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Grey Markets Compared - PS3 vs. Wii
Kotaku has a follow-up feature to their earlier look at the declining PS3 market on EBay. Post author Michael Fahey has now gone back and looked at Ebay sales, comparing the PS3 and the Wii. Unlike the sharp dips and spikes the PS3 market has suffered, the price seems to be fairly constant for the Wii console. From the article: "Considering the small window that the PlayStation 3 auctions had to turn a truly amazing profit, prospectors would have been better off in the long run purchasing a couple of Wiis, which have maintained an average profit margin of 45-50% since preorders became available. Definitely not a windfall, but a much more financially sound investment in the long run. Unfortunately these launches weren't about being sound financially. They were about betting on the big bucks, and the majority of the PS3 prospectors out there played the tables and lost."
Schadenfreude, thy name is me.
*cackle*
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
Even if you bought a PS3 to sell and couldn't find the righter buyer, at least you have a PS3. :)
I suppose not one of these console scalpers cares that they hurt the market for the games on these machines. That extra $50-100 in price that is being forced on early adopters of the new consoles hurts the game publishers and in turn the consoles and the market for those consoles.
I mean really, would someone please think of the profits?!?
Just because you can, does not mean you should.
I'm not surprised. I've read in a ton of different places that the PS3 is making its way to the shelves (some units being returns from unsuccessful eBay sellers). And sometimes taking a few days to sell ten or so units in some places. I know the local Circuit City had 15 units for a few days although I haven't checked to see if they are still stocked. Why make a purchase online when you can just go to your local store and pick one up?
The Wii, on the other hand, is practically nonexistent in many places. No wonder the eBay prices are still there.
I went to a Wal-Mart the other day, looking for add-ons for the Wii. The only thing that they had available was the Classic controller add-on. No systems, no controllers, nothing. But there were two PS3's for sell, several controllers, ect.
Eagles may soar, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines...
Funny, I was just looking at the PS3 sellers on e-Bay. This particular story is a funny read if you have some time at the office (and who doesn't, if you're reading this?) I couldn't help but think of Nelson and "ha ha!"
Speculators, meet the hard rock of economics.
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
eBay scalping of systems bought in the U.S. to U.S. customers isn't grey market. It's just plain scalping.
Grey market is stuff like Lik-Sang and similar companies selling Japanese versions of consoles to U.S. customers for the purpose of playing import games.
The most common example of "grey market" sales is in the photography industry, where "grey market" imports of cameras are often cheaper than the U.S. version of that camera. Of course, you get what you pay for, and in this case there is no warranty support for the "grey market" cameras and often repair shops will refuse to even touch the grey market units (because they'll lose their certification as an authorized repair shop for that particular manufacturer if they do.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I won a Wii on eBay for $40. Yes, forty dollars. And the seller actually made double what he bought the Wii for. Here's what he did:
Instead of selling the Wii for $450-$500 and (Zelda:TP thrown in), the seller was instead selling cards from a 52 card deck. Each card cost $20.00. When you bought a card, the seller would write your ebay name on the card and put it in a sack.
At the end of the auction, if at least 26 cards had been sold, he'd pick a card out of the sack and they would then be shipped the Wii. If he hadn't sold 26, he would have refunded all the money.
So I bought two cards because I had some spare cash, won, and I recieved my Wii in 3 days. All but one person left positive feedback for the seller's unique selling strategy.
Instead of selling a Wii and game for 450-500 (retail 250 + 50 = 300 ), he ended up selling 30 cards for $20 each. He got $600 and I only spent $40. Win-Win situation, if you ask me (except for those who lost $20 with nothing, but hey, that's gambling).
I think it is WAY early to say this. I mean, the console just came out less than 2 months ago. To say that the PS3 is not living up to, expectations, other systems, etc, is being short sighted. I agree, at launch, this system is only tepid. But most systems at launch have been the same way.
Now granted, at Launch the Wii was much better positioned. But I think we need to wait long term to make a decision which systems flopped and did what they wanted to do. And more importantly, who the consumer choose as the winner.
As for me, I am plenty happy w/ my XBox360.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
I work with a guy whose sister thought she'd cash in by buying two PS3's and selling one to pay for her own. She put one up on eBay and someone bought it. Not being terribly eBay saavy, she didn't realize that the email she then received from "Paypal" saying funds had been transferred and to go ahead and ship the unit to Nigeria was bogus.
Now she's stuck trying to enjoy the PS3 that she basically paid $1200 for.
Try ordering it from Nintendo.com. I did just that before Christmas, and I got the component cables within a week (well before Christmas day). You won't have to run all over trying to track one down.
I ended up getting a second remote/nunchuk direct from Nintendo too; However, I ordered at the beginning of December and didn't get them until about 5 days before Christmas.
You might also want to check out this page. It lists a bunch of different places to buy Wii component cables. I bought the MadCatz one for $19 and received them in less than a week!
-William Brendel