Craigslisters trading PS3 for Wii + money

by Kyle Orland { Dec 25th 2006 at 1:45PM }

Jason McMaster over at GigaGamez has noticed an interesting trend in new generation system listings on popular classified site Craigslist. Apparently, dozens of posters are looking to trade their PlayStation 3s for a Wii and some extra spending cash.

A quick scan of the trade offers in the San Francisco area shows that most of the offers are looking for a Wii and roughly $350 in exchange for their PS3. Others are looking to trade their Sony system for two Wiis or offering slightly more ludicrous exchanges. There are also some listings offering to trade their Wiis for a PS3, but not nearly as many came up in our searches.

What's motivating all these trading offers? McMaster theorizes the traders are completists looking to dump a second Sony system for a hard-to-find Wii or single owners disappointed with the PS3s lackluster lineup. For some, though, the explanation is a simple misunderstanding: "I made a grand mistake in getting my kids a gift for xmas. I thought they wanted a ps3, but rather they wanted a wii." There's no need to argue, parents just don't understand.

[Via Guardian GamesBlog]

Tags: craigslist, PS3, trade, Wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ch0rx @ Dec 25th 2006 2:21PM

Lmao, let the bombs keep dropping.

Random Insanity @ Dec 25th 2006 2:28PM

"i have a brand new nintendo wii with receipt, willing to do an even trade for your 60 gb sony ps3 that you dont want"

A Wii is an even trade for a 60 Gb PS3 "that you don't want"? OMG it's a Nintendo fanboy!!! :P

...but if that's the case, then why does he want a PS3? :\

Dave @ Dec 25th 2006 2:42PM

There is nothing sadder than a parent thinking they got their kids an amazing gift, only to see those kids crying their eyes out as soon as they open their present...or so I imagine.

Dukhat @ Dec 25th 2006 3:14PM

God, nintendo fanboys are so goddamn dumb.

Most people on Craigslist are resellers.

Wiis are going for more than PS3's in term of profit right now (little kids are gobbling them up and parents want to get their kids presents).

Hence if you trade a ps3 for wii + difference in cash you are making money when you flip the Wii again.

Its just profit-motivated. The PS3 market was saturated earlier than the Wii market and the Wii market is more christmas-oriented since it is a kiddie system.

There are so many spurious claims being made online, its like Nintendo paid the media to be their bitch.

NintendoFanbot @ Dec 25th 2006 3:19PM

LOL, Dukhat wishes he could get a PS3 so easily.

Hox @ Dec 25th 2006 3:21PM

@4:

Little kids? Everyone that I have played with thus far has been at least 25 years of age, some ranging into their mid-50's. My system has effectively sold at least two other systems to people who either never played video games before or haven't played games since the NES.

Regardless, the Wii has a higher demand at this time - whether that's because little kids want it or because adults enjoy it, the media isn't getting it wrong.

Tommy Mang @ Dec 25th 2006 3:26PM

Wow this looks like the end of Playstation ! ;-)

Random Insanity @ Dec 25th 2006 3:29PM

@4 "The PS3 market was saturated earlier than the Wii market and the Wii market is more christmas-oriented since it is a kiddie system."

The PS3 market was saturated? With less than 800,000 units sold? How is that a good thing? Wasn't there supposed to a a sky-high demand for PS3's? :\

Nathan M @ Dec 25th 2006 3:37PM

"its like Nintendo paid the media to be their bitch." Kind of like Sony did?

Random Insanity @ Dec 25th 2006 3:46PM

""its like Nintendo paid the media to be their bitch." Kind of like Sony did?"

Nope, Sony is its own bitch! :D

(think alliwantforchristmasisapsp.com >_> )

Dukhat @ Dec 25th 2006 3:56PM

Considering that the PS3 launch numbers were so few only Resellers could get their hands on them (like normal people can afford to wait 3 days to get one), its not suprising.

PS3's also went for MUCH MORE than Wii's did. When you see them going for 2500 on ebay and all the major news outlets show it on tv, everyone and their mother will be competing with normal gamers to get a PS3.

And noone gives a damn about some idiot fanboy talking about how their "non-gaming" friends suddenly want to get a Wii. Its worthless as a means of understanding the true demand of the Wii.

So far from my random sampling of Wii lines, at every sunday laucnh all I see are parents and resellers.

