eBay blamed for Xbox shortages

***wraggster*** · December 9th, 2005, 20:32

A cracking article on worthplaying.com has shown that some of the blame for Xbox 360 shortages has to be laid at the digital door of Ebay, with data showing at peak times the auction site saw one console sale every 13 seconds.

“The research was completed using Terapeak's web-based research tool to set price filters on completed transactions of Xbox 360 systems priced greater than $250 and less than $1500,” the piece explains. “The demand for Xbox was well above the standard with a staggering average of 19 bids per successful listing. In fact, over 586,035 bids were placed on 39,562 systems. The success rate for Xbox 360 systems listed on eBay.com was 78.2%. The average selling price for units sold was $718 per unit.”

Of course, this is great news for eBay, with the listings site seeing an explosion of interest during the Xbox 360 roll-out. Everything from $1,500 machines ,bogus gold faceplates to Gmail addresses were caught in the flood of buying. However, the fact that around 40,000 systems found their way into the hands of non-gamers who then forced actual gamers to pay almost $800 a time is something of a concern.

Indeed, working to current estimates, around 15% of the entire North American stock was bought for the sole purpose of immediate resale, a problem that needs addressing by the gaming community. The only problem being, to police such activity would be almost impossible.

The answer? For the launch of the PlayStation 3, likely to be in short supply going on Sony’s track record, the thing to do would be simply not to buy hardware from eBay profiteers. The joke really would be on them if gamers decided to sit it out and wait, leaving the parasites lumbered with gaming hardware they neither need or want. If we remember nearer the time, we might even start something of a campaign. It’s unlikely anyone will listen to us, but you never know.

For the record, eBay seems to be loving the business, with a large hyperlinked picture of an Xbox 360 adorning the homepage at time of going to press.