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23 Nov 2005
Microsoft started selling its next-generation Xbox 360 gaming console in the US at midnight on Tuesday.
In a well orchestrated marketing assault, the vendor had invited 3,500 hard-core gamers to an airport hanger in a desert outside Los Angeles for the official launch party.
Microsoft had also encouraged 4,500 US retailers to open their stores at midnight.
Shops quickly sold out of the gaming consoles or had taken advance orders from consumers. Others handed out tickets and raffled off the privilege to buy one of the $300 basic systems or a $400 premium set with a wireless controller and hard drive.
Microsoft had predicted prior to the launch that it would sell three million units in the first 90 days after the unveiling. It is not clear, however, whether stores will be restocked in time for Christmas.
This looming Xbox shortage drove some determined buyers to eBay, where prices quickly skyrocketed.
The highest price paid on Tuesday was a staggering $10,600. A gamer placed the bid in a one-day auction ending on Tuesday afternoon which promised overnight shipping to allow the new owner to receive his premium unit on Wednesday.
While $10,600 is clearly an exception, dozens of systems sold for around $3,000, mostly in auctions ending early on Tuesday morning in the US.
One listing, in which an Xbox premium was sold for $3,050, advertised the system with the comment: "Buy early and save money."
About 18,000 Xbox 360 listings were put up on eBay in the hours after the launch, although not all items sold due to high reserve prices. By Tuesday afternoon premium consoles were selling for an average $800.
The auction website is one of the only ways for European or Asian buyers to obtain an Xbox 360. The console is set to go on sale in Europe on 2 December, followed by an Asian launch on 10 December.
The first Xbox was launched in 2001 as Microsoft attempted to grab a chunk of a video gaming market which is now worth $28bn. The console put Microsoft past Nintendo, but Sony is still leading the market with its Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable.
Sony and Nintendo are scheduled to unveil their responses to the Xbox 360 next year. Sony's Playstation 3 is expected to be technologically superior to the Xbox through the use of the new Cell processor co-developed with IBM and Toshiba.
Nintendo, meanwhile, is believed to be positioning its new Revolution as a low cost gaming console.
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Do you agree?
Well...
I think the answer is a combination of everything that has been said. The $10K auction was probably an auction-wrecker . . . but I would not be surprised with an $800 or even one of them $3000 auctions. I mean, c'mon, we're talking about XBox fans here! The same people that said Halo 2 was an awesome game! *rolls eyes* Yes, perhaps there was some bid cheating with them $3000 ones (with the self-bid tactics someone talked about), but one thing is for certain: eBay sellers made a fortune off the 360 (c'mon, even $800 is a HUGE profit). Heck . . . I'm kicking myself for it! I think the 360 is stupid, all muscle and no brain (trust me, when Blu-Ray and HD-DVD come out, you 360 users will be kicking yourselves) . . . but I should've bought a couple just to sell them and make some quick money!
Posted by: tedJohnston 14 Dec 2005
Ebay 360
I bought 2 and sold one on ebay for $980 and the seller paid right away. My 360 ended up being free. Couldn't have asked for an easier transaction. I guess when money isn't an object, you can afford things like this.
Posted by: Kyle 11 Dec 2005
ebay sellers fake
i paid 830.00 for an auction, seller had 100%feedback like 57 sales and i have 100% feedback with 6 sales, i got burnt
Posted by: Tom 07 Dec 2005
Scams
Most of these auctions are scams. Who in there right mind would pay 1000$ for this when the launch titles are all bland? Its either one of two things.. the seller is also the buyer, and is trying to fake the demand for them and the normal price people are paying, while he has SOME up for sale that are real.. which will of course increase the value on his due to retards on the internet who dont know what is what. Or scenario 2 is, the seller or buyer is a scammer and is thinking they can score some money and then run off either way, no one paid 10,600 for an Xbox 360.
Posted by: Jeff 24 Nov 2005
Not quite
The winner on the $3k auction is clearly real. Lots of feedback, long time EBayer
Posted by: QFlux 24 Nov 2005
crazy shizzle
ever thought they made the account to buy an xbox 360 because they never use ebay?
Posted by: joseph 23 Nov 2005
Not all Were Vigilante Bidders
Check the auction where the system was sold for $3050. That bidder had a positive feedback rating of 51 with NO negative feedback. It wasn't $10,000, but still nearly 800% of the retail price.
Posted by: Bob 23 Nov 2005
not exactly
The auctions are 'won' by separate accounts owned by the seller to raise prices for the auction, sometimes it is a friend doing it for them, with no intention of paying if they win, because the seller could just say that they paid them...
Posted by: nojok3 23 Nov 2005
Ya ummm NO
Tom is correct. No real person is actually paying these prices. Or at least they shouldn't be. I do think it is important to remind buyers you have no guarantee any of these sellers on ebay even really have one; dont count on ebay to be of any help if you shell out $1,000 and get nothing in return.
Posted by: Doug R 23 Nov 2005
uhh.NO
excuse me, but Sony is leading with just the PS2, not the piece of junk PSP!
Posted by: 324234 23 Nov 2005
Nobody paid $10,600 or even $3,000
Tom, if you look at those "winners" you'll find they are zero-feedback IDs that were created on Nov. 21 or 22. They have no intention of paying. They are "vigilante" bidders who believe the sellers do not have Xboxes. They bid astronomically high to save other poor saps from themselves.
Posted by: Don Harmon 23 Nov 2005
Need to watch who is bidding.
I agree. If you pay attention to most of the auctions that had astronomically high ending bids, you will find that someone with a 0 for feedback won the auction. Also if you notice, these high amount auctions are from the same people. I would not trust buying anything from these sellers.
Posted by: Steve 23 Nov 2005
Cheap commercial
Look at it this way: someone from Microsoft marketing team bought this unit. Now it is all over the news. Commercials cost 10-100x more. People who are paying 600-800 for platinum will think they are getting a bargain compared to 10K...
Posted by: Bob 23 Nov 2005
Maybe you're right, maybe not...
To be fair, I think the logic "they have 0 feedback sp must be hoax bids" is a bit stupid - they could just be people who have signed up with the express purpose of buying an XBox360. My first purchase on my eBay account was a PSP - I had 0 feedback, and was buying a relatively costly item, but did that make me a fake? No. I agree it's possible, if not likely, that those bids were fraudulent, but I wouldn't put it as a dead set certainty.
Posted by: Andy 23 Nov 2005
Or Maybe...
they were created for the express intention of buying an xbox 360 which they knew they would have more chance of being able to get from ebay than through a 36-hour wait in the cold, followed by a "maybe" (e.g. the raffles to have the chance to buy one)? A lot of hardcore gamers are single people with reasonably high disposable incomes, so paying $800 to get one immediately is preferable to standing outside a games store. I don't doubt that some of these are "auction-wreckers", but I have every confidence that some are perfectly genuine. Personally, I'll wait until 6 months down the line when they're competing directly with the PS3 and the prices start to drop...
Posted by: Mike 23 Nov 2005