Sony Plans Deposit Scheme for PS3 in UK?

An anonymous reader writes "Sony is reportedly in talks to introduce a new £150 per PS3 deposit scheme across retailers in the UK. The proposed scheme aims to help improve resource allocation as well as reduce the 'eBay phenomenon' which was evident with the 360's launch, deposits were secured from as little as £5 and crafty sellers would sell the console way above its retail price."

Futureshop.ca - Similar idea

[MrJynxx]

Futureshop.ca had something that was even better than this idea.

Once they had a tentative allocation # from MS. They began allowing pre-orders of 10 xbox360's per day for a month or two (basically had an allocation of approx 600 or so). So if all of the 10 were gone you'd have to wait for the next day.

One night I was up really really late, and it turns out futureshop.ca is PST time, so I jumped online at 3am EST and was able to secure a pre-order (didn't charge my card until the day of shipping) . And surprisingly futureshop(Bestbuy actually owns them) got my 360 out to me on launch day!

So I laughed at all the hordes of people lining up at bestbuy/futureshop on launch day.. and have been loving it ever since (well, until some good games came out, launch day games kinda sucked).

MrJynxx

Re:An excellent idea

[soft_guy]

The retailer really doesn't care, but the manufacturer* probably does care. If people can't buy the units at retail and the only place they are available is eBay at an inflated price, it probably doesn't help the launch of the platform. It probably isn't helpful for game developers either. In the long run, it probably hurts them quite a bit because they waste their initial momentum. It gets perceived as a "bungled launch".

*I realize that the term "manufacturer" probably isn't the right term anymore since pretty much all consumer electronics are made by contract manufacturers. But in the case of the PS2/3, I mean Sony. I guess maybe a better term would be "platform owner", but it sounds awkward and confusing.

Re:Sounds Good

[DeeDob]

"With manufacturing already ahead of schedule" huh... The PS3 is ALREADY late. It was supposed to launch last spring! Even with the November release, with the amount of PS3 produced per month (200 000), they won't meet their expected amount of PS3s. Even if they had 3 millions ready, there's going to be a shortage. Combine that with a world-wide launch. I can already say that the launch WON'T be ANYTHING but smooth. In another note: I'm also pretty sure some law-firm is already analyzing suing Sony for defects on the PS3. The paper and the study is already done, they just have to fill the blanks with the name of the defective part. Mark my words, two weeks after the launch, Sony is gonna get sued for a high rate of defects in their PS3.

Re:Raises the bar though

[pecko666]

Well, you have the price wrong, 150£ is something like 300$ .. Are you realy ready to pay 300$ for a preorder ??