Ebay Puts Restrictions On PS3/Wii Auctions

If you remember correctly, there were numerous problems with Ebay last year when Xbox 360 was released. People were selling their empty Xbox 360 boxes with the letter “X” on them and making hundreds of dollars (to thousands) of dollars. Telling the difference between a legitimate Xbox 360 auction and a fraud Xbox 360 auction became extremely difficult, leading to more and more fraud. Also, the whole Ebay thing pisses lots of gamers off, most of us can barely afford the console at its retail price let alone the inflated Ebay price. Since two consoles are launching this year, both of which are in high demand, Ebay has taken some steps to stop seller fraud:

  • 1. Only one of each console can be listed per seller at a time prior to the system launch dates.
  • 2. The seller must only accept PayPal payments and have a minimum of 50 feedback and a rating of 98% or higher to qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.
  • 3. The pre-sale can only be in Auction format, no Buy It Now listings will be accepted.
  • 4. The listing must include a clear photo of the preorder receipt in the description of your auction.
  • All of Ebay’s restrictions seem to be doing good for its users. The PayPal payment only thing might seem sketch since Ebay profits off of it, but it’s really for the best, Western Union does absolutely nothing for its customers when fraud has occurred. For most gamers, we’ll have to get a console on launch day, or we’ll have to wait until there’s more on the market, I don’t even want to imagine how much the PS3 will be going for come December.

    Ebay Puts Restrictions On PS3/Wii Auctions [2old2play]