Topic: Why I'm going to buy a PS3 on launch day.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: blackfootsteps
Oh yeah I understand the economics (go go finance major), its just something that I wouldn't personally do. Still you'll have like ten launch games and I'll probably have 3. Many people would say I'm stupid.

That being said the PS3 doesnt release here till March and by then supply probably wont be much of an issue.

Ah my response was more directed at Donutt, I personally don't find it wrong. I figure if people are willing to camp out for hours upon hours to get ahold of something they should be able to do what they want with it. If some really wanted the system they would do the same thing (Heck I did it for Nintendo DS), personally I never have felt cheated if a system I wanted gets sold out and the price is marked up. I remember with PS2 I had that problem but frankly I blamed myself, not the people who were selling it on ebay, if I really wanted it I should have suffered the same as them to get it.

[WuTangTurtle]

What about the fact that ebayers are servicing the b!tch slapped Europe and any small town folk in the US that may not even get a shipment.  We've all heard about how only the stores selling the most Sony Video Game products will be getting the most PS3's, what chance do you think low populated places are going to get any at all.

After making $100 off of a Limited Edition Nintendog DS and seeing how much ppl were making off of the 360 I am really thinking about doing the same for the PS3 but i really think it is a risk.  However I am thinking it is a lot less of a risk for ebaying a Wii, i just see more demand for it come launch.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Shaolin I don't believe it is that big of a risk, most places will accept a return of unopened consoles. So if shortly after launch it turns out that demand is not there to profit on it, then just return it to the store you bought it at. That is what I did with the PSP, in fact I bought two, and ended up returning both of them after seeing it wasn't going to sell.

[MaryJane]

I'm doing it for my general disdain of the stupidity of people.

I don't know what you guys are talking about with the low demand of PS3 because everyone I talk to still wants the bloody system.

I hate scalpers too. I paid $150 for $45 tickets to see Tool play. Worth it? every penny.

The people who are going ridiculously priced PS3's are going to feel the same way.

If I were going to scalp tickets, it would never be to a Tool concert, it would be like Coldplay or one of those other immensely popular bands who spew out a carbon copy album every year.

I'd also never "scalp" a Wii I would sell it at price, which is why I'm not buying any extra ones to begin with.

[wandering]

Quote
If I were going to scalp tickets, it would never be to a Tool concert, it would be like Coldplay or one of those other immensely popular bands who spew out a carbon copy album every year.

I'd also never "scalp" a Wii I would sell it at price, which is why I'm not buying any extra ones to begin with.

This about mirrors my feelings. I don't want to scre over fellow gamers, true...but if someone is willing to pay $1000 or whatever for a ps3... *shrug*

It's win-win. Or rather, lose-lose, because I believe I can achieve happiness through money and he believes he can achieve happiness through the PS3 - when neither of us are correct and both of us are, in fact, unwittingly shackling ourselves with misery.

[jasonditz]

If you don't like scalpers, don't buy from them. They're providing a useful service in raising the price to bring demand into line with supply. The alternative is not paying regular price, the alternative is not being able to get them at all.

[BranDonk Kong]

Sorry to bring up a reply from earlier, but the Xbox 360 had a whole crapload of hype and demand for its launch, which is why it was sold out just as soon as stock was received for a good 5-6 months. PS3 on the other hand, is going to be crushed by the Wii. The system is already selling for $600, there won't be that many people willing to shell out much more than that so their bratty kids will be happy on Christmas.

[BranDonk Kong]

The ticket scalping argument isn't quite the same. It is in a way, but I hate the idea of it, and I'm ashamed that it was just legalized here in Florida, even though people were still doing it anyway (I even recently bought tickets for 3x the value before it was legalized). Say an event goes on sale, and you don't have enough money to buy tickets, a couple weeks later you do - but some ass holes, who never had any intention on going to the event, bought all the extra tickets, and now you have to pay an exhoborant price for them. It just sucks, and people get rich and the working class gets screwed. It should be illegal everywhere.

[jasonditz]

Why should it be illegal? What would that solve? It's a service people want (even yourself in some cases), and they're willing to pay for it. And ultimately, even when it was illegal, people were still doing it. Other than throwing some people in jail, what benefit would making it illegal create?

[couchmonkey]

The best reason to buy a PS3 is for its top-notch graphics.

But I'm still going to try to sell one or two on Ebay.  The whole question of capitalism is an interesting one.  Capitalism can be immoral.  That being said, I wouldn't compare the PS3 launch to, say, scalping Rolling Stones tickets.  The Rolling Stones may die next year and never come to your city again.  Even if the Stones don't die next year you may only get one chance to see them in your own city unless you live somewhere like L..A. or New York.  PS3s, on the other hand, will be bountiful within a year.

As for the risk, yeah, I think there's a slight risk factor in PS3 due to the high price, but looking at the Xbox 360 and PS2 launches, people seem to be willing to pay a lot more than $600 for a hot console.  Is it hot, though?  I don't know yet.

[jasonditz]

Even with concert tickets, it's not as though scalping reduces the number of people able to see the concert, they don't generally just let tickets remain unsold when the concert is about to start. 50,000 or however many people will still see the concert, it's just that somebody besides the original ticket vendor got to make a little money on the side providing the service of waiting in line for people who were unable to do so.

Is making sure concerts are attending only by those with flexible enough schedules to wait in line an issue so pressing that we must throw professional line-waiters in prison? Is the notion of the guy who had to work that morning getting to see the concert so repulsive that we can condemn the entire capitalist system for it?

[Hocotate]

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
I'm doing it for my general disdain of the stupidity of people....
I paid $150 for $45 tickets to see Tool play.

lol.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
The best reason to buy a PS3 is for its top-notch graphics.

