People Auctioning Rights to Pre-order Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Pack
The rights to secure Lightning pink can be yours for a price.
Posted Oct 06, 2009 at 21:50, by Anoop Gantayat
The Final Fantasy XIII PS3 system on display at the Tokyo Game Show.
How much would you be willing to pay for a chance at pre-ordering that sexy Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Edition hardware bundle?
Read that a second time before answering! You're not bidding on the bundle itself. You're not even bidding on a pre-order ticket. You're bidding on the right to pre-order.
The current going price for the right to pre-order the bundle appears to be about ¥8,000. There are a whole bunch of such auctions at Yahoo Auctions right now.
So why would one want the "right to pre-order" the bundle? I'm not 100% sure, but this could have something to do with the tiered pre-order system Square Enix imposes for its more in-demand items.
For the FFXIII bundle, the Square Enix e-Store order page lists four pre-order phases. Ultimate Members were able to order starting September 24. This was followed by Gold and Silver Members on, respectively, September 28 and October 1. Today marked the start of pre-orders for the lowest level, Bronze Members.
By bidding on this auction, you're presumably bidding on the right to secure a pre-order from a Bronze or higher member. In case you haven't been stocking up on Square Enix Member Points (accumlated when you buy Square Enix product and register the serial numbers at the Square Enix Members site), this is the only way to make sure you get a pre-order through the Square Enix e-Store.
In all the auctions I've seen, winners have to pay, in addition to the closing price, the full ¥41,600 of the bundle. The auctioneers will even have the product shipped directly you from Square Enix. In effect, you're paying someone a middleman fee. When you consider the premium you'd probably have to pay to get the system at auction following release, ¥8,000 might not be such a bad idea.
The Lightning bundle became available for pre-order at some retailers outside of the Square Enix e-Store starting today. Amazon is one example, but the system quickly sold out. As of this writing, it's the number one product in the site's video game best seller list.
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/10/06/ffxiii_bundle_preorder_rights/
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I don't believe this!
