Interesting story, though I would definitely question the validity of it myself.  It seems like one of those internet tales that you may hear, think is true, but later find out never actually happened.

If it was true, then congrats to the seller, I hope they enjoy their found money.

Oh i am happy to discuss the OP and the ensuing debate. I certainly would not "slink" away from any comments i made. When i proof read the first post it did sound as if i was attacking the OP directly. I had hoped the 2nd post made it clear that was not the case.



I couldn't agree more, though i will respond to those, not you, who are attacking me.



I have heard of instances in the media where drug rings use eBay as a money laundering tool. i have no idea if that is the case here but i would believe that before i believe the facts of that article. Like i said GH3 is available everywhere over here. It is very popular and is carried by all the major outlets. It is easily picked up for $150, on eBay too for that matter. As is the Wii too. No shortage's over here though i don't think it is as popular in Australia as overseas.

If the story is true (and it seems to be, as it's getting supported elsewhere), what it makes me wonder is if eBay is essentially shilling for itself. Here's why:

If GH3 only hits a $150 price point, commissions drop, as does traffic. If, though, we can get it to a $9000 price point, then subsequent bids increase, as does demand. Suddenly, a $499 "Buy it Now" price looks like a bargain, and the seller increased their profit margin threefold. Common sense dictates what will happen next. Buyers will descend on stores with gold in their eyes, store owners and unscrupulous stockboys will keep shipments off the shelf to capitalize on the temporary artificially heightened demand, and the only loser is the consumer.

And why do the manufacturers put up with it? Because they're raking in money hand over fist through the hype.

This story can't be true. GO and look on ebay. The completed auctions for this game only go into hundreds of dollars.

What's funny is I just researched this before coming here... My gut tells me they've got 1 too many zeros in that price.

Try Sweden, I have never heard of a shortage of WII-games,PS3-games are always soldout but never WII.

That was my intial thought too, and may very well be the case. Though as Gideon said, i would not put it past eBay to pull something like this off themselves. At the very least it gets their name in the media right before the biggest shopping season of the year.

Whats the old age quote? All publicity is good publicity. How many people have read that same article and thought "how absurdly ridiculous that it is, i need to look at that with my own eyes". And of course once there their they look around and a 2 minute browse turns into $50 spent on xmas.....

It's certainly not out of the realms of possibility.

Actually It might be possible that "Aspire", the high bidder, had his account hacked. Look at the bid history....

Either way this is all a big joke and a media coup for eBay.

It's kind of the opposite in the U.S., or at least in the area i'm in. A friend just got a Wii for his family and had to revisit the store to be there as the shipment came in to get his. My brother is still trying to find one at a store. PS3 seems to be a disappointment to many thus far, but maybe once they get developers fully taking advantage of it's hardware they can get more must have games for it.

On the cross-site subject. I think it falls on the site(s) design. Threads that do crossover should adhere to the language standards of all the sites the thread is posted. There are many young people on the gaming site areas of Stardock's network and maybe steps should be taken to either seperate the sites a little more or warn those posting in an area of JoeUser that will their reply will be posted on GalCiv2 as well.

On the OP; I don't really care enough to actually pass judgement on the validity of the story, but if true would call the buyer really stupid or gullible.

Actually I first heard the story on a news talk radio station here where I live. the commentator who reported the story is quite reputable and he had been at the ebay auction himself.

What happened was the guy bought his kid a GH3 for christmas and then caught him smoking pot. So he put it up on ebay with an explanation of why. He apparantly was severly flamed, likely by people who diagree with pot laws. I suspect the winning bid was put forward by someone who disagrees with said laws and has no intention of paying. Likely an attempt to sabotage the first instance of decent parenting I've seen in awhile.

A reasonable thought.

John, thanks for posting those two links! for those who missed the links he posted,

as reported elsewhere:

Link

and


as seen on Ebay and response by the dad to others who wanted to know if this was real or not:

Link


The point is gaming folks, neilo was wrong initially for sounding off with the insults. You might not have meant to but you did. I've had heated and interesting discussions without the name callings before, as have many JU. Some do resort to name callings and misunderstanding on the get go, but that depends on what the topic was, who the people are and why the attacks happened in the first place. One has to be able to defend themselves when attacked and that was a dismissive rebuff of me and my posting! If the article crossed over into 'you guys' area and we're not allowed, well excuse me but I chose a "gaming" and "general discussion" thread. It's beyond me to understand why you guys don't think anyone else should have an opinion on anything to do with gaming and that in itself is insulting!

If you do read links when they are posted, you'll see from the Ebay link with the father, he had to defend himself and even managed to have worthwhile discussions on what he was doing.

As I said before, your first comment was inflammatory, your second was not. No one likes to be dismissed in such a rude manner, hence the reaction you got! And as I mentioned in the rest of my article, there is a limited amount of Wii coming in to stores here where I live. People are on the hunt for it and the stores usually get six to ten units at a time. It's sad but true! The game Guitar Hero isn't in short supply yet, but who knows after this week!

I disagree. The activity to me indicates a shill. Here's why.

If you look at the bidding history, the last bidder before the "winning bid" was a bidder with a 0 rating. That would make me suspect the account was created as a shill account.

The other possibility is that pops had second thoughts and had someone shill for him, but now that the story has gotten out he needs to keep it under wraps. This will be an interesting one to watch.

Well, I was just going to say "Holy Sh**", but seeing the comments, I will just say "Damn!".  What some people will pay.

The only name calling that took place that was personal was i called you guys naive for believing the article, as the first few posts reflect. The only insulting that took place was of a web site. I have addressed any issue of my comments being taken as a personal insult and have apologized. Twice.

But if you are personally insulted that i do not like JU, and do not like the fact that posts from that site end up here, then there is little i can say about that. My comments and opinions of that site do not change just because someone takes them personally.

Regardless of if i am right or wrong about Ju it is an opinion. One which you can happily disagree with and one that i am more than willing to discuss.

But the crux of the issue is that offensive language and name calling that ensued was an over reaction to my comments and in no way constructive to either debate. Ok, i understand that cursing is allowed on Ju, fine. But even in that respect just because cursing is allowed did not mean it was the appropriate response, it was still an overreaction. In my opinion.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on many things here. Moving on?



Certainly a possibility and probably what is the case with the 0 feedback bidders. But i find it strange that someone with a feedback of 270 as the winning bidder has, would ruin their name and reputation like this. Perhaps the dad had access to the winners account and did it that way.

It is quite obvious to all that it is not a legit sale, it's a wonder eBay has not removed it, but of course the media attention is to much a free advertisement to pass up.

Another thought, as a seller on eBay do you not have to pay a certain percentage of the final sale value? It has been a while since i sold anything on eBay but i'm sure there is. And further more if you have a Paypal account that is linked with a bank account or credit card eBay can take those sale fees straight from you.

I think the dad might have a bit more to worry about.

Edit - This is taken from the article it self, down where the dad is responding to the questions and reaction this auction has received.



Perhaps he simply could not find the way to officially cancel the auction. But i am still at a lost why someone with a 270 feedback would allow their good name to be dragged through the dirt.

But if you are personally insulted that i do not like JU,

No, that's your opinion if you don't like JU and you're entitled to it neilo. Just insulted that you think we hang out in a toilet! That's an insult to me, so now you know why it was very offensive! Sh-t is sh-t and I've wiped enough bottoms in my lifetime having three kids, and baby sitting others. However, telling someone that what they do and something they enjoy has gone to the toilet....enough said!

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on many things here. Moving on?

Yes, we'll agree to disagree, this is getting us no where! See we're not so bad at JU are we? We just stand up for ourselves and take shit from no one!!