Life and Leisure. Tech and Toys.

This past week I bought a Playstation 3 on eBay because I convinced myself that if I were to buy a PS3 it would need to have backwards compatibility. You can read about that here. I never owned a Playstation 2 so I felt like I was knocking out two birds with one PS3. And so I began browsing eBay for used and refurbished 60gb PS3s.

I found a power seller listing multiple 60gb PS3s with no reserve price, a 30 day warranty and a 99% approval rating. These were all featured listings so I knew the competition would be stiff. I started looking for the latest auction sniper programs out there since I haven’t honestly bid on anything on eBay for quite some time. I usually just use “Buy it now” since I don’t like the idea of waiting when I’m shopping.

This brought me to Gixen.com. Gixen is a auction sniper web application that is free and worked well for me in this particular auction. Gixen does not ensure that they will not encounter glitches that may cause you to miss your bid. Gixen also offers a paid service where they do guarantee your bid will be placed 5 secs before the auction ends. The web application was easy to use and worked this time around. I chose Gixen because it was the most popular free service I could find with good reviews. The web application does not look nice by any means but worked like a charm.

I was able to win the auction at $310 which was fine with me because my max bid was  actually $325. This is a good price considering some of the other listings went up to $380. Also new 60gb PS3s are very rare and reach prices nearing $1000. I sent my payment through PayPal and the item was shipped a day later. The item also arrived earlier than the estimated delivery time given by the tracking information.

Opening the box I found that the PS3 had physical damage like scuffs and dents but it ran perfectly. I read the model number off the back to make sure I got a real CECHA01, however I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to make a fake model number sticker. So I also ran a PS2 game right away to make sure. One thing I did overlook was that the console did not come with component video cables. Since new machines don’t come with these either I guess I’m just mad at Sony. The Sixaxis controller that came with my console didn’t look used at all, no hand gunk and the grip on the analog sticks didn’t even look touched. Overall I’m happy with my purchase.

Things to take away from this experience:

• When buying a used or refurbished machine don’t expect a physically perfect machine. You’re buying it in this condition because you don’t care about the appearance.
• Buy through a seller with a high approval rating.
• Always make sure your seller has some 30 – 90 day warranty or return policy.
• Pay through PayPal so you have extra buyer protection.
• Use an auction sniping program so you can win the auction at the lowest price possible.
• Make sure you double check the model number.
• Test your console as much as you can during your warranty period.

Note: This is only speculation but I believe while the new non-backwards compatible PS3s are becoming cheaper I believe it will still become harder and harder to find backwards compatible PS3s resulting in higher prices over time. This is why I felt I should buy my backwards compatible PS3 now.