eBay has some nice people! I got a 360 for cheap!

As some people may know, I've been trying to get an Xbox 360 for a little while to use on my nice widescreen LCD. I already got games and stuff for it and got all my classes and other Christmas stuff paid for, so I decided I'd set out to find one online for 350$ or less tonight. I tried an Overstock deal that was 20% off, making it 325$, but my stupid bank didn't process my paycheck today so I was freaking 30$ off and it wouldn't let me check out (even though the banks online statement assured me I had 420$ something) and within an hour or so all of them were sold out. So I scoured eBay, but all I could really find was cores and premiums that were 350$ and such but the shipping blew the deal for me. Anyhow, since the next morning the bank would finish processing the stuff, I figured I'd try to hunt down one of the 350$+ or - premium systems (even used) and buy it and pay for it the next day with paypal. Eventually I happened across one with a BIN of 350$ that was brand new in the box with free shipping, but it said immediate payment needed to buy. I decided to just for the hell of it ask the seller details about it and told them that tommorow I would buy it if noone else did and explained why I have to wait tommorow, etc. The seller told me it was a premium and they got it as a present but already have one, then they told me they would let me make an offer for it like 330$ since it's Xmas season (seller has a 100% feedback score BTW is why I bothered). I was just like wow, thats the first time an eBay seller has been willing to do something like that for me. Unfortunatly, I was still short a couple bucks (I had 295$), and just asked the seller if they could take off the immediate payment thing so I could buy and pay tommorow the 350$ (I felt bad only paying 330$ for it, but told them I was very greatful for the offer). The next bit I get an email from them saying that they talked it through with the hubby and would accept 290$ for it! Holy crap! I thought. Then I remembered that I had 20$ in my paypal that I sent to my bank account awhile ago from selling Taemos my dead PS2! Hooray! So I sent them 300$ for it, sent them many thanks, etc.

Basically damn! I got a 360 for 300$! Now I can just save this extra 90 or so thats leftover or eat or something! I was just really surprised since usually eBay is full of money grubbers. Just thought I'd let it be known since i really am appreciative of that seller. When it gets here I'll show it off and let my gamertag be known and stuff! (This is one of the first times I've owned a system when it was still relatively new, so I'm excited.) I can't wait!
:icon_bigg :icon_bigg :icon_bigg

 

Wowzers, I'm impressed, Congradulations

 

That was very nice of the seller to offer you a deal. My eBay experience has been pretty average, and my brother has been unlucky enough to have been ripped off. Stories like this actually give me hope for the service.

Glad to have helped, by the way .

 

Now you just have to wait to see if it shows up.

 

Yeah, let it show up before you start celebrating. You can't count your chicks before they hatch...

 

Yeah, of course. If it doesn't show up I can dispute it with paypal and get the money back, but the person does have 100% feedback and all that. For once I was going to have some faith that another human being might not be totally full of crap. =)

 

i got a 360 for 300 from a store, brand new, premium ^_^ swaped price tags

 

Ya, I remember you saying that. And when I went to get my 360 replaced, I realized they DO have systems on the shelves now, so you could change the barcode.

 

So you committed fraud and/or theft (depending on the local jurisdiction)?

 

I remember that too, but I didn't realize until just now how it relates to your name.

 

Well it not theft since i did provide money for it :lol: (a receipt and a warranty as well!)

And since it's not the good ole' days to haggle... I just honestly believed 400 was a steep price to pay. Owning a lot of hardware and software, I have paid more than enough for video games to know their value (to me personally).

As I see it, it's not any more or less illegal than "buying" a devkit - license infringment doesn't pass good title to the goods , you see


PS: my nickname actually has more to do with the Romeo Retarded song, named Barc0de

 

Development hardware has a lot more legal nuances, though this is off topic so I will digress.

 

I was just drawing an analogy, both practices can be deemed illegal and may very well fall into theft/fraud/constructive trust, concerning the good title of the subjects..development hardware especially more so.

but we would'nt be here if we 'd pay the real and "official" price tag on everything we own all the time, now would we?

 

Must be a pretty shoddy shop that uses prices on stickers for till-pricing. As most stores use the on the box barcode for scanning (as this cannot be switched or removed) and thus its checked against the price value in the pricing system.

I deal with enough kids trying to switch labels and buy new games as pre-owned, only to be disapointed at the barcode scanning stage.

 

I was surprised myself to find that the barcode-area was blank, and all barcodes were stickers. I can provide pics if anyone is interested

 

I think Barcode's story is a nice example of "Hacking the system," i.e. taking advantage of something that isn't technically illegal, but may be immoral in some way, depending on how you look at it.

Back when I was a kid my rich friend used to buy his games from Toys R Us becasue they were cheap, then return them at KB Toys because they didn't require a reciept. I always thought that was messup up and wrong, and apparently someone down the line at KB did too because now they've changed thier return policy (granted this was like fifteen years ago, but still the model applies.)

You could say it was wrong, but then you have to think about it - is it really wrong to fleece some dumbass who's just throwing thier money at you? In this case the dumbass is the store for not having a stricter return policy. Who's fault is it that they allow themselves to get ripped off so easily?

 

If you accidently forget to shut/lock the door of your house when you go out, are you therefore to blame and deserve to be robbed?

Happened to a friend of mine several years back, his mother didn't lock the door, someone dashed into the house and ran off with his Dreamcast..by your logic because the opportunity existed he deserved to lose it.

Just pointing out that I think that's still kind of wrong, they're asking $400 for a console, you pay it or haggle in my opinion. Not switch the stickers and take it to the front desk where someone who doesn't care about the owners money sells it to you for $300.

I just think it's a little slack justifing that kind of action.

 

Agreed.

Someone could even lose their job when the inventory and the number of sold units don't match.

 

Well, considering the security guard was 1-2 meters away from me, and I was chatting with him while doing the peel-job, I think they should hire better professionals to boot.

I generally don't tend to worry for the budget of large super-markets like the ones that had that XBOX. They intentionaly overcharge false items on your receipt (for the value of 1 or 2 euros) and trust me, that makes them more than 300 euros a day out of thin air, by stealing from the customer. they always claim "it was a mistake" though when you take the receipt back.

Their legitimate profits were unharmed.