Is waiting for, then reselling, game consoles worth it?

I would be willing to wait 24 hrs for a truckload of PS3's I could sell on eBay; that would be worth it. I would never wait in line for 24 hrs to sell one PS3 for a $500 profit. But you forget there are thousands of people out there who could use the $500 to $600 bucks just to make ends meet this month or to actually have money to buy Christmas presents for their own family.

And do not forget, if you were one of the first to sell your PS3 on eBay, you might have picked up a decent $2500, or even more for the console! That's a better return than the story above here, were the profit has been calculated on the Average selling price!
the same as with stocks, it's all about the timing of the sell! But low, sell high :)

I sold 300 units and loving it! I didn't wait in line or anything else. I found a legitimate seller who had them in stock!

What is the point and why are people stupid enough to pay that much money for a video game console anyway? If they are that stupid then they are trying to shower their kids with presents instead of love! That is not good parenting! Christmas is not about having great gifts or giving great gifts! It is about setting a day aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! And even if you are not a Christian it is still pretty pathetic considering your wasting all that time to get a little green. If you can go through that trouble to get a little money you can work elsewhere in order to make ends meet. Bottom line is Americans Dignity is getting thrown off the roof and you people are riding along with it.

Is it worth the troulble to stand in line. This is America and there are a lot of people who make $5.15hr becuase of this low wage yea it is worth the trouble to feed my kids or get them something for christmas sure I would Not every one makes $100 a day I do not.

What a waste of a blog! Most people in line were students without jobs.. or homemakers without kids.. that didn't have to be anywhere!

If i were in these people's positions, I would have waited in line too! Common! Free money! & extra money to buy Christmas gifts for others too!

It's definitely worth the wait.. if you're in these people's shoes!

if people are are selling them and making a 500-600 profit just to make ends meet as in comment #1 then they were just better of saving the money that they spent to do so . that was a very dumb comment..... why would you spend your money and time to just even out with your profit?

The picture of my nephew, waiting in line at Best Buy for two days for the new game console, was featured on the front page of the local paper. Officials at his school evidently read the article and saw the picture and proptly punished his unexcused absence with a three-day suspension. Add that one to the cost...

waiting in line for games consoles... too funny
the thing is Idiotic really... they need to put that much effort in to finding a job as far as getting a console...
I have the PS2 that I paid 129.00 last year... 3 months after the hype...lol so if I wish... I can wait til march and get the PS3 for same deal...

Your assuming that everyone on those lines wanted to sell the unit. Why cant it just be for the fun of it and wanting to have bragging rights to say that you are the first kid on the block to have one. I waited for the X-Box 360, When I went to Best Buy the evening before the release, there was a line out side the door. I asked what it was for and at that moment I decided "Why not." I called my wife to let her know and to bring down my tent. (BTW It was raining so I rented 5 spaces at $20.00) It was just a lot of fun and a change of pace. Would I do it again? I don't know, but I would not rule it out.

Oh, I am a 43 year old business owner with 2 daughters 12 and 16. And I even managed to open up the next day.

1) Selling one or two units probably doesn't make economic sense for most people...unless you sold it for $1,500 plus, which I understand did happen. The average price on eBay four days after release was $2,700.
2) Many of the buyers paying high prices were not parents spoiling their kids, they were 20 - 30 year old video game-crazed males with disposable income. 3) If nothing else, going through this experience gave some people a wee taste of the entrepreneurial life, if it turns their career to the track of profitable self-employment, the benefits could be well beyond any immediate profit or loss.

I think all those people need to get real jobs! Who the heck has time to wait in a line for 50 hours to buy a playstation??? thats insane! I make over 2 grand in 50 hours so why would I wait 50 hours to profit 300 bucks...makes no sense. and then there is the idiots who actually pay the 1000.00 for these things! Once again...No life! the 599 price tag is crazy enough but for some people to pay in upwards of 2 grand for these game consoles....thats just insane!

