Over the last couple of weeks the only way to get a PlayStation 3 console was to stand in lines for days or buy the PS3 on eBay for over $1,000 dollars. The eBay PS3 prices are coming down which indicates that the PS3 consoles will be readily available in stores soon.
I have made a couple of posts on people trying to buy PlayStation 3 consoles, but we have not heard too much about the eBay PS3 sellers. It looks like it is not all roses for eBay sellers.
Digg.com posts, “On 11/21, I received a note in my email that my account access had been limited due to someone saying they hadn’t received something I sold to them….I call, and they tell me they’ve had some fraud issues with PS3s and simply needed some additional information to make sure I was who I said I was…”
This is a good story about a law student that stood in lines for days to buy 4 PS3 consoles to sell on eBay. He sold the PS3 units on eBay, but then got a lot of hassles out of PayPal, eBay’s payment processor. PayPal had place a lot of restrictions on eBay PS3 sellers because of the high potential of fraud with all the people desperate for a PS3 console.
As I said before, it seems like there should be a better way to sell “hot” products that have inventory shortages. How about an internet lottery? This PS3 launch has been a lot of hard work for a lot of people both buyers and legitimate eBay sellers.