Stop the madness!

If you thought the PS3 frenzy ended at midnight, you were terribly mistaken. It was just warming up.

After finding very few fans planning to keep their purchased PS3 for themselves at yesterday's launch, it was to be expected that more drama would ensue today. This morning the world awoke to next-gen consoles auctioning for obscenely high prices and very few places to buy or even place an order for one.

Costco's Web site was down this morning, though now shows just an empty crate and a "sold out" banner. CircuitCity.com reports it is "sold out!" of its PS3 stash, and Wal-Mart's site lists it as "out of stock."

The Sony units were being advertised on the San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist with asking prices ranging from $1,500 and $4,000. But the blogosphere was agog Friday morning with reports of a single 60GB system receiving a bid of $9,000. No, that's not a typo, it really does say $9,000 is being offered for a video game unit originally sold for $600. But something seems, well, not quite right. The bidding jumped from $3,500, which seems to be about the standard selling price right now, straight to $8,000. You do the math.

[whynotdesign]

Freakin Ridiculous

If this is a legit bid, people really ought to have their heads examined! Not to
mention their priorities, family, jobs, and credit card debt. Anyone willing to pay
15 times it's retail price has serious spending issues or lots of extra cash they
like throwing around.

[densbtly]

don't forget the S&H !

$9000 + 64.95 for shipping and handling.... sheesh.

[zigziggityzoo]

Be wary of eBay stories

Much of this is due to bid fraud. A pristine example can be found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Playstation-3-PS3-60GB-Free-Overnight-Shipping-Blu-
ray_W0QQitemZ150059269467QQihZ005QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZVi
ewItem?hash=item150059269467

[ZozoLobo]

Thank you Milton Friedman

What a wonderful world in which I can pay someone to stand in line and buy my
PS3 while I go and make lots of money. Both of us are happy. He/she get their
money, I get my PS3. Go Free-Market! Go Liberty!