I sold two PS3's and they were well worth it. First off, you have to think about those who preordered, like I did. I strolled into Gamestop, EBGames and then Toy-r-US after getting a great night's sleep, and scored mine no problem. I in essence got mine for free. Second, folks, this is a multi-billion dollar a year business. For those who can't understand, just think about this; people spend thousand more on a television, and that's not interactive.

The article was all right; what annoys me is that Ms. Gilbert, like many Americans including my daugthers, struggles with the use of commas.
There was no need for them in the title.
It should have read: 'Is waiting for and then reselling games consoles worth it?'
English is not my first language!
Now I'm waiting for replays.
By the way, Happy Holidays to everyone.

Hi there and happy holidays.People can make the xtra money go for it.games are hot this christmas.And people will pay alot of money for them.more over seas they may not have it on market yet or not that many,so people will buy on line.

WHY DOES EVERYONE CARE WHAT PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR TIME & THEIR MONEY. UNLESS YOU ARE PAYING THAT PERSON'S BILLS WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE JUST MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS. IF IT BOTHERS YOU THAT SOMEONE IS STANDING IN LINE FOR 2 DAYS. LOOK THE OTHER WAY. IF YOU THINK THAT BUYING A PLAYSTATION FOR $2,100.00 IS OUTRAGEOUS. DON'T BUY IT!!! YES CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT CELEBRATING JESUS CHRIST. BUT IT IS ALSO A HOLIDAY THAT IS TRADITIONALLY KNOWN FOR GIVING GIFTS TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHETHER YOU CAN AFFORD TO BUY YOUR CHILD 500 PRESENTS OR JUST 5 IT IS NO-ONE ELSES BUSINESS BUT YOUR OWN. I THINK WE SHOULD ALL JUST BE THANKFUL AND FOCUS ON MORE IMPORTANT THINGS.

I see nothing wrong with this at all. It is another one of lifes experiences some people choose to experience. I am now 62 but it reminds me of some twenty something years ago when I went to London from NY on a business meeting. That was when the cabbage patch doll craze had just begun and a friend of mine asked me if I could find one in a London department store and bring it back for her child.
When I got to Harrods in London, they had hundreds of Cabbage Patch dolls on thier shelves, just the opposite of the craze here in America at the time.
Not only did I buy my friend her doll, but I bought two of the largest duffle bags available and bought every single Cabbage Patch doll I could fit into them and brought them home with me. I believe the going rate was about $22. per doll in London and when I got home, sold them in a shopping center parking lot, from the top of my car for anywhere from $100. to $150. each and sold about 70 of them within the course of the one day I had them. I made a very nice profit after deducting the airfare, a small customs fee and everything else and made 3 more trips back to London over the next 5 weeks to do the same just before Christmas. I really had a lot of fun doing it...picking out the dolls that I thought would have the best chance of selling based on the features, unboxing them all on the floor in the toy department of Harrods and squeezing as many as I could into the duffle bags, going through US Customs with them and then displaying them in the parking lot and selling them. It really was a great experience for me and I can understand why people wait in line to do this. Enjoy yourselves.

Lol, I honestly feel sorry for the people buying those online. Sony's system have horrible quality and crap out early in they're lifespan.

This is especially with true launch models. I hope for the sake of the people paying $1000.00+ for a ps3, that Sony breaks it's nasty little trend of crap quality systems.

I think the people that waited on line for 3 days should of researched these ps3 online and buy in bulk.
Anyway check out my website for great holiday gifts for just $5.00 like iPod Speakers, And Cases..

Happy Holidays.

These people standing in line for a game system are a bunch of nerds with no life. I am an avid gamer, but I just wait until there are plenty in stock and then go buy one. This issue about trying to make money in a few days is about the dumbest thing I've heard. I can think of a million ways to make $500 in 2 days. These geeks should use their nerdy brains to make money in another manner. Hell, day laborers probably make more money in 2 days than these morons who camp outside a circuit city.