PS3s on eBay

The bottom fell out of the PS3 market on eBay much faster than I expected. Don't get me wrong, you'd still make a decent profit, but it looks like the hopes of $1K profit margins is already a memory. I didn't manage to snag one myself - actually didn't even try - but have been keeping tabs on the closing prices over the past day or two.

Yesterday afternoon a few were selling with a BIN at $3K, some at $2500 BIN, and many at $2K BIN.

That evening I still saw a few $2500 BIN, some $2k BINs, but no $3K BINs selling. And straight auctions (listings that started low and were bid where they got bid) were going for less than $1500.

This morning I looked at the last 50+ ended listings and the only one that cracked $1200 by more than a couple dollars had 8 games bundled with it.

The lesson here seems to be:

1. List a hot item that everyone and their brother is going to dump on eBay as soon as you possibly can.
2. Use a fixed price listing with a competitive price.
3. Require immediate payment to avoid a non-paying bidder and a ton of lost profit.

I thought the prices would stay at least through the weekend if not all the way until Xmas.