There's a reason why Toys R Us usually gets the biggest Wii shipments. Its a kiddie toy, pure and simple.

FSK405K @ Dec 25th 2006 4:00PM

Well, just sold my PS3 about a week ago, and love me some Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Anyway, the real reason here is that Sony has enough PS3 being shipped each week to meet the falling demand. Because of that, the PS3 price on EBay is not worth selling for. Thus, people turn to Craigs to get rid of their quick-cash PS3s.

Random Insanity @ Dec 25th 2006 4:11PM

@11 "Considering that the PS3 launch numbers were so few only Resellers could get their hands on them (like normal people can afford to wait 3 days to get one), its not suprising."

And that's a good thing... how?

"PS3's also went for MUCH MORE than Wii's did. When you see them going for 2500 on ebay and all the major news outlets show it on tv, everyone and their mother will be competing with normal gamers to get a PS3."

So, PS3's will go for more money, when there's more supply and less demand? I think you need a lesson in economics...

"And noone gives a damn about some idiot fanboy talking about how their "non-gaming" friends suddenly want to get a Wii."

So why do you assume someone gives a damn about your story?

"Its worthless as a means of understanding the true demand of the Wii."

Then what is?

"So far from my random sampling of Wii lines, at every sunday laucnh all I see are parents and resellers."

Your opinion is automatically right and his is automatically wrong... why? Also, who else do you expect to wait out in lines? You said yourself that only resellers waited for the PS3...

Paolo @ Dec 25th 2006 5:06PM

C'mon, this "nintendo is a kiddie toy" argument is sooo last week.

Jacob @ Dec 25th 2006 5:11PM

Haha, thats funny. What kind of an idiot would give up a ps3 for a wii straight up. Wiis are not turning enough profit on ebay to make up that much of a difference. If it were true I should have bought a stupid wii at best buy last week when there were 7 available and traded that for a ps3. Then of course sell the ps3 and go on vacation. LOL

magus-21 @ Dec 25th 2006 5:32PM

"PS3's also went for MUCH MORE than Wii's did. When you see them going for 2500 on ebay and all the major news outlets show it on tv, everyone and their mother will be competing with normal gamers to get a PS3."
Correction: They WERE going for much more than Wiis did. That was before launch. Now, the most expensive PS3 listing on eBay with any actual bids is a bundle of three PS3s (one 60GB and two 20GB) for $1,125.

"So far from my random sampling of Wii lines, at every sunday laucnh all I see are parents and resellers. "
Stop talking like you know a damn about market research. Your "random sampling" likely consisted of nothing more than poking the first few people in line what they were buying.

"There's a reason why Toys R Us usually gets the biggest Wii shipments. Its a kiddie toy, pure and simple."
The only people who care whether or not it's a "kiddie" toy are insecure, materialistic teenagers who think the products they buy have a direct correlation with how cool they look to their equally materialistic friends.

cheese @ Dec 25th 2006 5:43PM

Dropping prices on ebay PS3's does not equate to dropping demand for PS3's in general, it just means people are not going to be willing to pay out the nose for a system they can find more and more commonly in your local EB or Gamestop. I have a PS3, and I had a Wii on order, but I cancelled it because I just didn't see many games I wanted right now, not even Zelda. You guys make it sound like the PS3's are going straight in the trash or something; they're not, us gamers are enjoying them right now, and whether or not someone trades a wii for a PS3 is irrelevant. If I had a wii right now I'd probably sell it/trade it too, as the games are crap and the profit margin is ok, although after today, it's going to be nada.

Steve2 @ Dec 25th 2006 5:54PM

magus-21:
You sure have a chip on your shoulder. You put in a "correction" to a sentence saying PS3s were going for more by saying that in actuality, PS3s were going for more.

I find it hilarious that you make fun of people wanting PS3s as being materialistic. As if kids aren't going to brag about how they have a Wii when they're tough to get.

I give kudos to Joystiq for writing a good article about this phenomenon. One that explains all the angles. No kudos for the fanboys and haters who jumped on this just to use it as a springboard to put out their hate all over again.

Really, when someone wants to trade their $600 game console for another that costs $250 plus $350, it's not really much of a story. It's an even trade. Some people have one thing and want another. It happens.

I would note that for every trade that actually happens, there clearly is someone who wants a PS3 in exchange for their Wii, because without that person, there's no deal to be struck.

