PS3 decision, please help ASAP.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-17 08:20pm

Despite being gypped by Wal-Mart (first in line, lost the lottery) then gypped by ShopKo ("No, we're not allowing lines till 9:00 tonight" then changing their mind half an hour later when two people put more pressure) and not being able to camp out, I managed to miraculously get my hands on a PS3 that shipped late to a Best Buy in another city (I am eternally grateful to the kind local Best Buy employee who checked the shipping records for me and gave me the heads up).

It's a 20 GB PS3.

Should I put it on eBay immediately? One-night auction, or should I make it a three day auction so people can take a day to try to find the PS3 before realizing its hopeless and going to eBay?

What should I do to protect myself from eBay scammers (I'll use my mom's account, she has 100% positive feedback IIRC, or at the very least no negative feedback)? Would Craigslist be a better option?

Please give me recommendations as soon as you can as I'll have to put it up soon if I do that.

Dominus Atheos · Post by **Dominus Atheos** » 2006-11-17 08:29pm

Promise 24 hour shipping, and put it up for 1 day. Some rich guy will probably pay several thousand dollars for one he could be playing the day after he buys it.

Edit: Like this guy

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-11-17 08:32pm

eBay is so overflooded right now with PS3 auctions (nearly 15,000), many of which are being attacked by bidding scammers, that it's not even funny.

If you want my honest opinion, I'd just return it, since it's the gimped version.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-11-17 08:32pm

Block at least zero feedback users from bidding on your auction. For anything else, I won't say.

Craiglist is a good choice. You can invite the buyer to a public place such as a cafe (to make sure he doesn't try anything on you) and make the sale there without eBay fees, shipping hassle etc.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-17 08:58pm

You can invite the buyer to a public place such as a cafe (to make sure he doesn't try anything on you) and make the sale

How about meeting him in a bank? He gets the PS3 the instant the check is deposited, and I'll have the system right there...that way there's no chance of the check bouncing.

Only problem I see is...I live in Spokane. Not a small city by any means, but not New York or Seattle either. There's only one PS3 on Craigslist right now. I don't know how fast I'll get responses.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-11-17 09:00pm

Praxis wrote:
You can invite the buyer to a public place such as a cafe (to make sure he doesn't try anything on you) and make the sale
How about meeting him in a bank? He gets the PS3 the instant the check is deposited, and I'll have the system right there...that way there's no chance of the check bouncing.

That's a good idea.

They should have a rent-a-guard there too.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-17 10:10pm

It's up:
http://spokane.craigslist.org/ele/236481187.html

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-11-17 10:29pm

Praxis wrote:It's up:
http://spokane.craigslist.org/ele/236481187.html

$2200?

Man, you're gonna get waterboarded.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-11-17 10:43pm

Its down already.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-17 10:43pm

Apparently, the craigslist communities have banned PS3 sales, anything over MSRP. Bleh.

Primus: That's why I put the o.b.o. in there, but actually it's no more than they've been selling for on eBay and I saw higher Craigslist sales.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 12:01am

Okay, this is starting to tick me off.

Everytime I hit the list this item button after filling everything out on eBay, I get:
Sell:Feature unavailable
This feature is temporarily unavailable
Your selections have caused errors. Please click Continue below to go back and correct your errors.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-11-18 12:16am

Praxis wrote:Okay, this is starting to tick me off.

Everytime I hit the list this item button after filling everything out on eBay, I get:
Sell:Feature unavailable
This feature is temporarily unavailable
Your selections have caused errors. Please click Continue below to go back and correct your errors.

Maybe you could try listing it as 'Playstation I I I ' or something similar to try and get past their filter?

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 02:37am

Well my PS3 is up on eBay, has been up a couple hours. Reserve of $1100. Buy it now at $1700.

There's 30,000 other PS3's up there, most of which are selling for around $1500 right about now.

If the PS3 doesn't meet the reserve, might it be a better idea to hold off until all these have sold, and shoot to sell close to Christmas time?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-11-18 02:41am

Whoa, 30k? Isn't that nearly 10% of all PS3s in US at launch?

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-11-18 02:47am

Got a link to it, so we can watch?

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 02:56am

Stark wrote:Whoa, 30k? Isn't that nearly 10% of all PS3s in US at launch?

It might be more, some analysts think Sony didn't make even the 400k promised, and judging from the shipments that got cut from Circuit City and Wal-Mart at the last minute that might be true.

On top of that, people have been selling PS3 preorders for weeks beforehand, so a ton of PS3's are already accounted for.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 02:58am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Post by **Vympel** » 2006-11-18 03:31am

I cannot understand how someone could be so desperate to play a damn game console that they're willing to go on ebay and buy it for more than it's worth.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 03:35am

Vympel wrote:I cannot understand how someone could be so desperate to play a damn game console that they're willing to go on ebay and buy it for more than it's worth.

Neither can I. But I can certainly oblige them.

I can't understand camping for four days either. I can understand the campers that intended to sell...but not to play, especially with the crap launch titles.

Max · Post by **Max** » 2006-11-18 09:56am

No offense to you Prax, but I think that people who waited in line, just to resell it at a profit to those that actually want to play with it, are douchey.

It just annoys me that someone that saved all summer for an obviously overpriced system, now has to pay MORE. I know that the people paying for these extreme prices are idiots, but that doesn't make someone less of a douche for taking advantage of said idots.

Now that I got that off my chest and feel better, good luck taking advantage of those idiots who will pay those prices. lol

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 12:46pm

I wanted to wait in line for 24 hours just for the fun of it and to say I did it, then sell the PS3 on eBay. But for a week? Frankly, just get a job, you'll make more money anyway, lol.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2006-11-18 12:56pm

You should drop the price on that PS3 a little. With eBay flooded, the most they're going for is about $1200 now (I was just looking at auctions that are closing).

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-11-18 01:26pm

His auction is now ending in less than twelve hours so I don't think he can do that anymore. Best to hope it meets the reserve or relist with the new information.

Praxis, if you haven't read the PayPal rules on Sellers' protection policy, the brief summary is that you'll need to have a business/premier account, send to a confirmed address in seven days with signature proof (Express mail should give that already). You don't need someone putting a dispute on you saying he never received because you didn't do one of those things.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 02:15pm

Crayz9000 wrote:You should drop the price on that PS3 a little. With eBay flooded, the most they're going for is about $1200 now (I was just looking at auctions that are closing).

I tried that this morning when I saw the current prices but it won't let me.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-11-18 03:25pm

If it doesn't pass the $1100 reserve I put on it, think it might be better to hold off and try to sell in two weeks when the initial flood is gone and people get desperate for Christmas?