EntropySink
Entertainment & Artistry => Gaming => Topic started by: hans on November 12, 2006, 09:06:09 PM
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OK, so my brother (currently unemployed) called me up and wants to borrow a few grand to implement a plan of his.
He thinks it would be a good idea to buy a few PS3's and then immediately sell them on Ebay. He has a friend at a store that he thinks can get him in (and possibly myself and my cousin) or do the camp out thing and get a few people to buy these and put them on Ebay for twice as much. Now, I'm generally conservative with my money so I told him this wasn't a great idea, but I'm sure these things are going to sell out immediately and be one of the hottest things for Christmas.
So what do you guys think? Should I loan my brother a few K. The thing I'm worried about is dropping a few grand on these playstations and then just having a few playstations laying around. And I've got other stuff I could do with my money. But it could be a quick way to make a few hundred and help my brother get some extra cash. So what kind of percentage do you think I should get out of the deal being the financial backer?
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Its a gamble for sure. Personally I'm against this because I think its wrong to exploit a situation like that. However if you were to do it I'd say you should get at least 50%, you are afterall providing the money and actually have the most to lose.
Edit: I'm not sure how much the PS3 is retailing for but I do recall people complaining about the retail price. So I'm not sure how big of a market they'll be for the marked up ebay price.
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*yoink*
thanks for the idea :devil:
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I honestly think you'd have absolutely 0 problem offloading those, assuming you're able to buy more than one or two. They're going to be absolutely huge this Christmas. Hell, they could have been released in June and they'd still be profitable to sell on eBay. There are always initial shortages, and there are always people who NEED to have them immediately but can't get them at the store for some reason.
It's a gamble, but I think it's very likely you'd see a good return on it.
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>>wrong to exploit a situation like that
No more wrong than Sony artificially hiking demand by deliberate under supply.
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I agree. But two wrongs don't make a right. (But 3 lefts do)
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:)
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Apparently the initial shipment to the US is supposed to be about 370K, with any more before XMas being unlikely.
This is a pretty easy decision, honestly.
edit: http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Playstation-3-ps3-60gb-premium-system-1st-in-line_W0QQitemZ140049822151QQihZ004QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Holy crap - you shouldn't expect this to be the norm, but it's an idea.
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Some people need to be shot, that person (the buyer) is one of them.
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I'd be a little surprised if that's a legit bid, but you're right about that.
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Apparently the initial shipment to the US is supposed to be about 370K, with any more before XMas being unlikely.
This is a pretty easy decision, honestly.
edit: http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Playstation-3-ps3-60gb-premium-system-1st-in-line_W0QQitemZ140049822151QQihZ004QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Holy crap - you shouldn't expect this to be the norm, but it's an idea.
Fuck! :eek:
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I'll now more information in the next few days, but I'm halfway thinking of doing it. I have to figure out what my cut is going to be since I will be the financial backer in this endeavor. Do I go with 50% of the profits or just consider it a short term loan and have him pay me back with 20% interest? I'm not sure how much my brother thinks he should receive out of the deal yet. I think he's more of the mindset where he'll just pay me back the initial investment (maybe a small amount extra, after all, it was his idea). He doesn't quite grasp how the whole money stuff works. He just wants a lot, and quickly, and at no risk to him.
I've been reading around that Ebay has put the stops on some of the presale auctions but it doesn't sound like they will be doing that once they are actually available in stores. For you Ebay folk, would there be any reason why my brother wouldn't be able to sell these things on Ebay after the release date this week? I don't want to buy these things and then not sell them right away and have supply available which would lower the cost of ownership.
As far as exploiting the situation, isn't this capitalism at it's finest?
I'm figuring they'll sell for at least 2x the retail price and if things go the way he plans we'll have 3 or more them (as many as he can get his hands pretty much).
I'm seriously thinking about it after reading stories of last year's 360 goings on.
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> For you Ebay folk, would there be any reason why my brother wouldn't be able to sell these things on Ebay after the release date this week?
I don't know why they would. It's going to make them a bunch of money, since they'll be really highly sought after items.
