By: Michael Fahey

After reading our feature on the PlayStation 3 grey market last week, many readers were wondering how the Wii was faring on eBay during the same time period. So many, in fact, that I was sent back to the Terapeak database, spreadsheet in hand, to create a comparison graph for the average eBay prices of both systems.

I know many people wanted me to compare 360 data for the similar time period the previous year, but sadly I couldn't get my hands on that data in time for this article to be published. I'll keep digging to see what I can turn up.

Comparing and Contrasting
The first thing you'll notice is the relatively straight line the Nintendo Wii's numbers generate as compared to the PS3's, which reads like a electrocardiogram 45 minutes into an episode of House. If you look closely, however, you'll see that while the Wii price didn't fluctuate greatly, at several points it mirrors the more expensive console's trends, only to a lesser degree of amplitude.

In particular, the Wii and PS3 both had a spike in late October, a little bit after preorders were allowed on eBay, with the Wii hitting it's peak early in the game at $707 on October 21st. The two systems also saw the same drop off after launch. Three days after the system went on sale, Wii auction averages dipped to $384. Relatively low, but still $134 more than the retail price, and oddly close to the PS3's lowest which was $124 above retail. Straight monetary values don't mean as much as percentages, of course. Those two numbers represent a 20% profit margin on the PS3 and 53% on the Wii, so selling the latter on eBay remains a better deal overall.

At it's most expensive the Wii was selling for nearly three times its worth, while the PlayStation 3 reached $2,367 on November 16th - nearly 4 times the price tag of the 60GB system.

Why the Difference?

I believe the key to the differences between the two graphs, aside from retail price, was overall system availability. Perceived profit potential was elevated by both gaming and traditional news sites' widespread reporting of PS3 manufacturing issues, system shortages, etc. From the start people knew that Nintendo was manufacturing plenty of systems, so the chances of getting one on launch day were much higher. Case in point, the Alpharetta Georgia Best Buy I visited for both launches had 35 PlayStation 3s versus 140+ Nintendo Wiis.

In addition, I don't think the type of people who were trying to make money off of the PS3 could understand the value of the Wii. They saw powerful new technology, Blu-ray, and high definition graphics. The Wii's entertainment value is something you can't really fully explain without seeing it in action. Even folks in the gaming industry didn't fully understand the potential of the system until playing it themselves. As far as non-gaming profiteers were concerned it was just a white box you waved a stick at. In the end, their loss.

Wiis Still Kinda Available

Personally I was quite surprised there wasn't a sharp spike in Wii prices leading up to Christmas, as the retail store I was employed at was flooded with phone calls and folks walking in hoping to score Nintendo's console. One possible explanation? eBay prospectors flooded the market again, making the auction site the best place to purchase the system. During the date range I studied Wii auctions had an overall success rate of 70%, though if you look at the week leading up to Christmas that average fell to 55%, meaning just under half of the systems put up for sale didn't get bought. As I was researching this article I watched as several Wii auctions ended around $365. Demand may be high, but eBayers have more than enough supply to meet it.

Or you could always go to Frys! I called a couple of the stores and yes, they are bundling the systems just like the PS3. You get five games (none of which are Zelda) for $499.99. If you're really hard-pressed for a Wii you could pick one up there, remove the games, and try to return them to Wal-Mart unopened. You'd just need to find a customer rep to stupid to notice or too lazy to bother calling over a manager, which I highly doubt would be all that difficult.

Conclusion
Considering the small window that the PlayStation 3 auctions had to turn a truly amazing profit, prospectors would have been better off in the long run purchasing a couple of Wiis, which have maintained an average profit margin of 45-50% since preorders became available. Definitely not a windfall, but a much more financially sound investment in the long run. Unfortunately these launches weren't about being sound financially. They were about betting on the big bucks, and the majority of the PS3 prospectors out there played the tables and lost.

How I collected the graph data:
To track eBay sales for the Wii I once again used a website called Terapeak, which is of of the most trusted eBay market research tools available. I looked at data for the US eBay site each day utilizing the keyword "Nintendo Wii" in the Video Games/Systems category. I set the price range for $200 through $10,000 to weed out any artificially inflated auctions as well as any fake buying guide auctions. Keep in mind that the results are still in part tainted by systems including games and extra controllers, but I believe the method I used obtained the most accurate results, all things considered.