Finding a PS4 in stock in the United States has been very difficult ever since the launch, and it’s possible the PlayStation 4 eBay auctions have something to do with this. But are the sellers just wasting their time?
In a related report by The Inquisitr , the December PS4 NPD sales numbers revealed that the Xbox One and even the Nintendo 3DS beat the PlayStation 4 , but only in America. Analysts largely blamed this “loss” on supply issues and the fact that the PS4 is being sold in 52 countries while the Xbox One is limited to its original 13 launch markets:
“We expect Sony to continue to ship 1 million consoles per month, so as of the end of January, we believe Sony will have manufactured a cumulative 5 million consoles and will have shipped 4.25 – 4.5 million.”
Sony Computer Entertainment’s John Koller even admitted to the problem Americans have finding a PS4 in stock:
“I think the upside for PS4 in the next set amount of time is fantastic. We’ve been very open about this, but demand is going to chase supply a bit so we need to continue to supply the market as much as we can. We’ll keep doing that, but as soon as it hits retail it’s leaving.”
But the supply issues are just compounded by the PS4 eBay auctions. What apparently is happening is when people find a PS4 in stock at a local store they’re picking up extras in hopes of making some money back. Any given day there’s thousands of them being sold and they’re all marked up way beyond the MSRP of $399.99. You can also tell they’re not regular eBay merchants since their feedback ratings tend to be very small in number. Unfortunately for them, they don’t know how the system works and they’re basically wasting their time and money.
Why do I say this? The lowest PS4 eBay Buy It Now option you can typically find starts around $475, including shipping. But at that price point they’re barely going to make any money… or even lose some. As an example I’ll start with the assumption the console cost at least $399.99 and we’ll use Florida’s sales tax of six percent, which brings the seller’s cost up to $423.99. We’ll assume that “free” shipping will cost you $15, so we’re up to $438.99. After a completed sale your PS4 eBay auction will be charged a Final Value Fee of 10 percent, which ups the seller’s cost by $47.50 to $486.49… and I haven’t even included the Paypal fees yet! This means the break even point is probably over $500. In the end, sellers can potentially lose their time and money to eBay and it’s just making it hard to find the PS4 in stock.