one of those director's I'd sue them for doing that.)
Face it, Lik-Sang did all this to try and hurt Sony's image.