A Little Background...

I wrote the article on the new XBox 360 and how it represented a supply/demand economy. As I wrote it, I wrote with the media figures of a $2000 price for the XBox 360 in mind. And so, because I was bored, I decided to do a little research into what the item would cost me if I were bent on getting this for my kids for the holiday. Being a veteran eBayer, I knew what to look for. And so, as a service to those of you who consider the XBox 360 a "must have", I thought I'd share my findings with you. I'm not going to include links (hey, if they want me to throw 'em in, they should kick back some "love" for the advertising), but I will give you the info I found.

For the purpose of this study, I chose only "Buy It Now!" items, and only sellers with a rating over 100. In the XBox Premium category, it seemed to bottom out at about $850 from reliable vendors, although I did find a $750 unit from a buyer with an impressive rating of over 1000 (99.9% positive). Core units started at about $450.

A word of caution, though: in the $399 price range (the retail price for the premium unit), I found auctions for information on how to get am XBox 360 for free. This is, of course, an offer to sell you information on one of the sites that collects as much personal data on you as it can and asks you to sign up as many friends as you can, so it's a bad deal all around. Be absolutely positive you are getting the actual XBox 360 (read the fine print).

Although the $450-750 range still makes the XBox 360 a pricey holiday gift, it is FAR under the $2000 the media's reporting as typical. Me, I'd wait until after the holidays when I can buy it at retail, but if you absolutely CAN'T wait, I hope these tips help. You can, of course, check the actual auctions out...but chances are if the price is anywhere CLOSE to retail, you're going to lose your bid to a sniper.