I don't get the whole exploiting angle, either. People want them, and they have just as much of a chance of buying them as you do. If they really "need" them immediately and they're willing to pay out the nose for it, it's only common sense to take advantage of it. It's just a video game system; it's not like he's buying the world's supply of AIDS vaccine or something.
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reminds me of my $999,999.99 bid on something with a million dollar reserve.
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e-bay is dodgy at the best of times, good luck...this is something i wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.
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If your positive that you will actually get them before x-mas than go with it... but there's a pretty good chance you'd spend a few K and end up with 10 PS3s sometime around february.
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So did you get one?
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No, my brother called me on Thrusday and said don't bother, he got in touch with his contact and wasn't going to get his hands on them for sure. So he didn't feel like spending the time to camp out and thus scrapped his plan. So no quick money. But, now the idea is in his head so the next time a situation like this comes up I wouldn't be surprised if it came up again. Time will tell.
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He should have hired some bums to camp the spot for him. Hmmm camping a spot in real life... yep MMORPG have become real :P
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yeah, i heard a kid in NC paid some homeless guys $100 each to camp out in line for him. he even brought them food while they waited in line.
you know, I think the idea was good - but from what I've been hearing - there are some many people who also had this idea, that the ebay markets is going to be saturated and the profit's not going to be that high.
anyone been following the crime stories related to those waiting in line? In a town here in connecticut a guy was shot in line and someone in my town of Manchester, CT was mugged and his PS3 was stolen as he walked out of Sears at the mall.
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i can't understand why you'd buy a console at release when a) you know they're going to drop the price sooner or later and b) the release titles are generally crap.
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I bought the Wii because my girlfriend and I decided that our Christmas present to each other would be a Wii and some games. It's not like it's super expensive, and there are several good launch titles available.
Plus you've got that whole "must be happy now now now" thing, too.
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i can't understand why you'd buy a console at release when a) you know they're going to drop the price sooner or later and b) the release titles are generally crap.
c) The release version has more bugs then microsoft
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My Wii's been perfect so far (knock on wood)
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I've been a playstation guy since my NES way back in the day but with the latest stuff I'm not sure I feel like upgrading my PS2 to the PS3. I might go play around with the new WII and see how I like it. The new remote seems like a really cool thing to me. Although lately I've been thinking of getting a PSP.
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My brother-in-law bought one PS3 to sell on ebay. He had it up to almost $900, but thought he could get more later so he had his girlfriend win the auction. He just ended up selling it for about $650. Still a nice little profit. I think he'll be smarter about it next time.
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How long did he camp out for a $50 profit (minus tax)?
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He didn't have to camp out, he had some sort of connection. And the profit was about $175, but I'm not sure if that includes tax or not.
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as a ebay buyer, people like your brother-in-law piss me off when they cheat on auctions by unethiclly driving up their own prices.
if he thought he could make more, why not just put a reserve on it?
at least it bit him in the ass.
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I understand that. I think he is a novice Ebay seller, and he put it up quickly before thinking about it (he did have a reserve on it but apparently that was lower than what it should have been). I'm surprised he didn't take the original price, I told him to take it if it passed his original reserve.
By the way, I don't know for sure whether he actually used his girlfriend to "cancel" the auction. Are you allowed to cancel it if you change your mind? He might have just done that. Either way, your point still holds.
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Nope, once you sell it, you're legally tied to actually selling it (to someone... whether that be your girlfriend or your "friend" who happens to have the same first and last name, address, and similar but different email address.)
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What about before the auction ends?
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Sorry, I should have been more clear: once you POST it, you're legally binded to sell it. I think there are only a handful of reasons an item can be pulled before the auction ends.
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I recently pulled an auction myself - it hadn't received any bids yet.
It was for software but after posting, I realized it was software that belonged to my company and that I didn't have the license to transfer.
I still had to pay the ebay fees, but they easily allowed me to cancel the auction.
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Well, I think it's easier if you have no bids, that's for sure.
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good thing that tgm's brother didnt invest:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070205.gtgamer05/BNStory/Technology/home
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Wow... I have no idea how buying the second one from the scalper for $1800 could have ever made any sense. Looks like the scalper was the smart one.