IN SHOCK! xbox360 on ebay

[crisi]

The "I hope my kids never..." is exactly true. It's not judgemental, it's just my hope for my kids. I hope that they never want me to spend this kind of money for a gaming system.

Kind of like how *I hope* they never get into horseback riding because it's insanely expensive. I hope they pick a less expensive hobby.

That's all the comment was meant to imply. That I hope I won't have to spend insane amounts of money for something like this. $400-$500 is a different story, but not 2 GRAND. My parents would have laughed in my face had I asked them to spend 2 grand on a gaming system when I was younger.

I'd spend $2 grand on a trip to Disney though... because that involves my enjoyment too

If your kids do, the word "no" is an option. My kids will never get into horseback riding (at least not more than trail rides a weekend or two a year) because we'd laugh at them and say "sure, when you get a job and can pay for it."

But when they get jobs, provided they aren't living at home and expecting me to do their laundry, if they want to spend money they can afford on an XBox or stable fees, that's their business. (Money they can't afford, too, but then they have to deal with their Mom nagging them).

(I do hope that regardless of their age, they don't skydive - but that's their own mother's fear of heights and the safety of her babies.)

As I've said before, I don't think this is Moms out Christmas shopping for their kids bidding XBox's up to $2000. I suspect this is a bunch of middle age gamers with disposable income and no need to spend a freezing night out in the rain.

 

[Kramer]

And you work for whom and know this how? Because I work for a component supplier for the XBox and my husband in works in the industry and was deeply involved in the launch. I'm not kidding myself, I know, this is not what MS intended. Unless they lied to their suppliers and lied to their vendors, and backed up those lies with over stocking their inventory of parts and writing contracts. Possible, but that would be really expensive and open themselves up to lawsuits for mere marketing hype.

Bill Gates is not worth $40 billion by accident... he's a smart guy and has smart people working for him.

I'm not surprised that industry people, like yourselves, are not privy to Microsoft's plan. What makes you think they would share their marketing strategy with anyone but their most trusted executives? They would be pretty silly to call all their supliers and say "hey this is our plan... please keep it quiet, ok?"

All that being said... I agree with you 100% about people should be free to spend their money on whatever makes them happy... if you love video games then the x-box is your Disney World. No one here should judge anyone's harmless pursuits or hobbies.

 

[crisi]

Bill Gates is not worth $40 billion by accident... he's a smart guy and has smart people working for him.

I'm not surprised that industry people, like yourselves, are not privy to Microsoft's plan. What makes you think they would share their marketing strategy with anyone but their most trusted executives? They would be pretty silly to call all their supliers and say "hey this is our plan... please keep it quiet, ok?"

All that being said... I agree with you 100% about people should be free to spend their money on whatever makes them happy... if you love video games then the x-box is your Disney World. No one here should judge anyone's harmless pursuits or hobbies.

Because they have to. They don't tell us how many they plan to make, we don't allocate the components. They don't get them and can't make the XBoxes.

Microsoft either overordered our component for a delivery date, then told us to hold them and deliver them much later because the other components weren't ready as some sort of huge marketing conspiracy, or they made a mistake. Gates may be worth $40 billion, but he did give us "Bob." They are far less than perfect.

 

[Kramer]

Because they have to. They don't tell us how many they plan to make, we don't allocate the components. They don't get them and can't make the XBoxes.

Microsoft either overordered our component for a delivery date, then told us to hold them and deliver them much later because the other components weren't ready as some sort of huge marketing conspiracy, or they made a mistake. Gates may be worth $40 billion, but he did give us "Bob." They are far less than perfect.

I think I can agree to disagree on this one... and I'll bow out with one last post.

I find it very hard to believe that this was a "mistake" and just happened to result in a huge publicty windfall and shopping frenzy in Microsoft's favor. There are very few coincidences in life and this isn't one of the them.

 

[Foladar]

I was just at Target and overheard a girl asking her manager what to tell people when they ask when they'll be getting more XBox 360's in. The manager said they wouldn't know when and they wouldn't know how many. Then the girl started talking about how people were waiting outside Target at 6PM YESTERDAY to get it at 7AM TODAY!!

I'm glad I never got into gaming and I hope my (future) children never get into it!! It's insane!

People were waiting since 7am here, pretty crazy.

 

[black562]

Every year there is a hot item that noone can get their hands on. I think Microsoft is playing a sort-of marketing game with this release as well...same as Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babbies...the list goes on, and EVERY one of them had supply issues right before Christmas. One week after Christmas the market will suddenly be flooded with them just as every other year's "hot item"....but rumors always fly about how scarce they are and how a critical component is taking too long to produce and how it may be months before another shipment...etc... I have a Masters in Marketing and this kind of thing happens year after year. Besides why not wait a few months and not only will the price go down, but they'll also have found and corrected any bugs with the system....I'm gonna laugh when everyone who paid 2k for this thing has to ship it back to be fixed because of a factory defect. Sure it may not be EXACTLY what MS wanted, but based on every other year's hot items following EXACTLY the same trend, I'm certain they've played their part in the supply frenzy. If there's any doubt...go rent the movie "Jingle All the Way"...yea, they even made a movie about this sort of thing.

