Industry News | eBay Cracks Down on Console Scams

By Jorge Ba-oh 27.10.2006 10

With the Internet gone mad on auction sites and online stores there have been scams/problems for new hardware on the market due to heavy demand and low stocks. eBay, the largest, have announced some conditions for those intending to sell upcoming consoles on the site.

The company announced yesterday that "we saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet their pre-sale obligations to buyers due to restricted supply, as well as an increase in fraudulent listings for these items."

In order to combat the potential problem for the upcoming Wii launch, the following seller regulations apply:

  • Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console (PS3 is expected to be available on 11/17/06, Wii on 11/19/06) - US release.
  • The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.
  • The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now.
  • The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description.

    Some very tight and controlled rules for the upcoming consoles, hopefully this will prevent consumers from facing problems during the launch period and beyond.

    Stick with C3 for future updates.

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    Modplan Man is offline. Modplan Man 27.10.2006#1

    dammit, and i was so hoping to get rid of a few useless cardboard boxes this christmas

     
    Zapp is offline. Zapp 27.10.2006#2

    i guees is good news for people that use ebay i dont so i ain bovvered!!!

    I see all these people insulting the Nintendo corporation because of the lack of mature content. Yet there is something about Nintendo (at least their games) that strikes a certain unadulterated feeling of joy!!!  Pokemon Y - 1048-9263-5562
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    JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 27.10.2006#3

    Well, meh, I never use eBay anyway, I'm just commenting to say.....

    PS3 launch 2 days before Wii? How does that work? Everything comes into stock on Mondays in US right?

    Hmm.... well it's gonna be very tough for the Wii to fight with PS3, but at least it has more than double the amount of stock Smilie

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    xeke is offline. xeke 27.10.2006#4

    Games do, not everything else. Nintendo consoles launch on sundays.

    Gods in His Heaven. Alls right in the World.
     
    tiamat1990 is offline. tiamat1990 27.10.2006#5

    No scams. That's good.

     
    Laurelin is offline. Laurelin 27.10.2006#6

    Why not prohibit every console-selling attempt from 2 weeks before launch until 3 weeks after?
    This regulations still make it possible to sell a bunch of consoles. At least they shut down some common tricks (making multiple accounts, selling only 1 console).

    I find your lack of faith disturbing!
     
    dojo is offline. dojo 27.10.2006#7

    Laurelin said:
    Why not prohibit every console-selling attempt from 2 weeks before launch until 3 weeks after?This regulations still make it possible to sell a bunch of consoles. At least they shut down some common tricks (making multiple accounts, selling only 1 console).

    That's where IP addresses come in handy, but I think your idea is pretty cool. It'd be crap publicity (if you can call it that) for Nintendo though, if PS3s fetch higher prices than Wii (which they obviously would). You know, it'd make it seem like a hotter product. Smilie

     
    Stulaw is offline. Stulaw 27.10.2006#8

    All this because last year a man paid

     
    Satoshi is offline. Satoshi 27.10.2006#9

    Someone bought an ipod empty bbox for the price of an ipod on ebay...stupid cons.

    But that wasn't a console...

    Avoid Games Like the Plague, productivity++
     
    Laurelin is offline. Laurelin 28.10.2006#10

    Microsoft and Sony are extremely good when it comes to sell lifestyle. They make their console appear as the biggest coolest thing in the universe, when technically they are boring shit - like..., let's say, PSP. That was the case with PS2 and Xbox. And when they fetch prices higher than Wii on eBay graphic-whore kiddies(???) think PS3 is actually a 1337 lump of plastic...


    what the hell are script-whore-kiddies?
    There are things on this earth I do not want to know...

    I find your lack of faith disturbing!
     

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