Honestly, I just look at most of this as the eBayers looking to get into the hot Wii resale market and get rid of their PS3 stock which they would have to sell at a loss now. It's just supply and demand. Wiis are tough to get, PS3s aren't.

Even though I've had it for weeks, I've played my PS3 a lot today. I was kinda surprised at that, since the game lineup is admittedly poor and I thought I was getting tired of alternating RR7 and Resistance. The GT HD demo sure didn't hurt. It's short, but for free, it's tough to knock it.

FSK405K:
I'm not sure it was just falling demand that got 50 PS3s last week into Best Buys after weeks of getting 6 a week. I think if you want to see why PS3s are going for less on eBay, you also have to look at the supply. Sony has shipped a lot of units out in the last week. Nintendo has failed to raise their shipments of Wiis similarly (though of course they were higher to start with). They're getting nailed by the worldwide rollout, same as MS did. I don't know why companies keep doing it.

redspear @ Dec 25th 2006 8:24PM

Steve2 the quote that Magus was refering to ended with

"everyone and their mother will be competing with normal gamers to get a PS3."

He was using the intial higher mark up of the PS3 to show that people will be clamoring over the PS3 in demand. Which is flawed because it showed they did and that the clamor has died down.

This time last year the XBOX 360 was going for 1000 on Ebay. The PS3 has most auctions under the MSRP. The Wii auctions have most going for around 400. There are 700,000 or so PS3s worldwide and there are 2 million or so Wiis Worldwide. If supply is the issue as you say than demand must be low. I don't think so there are enough sony fans to sell more than 1 million the thing is that the PS3 has lost its hype and it lost its hype to things like Gears of War and The Nintendo Wii. It shows in the auctions and sales. In SF I was able to walk right into Circut City on Van Ness and buy a Playstation 3 but they always have the blue no more wii's sign up. The store walk ins like I have I just figure many people have given up looking for it this holiday season from all the price about how hard it is to get. Maybe a double whammy.

oh and to those who dismiss this article. It shows that either some profiteers think there is more money reselling a wii or that some people but the PS3 as gifts but now think the wii would be a better gift.

Either way it si kind of bad news again for sony.

Jim @ Dec 25th 2006 8:54PM

Gee, I dunno. How about I'll give you my Wii if you give me your PS3 and $350. That's the only way I'd want to trade.

Khami @ Dec 25th 2006 10:33PM

PS3 market is saturated beyond belief on eBay which shows through with the fact that most that actually do sell only sell for very minimal profit for the seller. It shows that at the moment, noone really wants to pay more for the system. You could take away from it that less people want to actually buy one, since those that do want on could easily just pay the few bucks more to get it now rather than how the eBayers were hoping for double the price. Then again, not everyone likes to eBay so that could contradict that. Still though, the prices on eBay dropped like bricks this year for the PS3 when last year they didnt go down for a while for the 360, which does give the same indication that not as many want a PS3 apparently.

I havent heard or seen many people that do buy them, but I did see a group of guys that decided to buy one that was in Walmart and they were discussing how much they think they'll make off it, so there are still people out there that wanna just sell it, which only maks the eBay more crowed and not really see any raise in its eBay value.

I myself want a PS3, I want a Wii too. Im not gonna pay more than the suggested price, not gonna do any bundles, and not gonna go off eBay. I will also say Im not gonna pay 600 for a PS3, not to mention the system has just one good game on it. In any case, Im glad I was right when I talked to my friends about the PS3 would see alot of them on eBay and that the price wouldnt be good after not even a month.

Hopefully though, people that really want a Wii/PS3 can get what they want without someone else trying to fatten their own pocket soon enough.

idioteraser @ Dec 25th 2006 11:53PM

As usual when one reads a post by Dukhat it turns out to be nothing but Nintendo bashing and Sony butt kissing.

Sorry dukhat but the PS3 has bombed in sales. Many newsagencies are reporting that lots and lots of PS3s are being returned to stores. Here is the thing the PS3 in Japan bombed on online auctions. Heck it was selling less for retail in a week or two from launch.

PS3 software sales are in the toilet.

Even at Christmass if the PS3 was in demand like you claim people would have been paying higher then retail on ebay to get it. There would have been no huge dropoff like we had seen. There wasn't a dropoff for the xbox 360 and they were shipping more units then Sony is doing.

