Xbox Live beta kits going for INSANE prices on Ebay.
 

Some people are just plain pathetic. Auctions at $500 for 2 months of a beta test. Look up xbox beta kit on ebay to see for yourself.

a fool and their money :(

For the lazy http://search.ebay.com/search/search...uery=xbox+beta

But nobody cares about online gaming on a console. ;)

Nobody but a few extremists :p

I bet these auctions get canned. I can't imagine Microsoft not going after these guys. In any case, I can't imagine someone actually paying this much of a premium for something that will be available fairly soon.

Does anybody know what the beta test agreement is? I assume there is something against selling it like this.

Hilarious stuff! This is actually good news for Microsoft, as it shows the amount of interest this is generating.

They're going after the coveted "Too much money lying around because they don't have to pay for rent or food, a result of living in their parent's basement" demographic. This is the same demographic that bought up the Variety Buffy musical screeners for $400 a pop.

Um, why the frig are ppl paying so much? It's gonna be available all over the place in what 2 months or so? November 9th or something :hscratch:

I saw 3 auctions. one closed with no bidders at $100 starting price and the other two have the same bidder on both with a very low feedback of 4.

True. One had a high bid of 202.50 though -eek-

That one that closed was up over $500 this afternoon. Around 7 it dropped down to $170 something (cancelled bids) and now it's closed with no bids. The few completed auctions that are on there all were closed by the seller before the auction ended. Ebay doesn't act that fast - I wonder if MS is getting these people to shut down the auctions?

It seems it would be in MS's best interest to let them go through, then screw 'em in the end. That way it gets EVEN MORE hype. When the auction ends, the guy who sold it gets banned.

Maybe I should bid... one million dollars *puts pinky to lip*

I saw one on Ebay with the low, bargain basement buy it now price of $2000 -eek-

I don't think that Microsoft, or Ebay will like this at all. I can see alot of people getting ripped off by people claiming to be selling the beta kit.

I am pretty sure no one is stupid enough to pay $2000 dollars for a $50 product/service 3 months early. But, I could be wrong.

Microsoft's stance:

I've seen some packs being sold on Ebay. Why aren't you stopping this?

There's really not much we can do to stop it. The bottom line is that this just shows how
excited gamers are to become a part of the Xbox Live experience.

Are you kidding?
Never underestimate the stupidity of people. I don't know if you are old enough to remember this, but when the Mazda Miata came out, a car that sold for about $20,000, people were buying them in the USA-TODAY add section for $150,000. I'm not talking the first one produced or anything special, just the normal car.

Remember Cabbage patch kids? I worked for a retailer back in the day and we had "dealers" bribing workers to stash cabbage patch kids for them. The offer was for $50.00 per doll. They sold for upwards of $2000 in some cases.

Remember Tickle me Elmo? $24.00 toy that went for $500 in the paper

Remember Furby? I actually found out about these when reading an article in WIRED 8 months before they came out. I was able to order 6 from FAO Scwartz here in KC. When I went to pick them up, one lady said she would give me $75.00 on the spot for each one. I said no and then sold them to friends with kids for what I paid for them (except one, I still have)

Never assume people are anything but morons....

I don't think it makes people morons because they will spend more for something that's difficult for them to get otherwise. I don't like ebay because people think their junk is worth far too much money and it's all out of my range - I'd like to get Airforce Delta Storm for 20 or 30 bucks, but nobody is selling their used copies for anything less than 60 bucks. It's capitalism... supply and demand and all that... I don't like it when it hurts my pocketbook, but I still wouldn't condemn the system overall and I wouldn't call people morons. Wealthy maybe, but not morons. When you have kids and they go "mommy daddy! gimme gimme gimme! Me me me!" you really can't keep them waiting. The best thing to do is not spoil your kids. :)

I agree with Trigger, but I can't get over the fact that this is something that will be available for $50 in late October/early November.

Funny thing is come November, these people will tell anyone who asks that they have been on X-Box Live for a few months and that they paid a few hundred $$$ for the privilage. And they'll say it with pride like it's a good thing they paid hundreds of $$$ to play games, when they could have waited and paid $50.

funny cause it's true... rotfl

You dont like ebay :hscratch:
It's only the most successful business on the internet. And besides, the people do not think their "junk" is worth far too much, that is determined bt the buyer. Even if someone puts a high reserve on an item, they cant force anyone to buy it for that price. As far as your example about Delta Storm, I agree, but that is the price that the market will bear for that item, so that is what it is worth.

And your post contradicts itself. Either you give the kiddies what they want because you state "you cant keep them waiting" or you don spoil them, cant do both here.

And I stand by my point. It may be capitalism, and I'm all for that, but people are still morons for paying that much for an item that will be available in just a few months for $50.00

Looks liked all the kits got removed by ebay. Still people listing them though. I put a $20 bid on one of them the other day, today i got an email from ebay stating that they removed the auction.

Can anyone tell me what Ebay policy these are violating?
I am just curious?

As an Ebay power seller I can tell you that Microsoft is almost certainly telling EBay to end all the auctions for the kits. Ebay does very little self-ending of auctions. However, if a big (or sometimes small) company throws a fit and tells them to end stuff or face a lawsuit they will quickly capitulate and start ending the auctions. I am sure the Xbox live kits (in some small print) are non-transferable anyway.

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