PlayStation 4 Outsells Xbox One By Two to One On eBay

[Andy Chalk]

PlayStation 4 Outsells Xbox One By Two to One On eBay

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/Colin_Sebastian/status/415107092081434624]
Analyst Colin Sebastian estimates that eBay sales of the PlayStation 4 are handily outdistancing the Xbox One.

The holidays are here, and an awful lot of people who didn't bother preordering either the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4 have been forced to turn to the warm embrace of eBay to score those most important of next-gen gifts. Baird Research senior analyst Colin Sebastian estimates that nearly 100,000 consoles have been sold through the online auctioneer, roughly two-thirds of which have been PS4s.

"Looks like around 65k PS4s and 33k Xbox One's have sold on http://ebay.com to-date," Sebastian tweeted earlier today.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the PlayStation is in that much more demand, however, as Xbox One systems have generally been much easier to acquire through regular retail channels than the PS4, which has been in painfully short supply. That could also explain why PlayStation 4 consoles appear to be listing, on average, at considerably higher prices than the Xbox One despite having a lower regular retail price.

Whatever the reason, there's no need to feel too badly for either Sony or Microsoft about lost sales: As VentureBeat [http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/23/ebay-users-have-sold-around-65k-playstation-4s-and-33k-xbox-ones/] notes, nearly all of the consoles currently listed on eBay were likely purchased from retailers by individual consumers looking to resell them.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/Colin_Sebastian]


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[laggyteabag]

Surely this is a double-edged sword right? Unless my knowledge of Ebay has changed, that also means that twice as many PS4's have been put up for sale on Ebay too

 

[Matt Dellar]

Surely this is a double-edged sword right? Unless my knowledge of Ebay has changed, that also means that twice as many PS4's have been put up for sale on Ebay too

I think the retailers themselves post listings on Ebay, but I could be wrong. Don't quote me on that.

Regardless, I'm a bit disappointed the ratio wasn't 4:1 like the preorders, for obvious reasons.

 

[Space Jawa]

That doesn't necessarily mean that the PlayStation is in that much more demand, however, as Xbox One systems have generally been much easier to acquire through regular retail channels than the PS4, which has been in painfully short supply. That could also explain why PlayStation 4 consoles appear to be listing, on average, at considerably higher prices than the Xbox One despite having a lower regular retail price.

I'm more inclined to believe that this IS an argument in favor of the PS4 having a higher demand. Unless the PS4 is suffering from serious supply issues that the XBO doesn't have, then the XBO being far easier to acquire at retail would make a strong argument for people snatching up the PS4 quicker, whether for themselves or to sell on eBay, which wouldn't be happening if there wasn't demand for the system.

And at a 2:1 ratio, too, even while at a "considerably higher price".

I feel very safe in saying that this is a good indicator that the PS4 is in greater demand than the XBO. Not solid proof, of course, but definitely evidence pointing that way.

I can't help but feel like this explanation is an attempt to spin things towards "No, the PS4 isn't more popular, where did you get that idea? There's no reason to think at this point that the XBO isn't just as popular as Sony's system!"

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

You mean a cheaper and a better console is winning as predicted months ago? Well, I'd never...

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Surely this is a double-edged sword right? Unless my knowledge of Ebay has changed, that also means that twice as many PS4's have been put up for sale on Ebay too

I don't think an analyst would be reporting the numbers of sales outside of retailers. That being said, the PS4 has been outselling the XB1 in retail. Why not online as well?

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Stop me if I'm on the wrong track, but couldn't this also mean that more people are re-selling their relatively new PS4s?

 

[Icehearted]

I don't get the need to have it now, outside of the hype compelling people more than common sense. I think the eBay scalping nonsense is kind of a mixed bag in that I appreciate people taking advantage of an exploitable market of morons, but at the same time I kind of wish these morons would wise up and not hold to that infantile need to have what they want right fucking now, SENSIBILITY BE DAMNED!

My other thought is how IO keep seeing the message that the Xbox One feels like a slapdash system made to meet the holiday season and compete with Sony, so it lacks a sense of polish. I'm not at all surprised, especially given all of the emphasis MS made last time about how important being first was (attributing the Playstation 2 and it's huge success over the original Xbox to this), but they race to get these things out by cutting corners, and it hurts their brand, for whatever that's worth.

Can't say i know anyone that doesn't think the hardware for the Xbox 360 wasn't one of the worst made pieces of shit to ever hit the mainstream market. Sure other consoles had failure rates, some ate discs (fucking hilariously awful), some broke down due to overheating, but the fail rate was much higher than normal with that thing, and this is how we know Microsoft as a brand; overpriced, gated online, high console failure rate.

 

[Revolutionary]

Well that's because you can actually go to a store and buy an Xbox one. Whereas if you didn't preorder a PS4 you pretty much have to go to ebay for a resell. And to people who are saying
"lol it's b-coz ps4's better hurr"
: No,Just No, I work in retail and while Ps4 is definitely doing better it's not a 2/1 ratio.

Microsoft have a much better supply network and we can get a shipment of about 80 Xbox's a week whereas we can barely get 20 PS4's a week and therefore we are behind on pre-orders. I was only able to get my PS4 because someone cancelled their pre-order and I swept in like a Ninja.

EDIT: It's worth noting that I have a PS4 but I haven't even unboxed it because there's nothing worth playing yet.

 

[lacktheknack]

Stop me if I'm on the wrong track, but couldn't this also mean that more people are re-selling their relatively new PS4s?

More likely, due to pretty low supply, some people who don't care that much about gaming/managed to get two PS4s realized they could make a tidy profit on Ebay, seeing that PS4s can be a bit hard to find in some places.

 

[smithy_2045]

That doesn't necessarily mean that the PlayStation is in that much more demand, however, as Xbox One systems have generally been much easier to acquire through regular retail channels than the PS4, which has been in painfully short supply. That could also explain why PlayStation 4 consoles appear to be listing, on average, at considerably higher prices than the Xbox One despite having a lower regular retail price.

I'm more inclined to believe that this IS an argument in favor of the PS4 having a higher demand. Unless the PS4 is suffering from serious supply issues that the XBO doesn't have, then the XBO being far easier to acquire at retail would make a strong argument for people snatching up the PS4 quicker, whether for themselves or to sell on eBay, which wouldn't be happening if there wasn't demand for the system.

And at a 2:1 ratio, too, even while at a "considerably higher price".

I feel very safe in saying that this is a good indicator that the PS4 is in greater demand than the XBO. Not solid proof, of course, but definitely evidence pointing that way.

I can't help but feel like this explanation is an attempt to spin things towards "No, the PS4 isn't more popular, where did you get that idea? There's no reason to think at this point that the XBO isn't just as popular as Sony's system!"

There's probably a greater demand for the PS4, but by the same token there's also very likely to be a greater supply of Xbox One. Xbox One could very easily catch up over the next few months solely by virtue of there being more Ones getting to retail if Sony don't improve their supply.

 

[FalloutJack]

Surely this is a double-edged sword right? Unless my knowledge of Ebay has changed, that also means that twice as many PS4's have been put up for sale on Ebay too

Actually, this does not have to be a case of normal buyers selling the console. When I needed a new laptop keyboard from when the previous one started wearing out, I found a reliable third-party distributor that would get me the thing faster than the actual company at a lower cost. As much as there is an inevitable amount of people who ARE reselling the console (as that's possible for any console or PC), an online company getting a shipment of PS4s and reselling them on their own will also put in a significant number.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

As has been said before, this isn't big news. Call me when they find out how many kinect 2s are showing up on ebay to be sold for either hacking or wanton destruction.