Similar thing happened with the Wii and Fulham Broadway GAME.

They refused to take pre-orders in the week following Nintendo's announcement on the UK launch and would only take phone numbers...
That way they would then call the people who were interested..

Fortunately I caught them the day they started taking orders - I'm quite high on the list now..

But.

A week later - A WEEK LATER - I get a phone call..

"Hi, I understand you were interested in putting down a deposit on a Nintendo Wii?"

Glad I didnt wait.

Oh no way! When did they start taking orders!? Ass-heads! They took my phone number weeks ago too, actually, it was the day after the UK launch date was announced. I was wary of them forgetting about me. I bet they've started taking preorders and din't contact me!

you think thats bad, i was never emailed or anything about the instore preorder. Im still pissed that gamespot and ebgames didnt actually send out a message saying hey were selling them in stores. Instead of being able to go to my mall which opens at 7, doing a mad dash to gamespot and reserving one, i was gleefully going around not knowing they were for presale, then the exact same thing happened to me as the guy who sent in that letter. worst thing was i found out that my gamespot had one of the most obscured showings and had them available the whole time.

Don't worry, you'll still be able to get one eventually!

I don't see why ebay have to ban sales - if people are willing to pay for it, then it sounds fair enough to me. The only reason they "get away" with it is because the demand is so high in the first place - if no one bought it, it would be bad luck for the seller, who'd have wasted £500 - but everyone's only blaming the seller.

I see this as just a natural part of the hype building up to the launch and it's not a surprise at all.

Anyone will be able to get one within a year, I think, and by then they'll hopefully have reduced the price as well! If that isn't good enough, I would blame Sony for not planning a good enough launch - and it's in their best interests to sell as many as possible as soon as possible, so it's a bit pathetic, but they're the ones who lose out in the end.

I agree with you to an extent - I have no real problem with sellers who manage to obtain one to sell ahead - but don't you think those pre-ordering two, three or even four consoles at once and selling the dupes is a little bit disgusting? Especially considering those who have registered real interest weren't contacted, it seems.

I think those looking to sell one should just be able to pre-order the one. If they wanna sell it on, it's their call. But ordering another just so they can get to keep one and be opportunistic is just callous.