Nintendo reguarly sends far far more units each week then Sony does. Any store chain like Walmart will tell you they have no idea when they will get PS3s in and it is usually one or two units while they get 20 or 30 wiis in.

Also people if they want a wii have to camp out before the store opens for hours while a lot of people have found PS3s just by walking in the stores. The stores will tell you no one seems to be buying the PS3s.

Instead they get dozens of calls each days for DSs, Wiis.

PSP only sells because the stores advertise it. They don't need to advertise the DS or Wii to sell it.

Toy's R' US got large shipments of Wiis since they were a loyal Nintendo seller all these years. Stores that didn't sell gamecubes or Nintendo accesories found that Nintendo doesn't forgive easily.

Wii accesories are gone from tons of stores while PS3 accesories you can find those by the truckload.

Wii game strategy guides are also gone while PS3 guides are everywhere unread, unwanted.

it's mii, Mario @ Dec 26th 2006 1:03AM

Bare in mind that San Francisco doesn't represent the USA

magus-21 @ Dec 26th 2006 4:39AM

"You sure have a chip on your shoulder. You put in a "correction" to a sentence saying PS3s were going for more by saying that in actuality, PS3s were going for more."
Steve: Quick, $1,100 divided by three PS3s is what? Remember that number.

Now do a simple search for the Wii on eBay and look at the current price for the FIRST result. Do the math.

Granted, individual PS3s *are* selling for more than individual Wiis on eBay, but that is not what I was trying to point out. I was trying to point out to Dukhat that using eBay prices as evidence of public demand for the PS3 is not the smartest thing to do, especially when prices plummeted from $2,500 a day before launch to only $1,400 the day *after* launch, and down to sub-$1,000 levels in the last two weeks. (BTW, I got those numbers after speaking with a pair of eBay scalpers on the launch day Target Wii line who had managed to nab three PS3s w/o pre-orders and put them up for auction immediately.) Next time, please don't try to attack what you should have recognized to be a complete tangent to the point being argued.

"I find it hilarious that you make fun of people wanting PS3s as being materialistic. As if kids aren't going to brag about how they have a Wii when they're tough to get."
Did I say people wanting PS3s are materialistic? No, reread my comment. I said that people who care whether or not a console is "kiddie" or not are materialistic, insecure nincompoops. (Ok, the nincompoops part is new, but I did use the other two descriptors.)

I have nothing against people buying the PS3s. I plan on getting one myself after FFXIII (or Heavenly Sword, if that turns out as good as it looks) comes out. But when someone says, "teh wii suxx0rz bcuz nintnedo is 4 teh k1dz" (or the proper English language equivalent translation) then IMO they've revealed themselves as possessing same level of intellectual and/or judgmental maturity of the same "kids" they are trying to denigrate.

Dave @ Dec 26th 2006 1:44PM

Sony should just try and sell extra consoles to their ever-devoted Japanese fanboys. Already have one? That's okay--just buy another!

Ryan L @ Dec 26th 2006 2:01PM

This is funny.. This is exactly what I did. My wife and I got a Wii on launch day, were very excited about it, cause she would actually play it. We played the HELL out of it the first weekend, and then didnt play it again for almost 3 weeks. We sat down to play again, and lost interest quickly. We talked it over, and decided that, in 6months, or 1 year, we really wouldnt want to play a 480p game console when we have a 61" 1080p DLP TV. So we decided to trade the used Wii, 2 used games, and 1 extra wii-mote for a sealed 60GB PS3 w/TN BR movie. I had to throw in $225 in cash as well. Looked on CL and saw MANY people wanting to trade sealed PS3's, and contacted a couple, and traded it with the first person i felt comfortable with. Havent looked back. The controls of the Wii are awsome, but I really think it will lose its novelty after awhile, while the PS3 is totally Futureproof (even in BR fails, its still gonna use those disks for ultimate storage size). I already have a 360 with the HD-DVD add-on, so I am covered either way, but am mainly buying BR movies now :)

I sell PS3 and Wii in wholesale and in single units.

Selling products :
Wii - http://wholesaleforum.net/index.php/topic,199.0.html

PS3 - http://wholesaleforum.net/index.php/topic,184.0.html

Contact me : Supirkimas@gmail.com
Skype Mikazz69
MSN Mikaz@vadybininkas.net