NIntendo 3DS: Sold out at Wal Mart

[HappySqurriel]

Icyedge said:

kitler53 said:

 

A) it's not really a gamble cause as long as you don't open the package you can alway return it to the store if you aren't getting the ebay prices you want.

B) do you have any source or research behind that 10-20% number?  obviously the wii sold amazing on ebay and the ps3 didn't but i've never seen any hard research on these types of things.  if so i'd like to read up on that.

The PS3 was very expensive on Ebay back in the days. Was going for 2K if guaranteed a same day release shipment and about 1K after release. It was mad. Ebay even had to put some new rules up where sellers had to show a pre-ordering proof for selling it before release.

With how short lived the PS3's sales spike on ebay was, and how few units ended up selling for significantly higher than retail, I'm not convinced that its prices were legitimate. Sony has been caught producing fake grassroots/viral campaigns before (see: PSP graffiti) and you can quite effectively create an ebay based viral campaign by listing a product under one account and "buying" that product using another account; and since you hold both accounts you can sell something with a very high price at (effectively) no cost. Even if you didn't want to be that dishonest, you could simply plan on buying 50 units at $2000 at launch week, which is a small amount to pay for an "advertising" campaign.

While it may sound paranoid, a large portion of "news" today is manufactured by marketing firms to attract attention to products they represent. Many of these firms have figured out ways to gain a lot of press at a very low cost, and repeatedly use these tactics until they are no longer effective.