was yesterday the only day of pre-order until launch?

At EB/Gamestop/babbages/whatever else they own. I think so.

When I told my friends I snagged one they all want to come over and put fingerprints on it before I sell it.

I'm unsure when to put mine up. $1,200 sounds good now, but once reality sets in after black friday, demand should certainly rise, but at that time there will be a ton more people ebaying them. Dilemma.

I think your best two times to maximize profit:

-launch day
-a week or two before Xmas

Are there other places to pre-order? Are you buying anything to go with it or just the system itself?

considering it seems that no one wants the PS3 for anything more than profit I don't see anyone buying any extras.

That's a good point, the gamestores have to hate this as the bulk of their systems will be sold without games, extra controllers, warranties etc. as they are just going straight on ebay.

And the people that buy them on ebay will likely by their games etc. at a big box store.

So the gamestores are making out much worse than if people were preordering the systems for themselves, and thus also preordering games, controllers etc.

Well I for one would never preorder games. In my 20+ years of gaming I've never had a problem walking into a store on release day and getting the game I want.

If I pre-ordered the system for me, I still would not have ordered games or even bought them when I picked it up, as I despise the game stores. I'd pick up my extras at BB with my RZ card and gamer coupons.

The only time I preorder games is if I have preorderd the console as I just want to be able to pick it up all at one time.

It's my sole use for game stores as I hate them and 90% of the people that work and shop there.

But I'll put up with them once or twice every 5 years to preorder the new nintendo consoles and handhelds just to have to avoid the camping out, driving around searching for consoles at big box stores etc.

As a lazy relatively rich guy, I do appreciate using Ebay to get hard to locate stuff with little effort. But I do have a concept of what something is worth to me, and even at list price of $600, I am not picking up a PS3, possibly at $400, most likely at $300.

Also consider that the first year's releases of games are almost always the lamest, so holding out a few months and picking up the system after the first price drop is a double win scenario.

I would think that the Monday after black friday would be a good time. The "drive to buy" will still be fresh, but fueled by frustration, depression, anxiety, and defeat... catch 'em before they come to their senses.

Plus... should by some chance there be some launch-day PS3 owners who will actually USE them, any negative feedback (manufacturing quality issues) from them may put a damper on demand.

Any demand during the first week will most likely be "blind" demand... not based on any first-hand experience with an actual unit but by hype and hope.

I bought the original PS2 on launch day and sold it on eBay. Bought it for $300 and put it up starting at $350, which I thought was fair. It sold for $700.

If I manage to get a PS3 on launch day (which probably won't happen) I'd do something similar. Let the market dictate the price. Makes me feel a little better about doing it

How is pre-ordering one PS3 and then selling it on ebay "hoarding"?

It's just a semantical misuse of the word.

It just gets applied to anyone that buys items that are in high demand and short supply soley to sell on ebay, which annoys many as it reduces the number available for people who actually want one to buy at retail price.

But hoarding in the more traditional sense does certainly happen as you can see on CAG and fatwallet etc. of people preordering multiple systems (under relatives names etc, giving friends money to do it for them etc.) and also planning on camping out to get another to sell.

IF I get one, I will EBAY. I need the extra cash right now, would make for a nice X-mas for the family...new child expected any day now. I am #1 on the call0list at GAMERUSH, so if they get any, I should be able to snag one. I hope they get a couple. No news yet though

I also disagree with the assertion that gamers that pay 1000+ are more hardcore. In most cases, the people paying that much are parents with greedy kids (as someone stated above). Or people who are not hardcore gamers, who have to have the latest technology and have more money than brains. Do I consider myself a hardcore gamer? Not at all. I don't have time to be a hardcore gamer anymore. But I do think it's unfair that this has gotten to be such a wide practice that the people walking out of stores with a PS3 that are actually gonna play it are a minority.

Is there any way to police that? Not a chance, but it still angers me a bit. I can understand peoples desire to make money with as little effort as possible, and good on those of you who do something useful with it.

Sony's launch strategy is piss poor as has been pretty much every non Nintendo video game related product in recent years. It doesn't justify people taking advantage, that's all. However, thats the way the world is. Forgive me for complaining about it.

Forgot to mention, no i will not be buying one and ebaying it. But only because i am too lazy and dont feel like bothering with it. Plus I wasn't aware that pre-orders started yesterday, so i'm sure it is too late to even try now.

exactly. I have seen 1st hand people doing this. anyone here have a hard time finding a copy of MGS3:Subsistence LE for the PS2? if so, I have 20 of them to sell. oops, maybe I said too much.

Is anybody worrying about Ebaying it and the buyer receiving it and it doesn't work? What if they try to sue or kill you or something?

Well they come with a 1-year warranty in box. I guess that should be enough.

Are all of you aware of the rule on ebay that says items that are over $500 MSRP the manufacturer can have ebay cancel the auction?

source?

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/09/ps...top/3#c2383098

I would absolutely laugh my ass off if ebay actually enforced that rule....but I don't see it happening.

I don't think Sony will contact them as PS3's selling for 1000's on Ebay is free publicity for them.

Yup. The only people against it are gamers. Sony gets free publicity and ebay makes money, so they're fine with it.