As for me, I'll wait a year or two and THEN buy the PS3, which is a far more superior unit....and after waiting that long, I'll get it for half of the release price.....life is good.

 

[black562]

Speak of the devil...aleady reports of glitches, crashes and games that won't function properly...so all the folks that stood in those long lines will now have to wait 4-6 weeks for repairs or replacements.

Click Here To Read Article

 

[MrsPete]

Assuming such crazy bids are real (and many problably are not) there's going to be a lot of NPB as soon as the hysteria dies down and people realize there are thousands of other sets up for auction that will go for a fraction of the price, and there will be units available for sale at list price within in a month (2 months max).

Nah, we've seen this type of thing before, and people continue to do it year after year. In the world of kids' toys, it's been Tickle Me Elmo and the Dora the Explorer doll. People just go nuts trying to get that perfect thing for their kids' Christmas present.

2K though. That surprises me!

 

[MrsPete]

Every year there is a hot item that noone can get their hands on. I think Microsoft is playing a sort-of marketing game with this release as well...same as Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babbies...the list goes on, and EVERY one of them had supply issues right before Christmas. One week after Christmas the market will suddenly be flooded with them just as every other year's "hot item"....but rumors always fly about how scarce they are and how a critical component is taking too long to produce and how it may be months before another shipment...etc... I have a Masters in Marketing and this kind of thing happens year after year. Besides why not wait a few months and not only will the price go down, but they'll also have found and corrected any bugs with the system....I'm gonna laugh when everyone who paid 2k for this thing has to ship it back to be fixed because of a factory defect. Sure it may not be EXACTLY what MS wanted, but based on every other year's hot items following EXACTLY the same trend, I'm certain they've played their part in the supply frenzy. If there's any doubt...go rent the movie "Jingle All the Way"...yea, they even made a movie about this sort of thing.

As for me, I'll wait a year or two and THEN buy the PS3, which is a far more superior unit....and after waiting that long, I'll get it for half of the release price.....life is good.

Oops -- I should've read on before posting.

 

[Kramer]

Speak of the devil...aleady reports of glitches, crashes and games that won't function properly...so all the folks that stood in those long lines will now have to wait 4-6 weeks for repairs or replacements.

Click Here To Read Article

Does that make you feel better?

 

[Mister Incredible]

Some owners complained that their systems were crashing during game play, sometimes with error messages popping up.

An error message on a Microsoft product, there's something you don't see every day

 

[momxx5]

Wow - this whole thread is so sad.

I know everyone has opinions, but to agrue over something that you don't have, some don't even want, etc is just odd to me.

My children only get 2 gifts from Santa each. My three boys (age 9, 10 & 11) have decided that they want to collectively use one of their gift choices for an Xbox 360. Meaning that Santa would bring an Xbox and they each would get one other present.

To me it is very sad that people would purchase these items with the intent of re-selling them for a huge profit. No wonder the world is so skewed. No wonder their is such a shortage of this item.
There is a very good chance that my boys will be disappointed on Christmas morning when they find out that Santa did not get them an Xbox.

Is it going to be the end of the world - NO. But these are good kids, who do not ask for much, who do not get gifts or toys throughout the year, do not have every game system around, etc. Playing Santa is one of my true joys and since they are such good kids, getting them the one or two items that they truly wish for at Christmas brings me great joy.

I tried my best the night before and day of the sale.....called Walmart at 9:00 pm, told that there were 60-70 people in line, they would start selling them at midnight and had only 40 units to sell.
Our local Target handed out tickets at 5:00am. The doors opened at 8:00 and they had no systems to sell because they had already handed out the tickets. They had 8 systems to sell and 40 people in line.

I will keep trying my best to purchase a system, but you can bet it won't be on Ebay. Call me a prude or whatever you want, I just think that it is a sad commentary on human actions.

 

[momxx5]

Sorry, I wanted to add....no offense to OP. They were just bringing attention to the fact that the frenzy has begun.

 

[Kramer]

To me it is very sad that people would purchase these items with the intent of re-selling them for a huge profit.

I gotta disagree... whats the difference between someone buying an xbox and then selling it on ebay and a car dealership buying a car from Ford and selling it to the public at a profit? Or the supermarket buying milk from a dairy and selling it to customers at a profit?

If someone was lucky enough to get an xbox and they choose to sell it then there's nothing wrong or unethical about it. If you want to assign blame, put it on Microsoft and their deliberate marketing strategy to create a shortage. If they made enough to satisfy the demand there wouldn't be a secondary market on ebay.

 

[eblack0409]

This is insane.....I could pay for my next Disney trip with what some of these are going for!

 

[manticore]

I just got 2 on Sears tonite, I hadn't though of using it to pay for our upcoming trip but that is a thought. Actually I will be keeping one and I am sure I know someone who will want the other one.