But I'm still going to try to sell one or two on Ebay.  The whole question of capitalism is an interesting one.  Capitalism can be immoral.  That being said, I wouldn't compare the PS3 launch to, say, scalping Rolling Stones tickets.  The Rolling Stones may die next year and never come to your city again.  Even if the Stones don't die next year you may only get one chance to see them in your own city unless you live somewhere like L..A. or New York.  PS3s, on the other hand, will be bountiful within a year.

As for the risk, yeah, I think there's a slight risk factor in PS3 due to the high price, but looking at the Xbox 360 and PS2 launches, people seem to be willing to pay a lot more than $600 for a hot console.  Is it hot, though?  I don't know yet.

But the Xbox 360 has equitable graphical abilities (different innards but they are comparable) to the PS3 so I'm not sure that will be a selling point for PS3. BTW in response to shortages and high prices, all I need to say is "Tickle Me Elmo", people don't care when it comes out all they know is they NEED it now especially for Christmas.

[vudu]

Anyone know what happens to you if you buy a bum-PS3 on eBay?  What with Sony's pretty shabby quality control, it doesn't seem too unlikely that at least a few systems will putter out after a few dozen hours.  If you happened to buy it on eBay, you're no longer the original owner, and might not be covered by the warranty.  If that was the case, would you be completely screwed?

Anyone know what happened to people who bought bad 360s on eBay or PSPs with dead pixels?

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Anyone know what happens to you if you buy a bum-PS3 on eBay?  What with Sony's pretty shabby quality control, it doesn't seem too unlikely that at least a few systems will putter out after a few dozen hours.  If you happened to buy it on eBay, you're no longer the original owner, and might not be covered by the warranty.  If that was the case, would you be completely screwed?

Anyone know what happened to people who bought bad 360s on eBay or PSPs with dead pixels?

I'm not sure what happens, but I have a feeling you can return them if you have the receipt (which smart sellers include).

[MaryJane]

the only problem with scalping is that other people are making money off of something they didn't put any work into except saying tickets!

Artists of every nature make most of their money doing concerts, as much as they tell you that the concert is for the fans, it also fills their pockets, although i don't  doubt they enjoy watching thousands of people enjoy their music so they make their money already charging a lot then the fans who could have bought tickets on sale day but couldn't because some jerk-wad bought them all get screwed, and that jerk-wad makes money on sometimes years of hard work the band put into making their latest album which they make almost no money off of. on the other hand it does provide a service, so yes i don't see too much of a problem with  it myself, the only problem i really have is when they have insane mark-ups, some guys are nice enough to only mark it up $50 or "only" double the amount of the ticket.

but like i said if it's crap and people are willing to buy it, SELL IT!  

[jasonditz]

of course Ticketmaster is also making money off the band's hard work.  

[Kairon]

It's much easier to do ethically wrong things against people or things you don't respect and/or don't consider worth respect. See: Nazi Germany.

Don't ban me! I do it too, I have a long dormant policy that I will overlook piracy of Sony products, but am a little more zealous with Nintendo products.

Oh, and with regards to the artists who perform at concerts... I buy CDs, I don't fileshare! So I'm ethically safe in at least that regard.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[wandering]

You're comparing a sale that all parties involved voluntarily agree to... to Nazi Germany?

I didn't think you could do any worse than comparing Halo to Grave of the Fireflies, but it appears I was mistaken...

[jasonditz]

Quote
Originally posted by: wandering
You're comparing a sale that all parties involved voluntarily agree to... to Nazi Germany?

I thought he was comparing the persecution of the parties in the sale to the persecution of Jews and Gypsies under Nazi Germany.

[wandering]

In what way is someone who chooses to pay $2000 for a PS3 on eBay being persecuted?

[Kairon]

Stop tearing apart my analogies! /cry

It's NOT about persecuting people, it's about doing unethical acts. If my unethical act hurts someone, then it's so much easier to do that act if the person I'm hurting is someone who I've stripped humanity of. If I emotionally discredit my victim, (i.e. It's nobody I know, or he's an idiot anyways if he wants to pay 2000 bucks) then it's infinitely easier for me to be brutally ruthless and capitalistically callow.

HOWEVER, if my victim is somebody who I can develop empathy with instead of snide contempt, (i.e. people I see everyday, or Nintendo, the company I believe in) then it's much more difficult for me to compromise my own ethical code because my conscience, triggered by my empathy and no longer held in check by my anger/contempt for others, comes into play.

For instance: There is zero difference between selling a $2000 PS3 to a stranger and selling a $2000 PS3 to your uncle so he can give it to little timmy, your cousin. So why is profitting off of some stranger so much more preferable to profitting off of a family member?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[GoldenPhoenix]

I'd profit off a family member if one would buy it ROFL.

[Kairon]

Ok...ummm... if you had a little cousin who got the Charizard foil pokemon card... would you cheat it off him through a shady trade when he doesn't know it's value? If not, would you do it if it was just a kid off the street you bumped into instead of your little cousin?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[jasonditz]

But the person paying $2000 for a PS3 is not being cheated. He's not "an idiot". Well, he may be, but that's not the reason why.

If he wants a PS3 and can't get one for any cheaper than $2000... he is probably quite glad that the option is available to him. Again, the alternative isn't unlimited $600 PS3s for all, it's unavailability. He may well value the PS3 enough that to him, the PS3 is worth $2000... in fact it's fairly clear that he does, or he wouldn't be willing to pay that much.

He's not being swindled, he's going into the transaction with both eyes open. He knows he has the option of waiting a few months and getting one for less, but he'd rather pay more and have it now. Why shouldn't he be able to?