Most PS3s bought second-hand - report

By Robert Purchese Published 26 April, 2010

Says website that does deals on PS3.

Most people buy a PS3 second-hand according to a new study by a website that, er, offers deals on PS3s.

UK website PS3PriceCompare surveyed over 1000 owners of the console and found that 33 per cent had bought a used machine.

Bizarrely, the second most popular method of PS3 purchase was via signing up for a mobile phone contract and receiving the console as an incentive. A considerable 26 per cent said they'd gotten their PS3 this way.

Only 24 per cent admitted to paying full price for Sony's flagship console.

The rest were either given a PS3 as a gift (14 per cent) or won the console in a competition (3 per cent).

78 per cent of the 1017 people that took part said they had bought a second-hand game for PS3.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (65) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 2 years ago

    I think this just proves that small poles done on not a very good cross section of people prove fuck all and that most poles can be twisted to show the result the person that did the pole was initially after.

  • cianchristopher #2 2 years ago

    "and found that 33 per cent had bought a used machine."

    Maybe I'm missing something crucial here, but, how is that "most"?

  • homerramone #3 2 years ago

    The only good poll.. is a deed poll.

  • the_dudefather #4 2 years ago

    yup, see this comments thread for a preview of this one

  • lssl17 #5 2 years ago

    Slow news day etc etc...

  • Beano #6 2 years ago

    33%???... I seriously doubt that number.

  • markymark22 #7 2 years ago

    Wow!! Out of 1000 customers?!! It must be the case that most people who bought ps3's bought them second hand. Bullshit. This is not news.

  • sneetch #8 2 years ago

    @cianchristopher

    I think he means it's the most common way that people got one (according to this poll) but yeah, I know what you mean, I take more than 50% to mean "most" too.

  • cianchristopher #9 2 years ago

    Ah, I see.

    They meant that it's the most common way of buying a PS3.

    Sounds bogus. Wouldn't all those PS3s have to be bought new by someone first, just to be sold second-hand?

  • lssl17 #10 2 years ago

    @ cianchristopher

    If you think about it it does. It is a bit misleading, in that you would think that "most" would mean over 50%, but when you break down all the methods of buying the ps3, then according to that (admittedly useless) poll, there are more people buying ps3s second hand than there are buying them from other means eg: 33% second hand > 26% new

  • Mkwone #11 2 years ago

    Pfft 80% of all people over 16 know that 90% of all statistics are made up.

  • jonsaan #12 2 years ago

    Maybe they mean most people buy them from GAME. Hence they are second hand anyway:D

  • lssl17 #13 2 years ago

    @ cianchristopher (again)

    "Sounds bogus. Wouldn't all those PS3s have to be bought new by someone first, just to be sold second-hand?"

    Yes, but you could then sell-on your second hand console thus making it "third-hand" etc etc...

    Here's a news story you could spin from that stat: PS3 owners most dissatisfied of all console owners according to "scientific" poll!

  • mingster #14 2 years ago

    I bought mine second hand it came with a 320gb hard drive full of PSN games.
    Cost £150.

  • ShinMegami08 #15 2 years ago

    stupid poll

  • cozeny #16 2 years ago

    I'd be surprised if 33 people total had ever bought a 360 second hand. You can't even kill one hobo with one without it RRoDing. I've battered 7 hobos to death with my PS3 and it's still going strong.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #17 2 years ago

    So since the beginning of the year Sony have sold 3million units give or take.

    Which according to this poll means another 9 million units have swapped hands in some other way, that's over a quarter of the PS3 player base.

    Amazing! or more likely Bollox!

  • king2001 #18 2 years ago

    @ShinMegami08

    Now you've just offended 87.3% of this country's finest all meat packers

  • wizlon #19 2 years ago

    I got one free* with a mobile phone contract. I have never regretted it once, great system, would definitely buy another one if my current one broke/went missing.

    * yes, I know it isn't technically free.

  • MeBrains #20 2 years ago

    waw... keep you eyes open for the poll suggesting that 100% of users bought it second hand.

  • schnide #21 2 years ago

    Utter bullshit, meaningless survey and not news worth reporting in the slightest.

  • coolbritannia #22 2 years ago

    33% is *not* most. Seems EG now like to bait the PS3 crowd as much as they used to bait the 360. Are you sure the PS3 *is* next gen? Huh?

  • muscleblade #23 2 years ago

    Hmmm. I traded in mine to GAME for a 360 Elite.

  • SPKRFCKR #24 2 years ago

    @SPAM
    I think you are on to something here. It just goes to show that such small poles really don't mean anything in light of the big picture, ie, there most certainly are not 100,000 ps3 competition winners in the UK

  • muscleblade #25 2 years ago

    @SPAM

    Congratulations with your first post thats actually have a good point. Keep it up.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 14:57

  • bigbadbeasty #26 2 years ago

    * Yet heavy sack beatings are up a shocking 900%! *
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 18:14

  • Acrid #27 2 years ago

    33% is one third, not most, not even half, for fucks sake.

  • GamesConnoisseur #28 2 years ago

    I purchased proudly PHAT 60 gb PS3 for stonking £425 smackeroos and these gifts or giveaways PS3 just insults the value of expensive console!

    Just as bad as perhaps giving away a McLaren or a Ferrari Suoer Car for as a prizes for purchasing 240 months contract of iAndroid BeJesus 1600 mobile.

    Second hands does mean that reliable stats are a pipedream, such as claims of numbers of PSN accounts out there, how many of them belongs to old previous PS3 owners who are now inactive as their consoles passed to new PSN owners?

    OR perhaps those traded didnt go for X360 but instead upgraded themselves to a Slim PS3 and thus not actually a NEW PS3 owner?

    ETC as to all the possible factors and variety of circumstances that renders the truth... STATS ARE NOT TO BE BELIEVED!

  • Skooch #29 2 years ago

    Survey sounds like a load of balls, but I do know several people who got theirs for *free* either through mobile phone contracts or buying a flashy Sony TV.

  • hibee #30 2 years ago

    Whether these numbers are representative or not (and I don't really care either way) the wording of the report is totally inaccurate. 'Most PS3s bought second-hand' implies more than 50%. 'Most common purchase method is 2nd hand' or words to that effect might be better supported by the data, but the 14% of consoles that were gifts raise a problem too: strictly speaking this survey is of PS3 owners, not PS3 *buyers*. The gifted 14% will be some mix of 2nd hand, new, bundled in phone contracts etc., and quite possibly in a very different ratio than PS3s purchased for oneself (giving someone a 2nd hand present might be perceived as bit tatty, for example). So making any claim about overall purchasing percentage from this study is pretty massively flawed.

  • coolbritannia #31 2 years ago

    Out of interest, how many people in here saying surveys mean nothing were saying that a few weeks back when the PS3 was the most connected console?

  • drumbaby #32 2 years ago

    Hmmmm, what are we to glean from this article?

    Big fat dog's cock.

  • Fab4 #33 2 years ago

    1000 people is more than enough to conduct a statistically accurate poll of PS3 owners. However it says absolutely fuck all about the conclusions people choose to draw from this accurate poll.

  • spiritsnake #34 2 years ago

    who pays these people taking poles ands surveys???

  • alimokrane #35 2 years ago

    A mind-numbingly stupid poll and an article based on it that is even more stupid. Well done Eurogamer for teaching us that 33% = most!
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 15:29

  • systems #36 2 years ago

    Have a look at that website's other polls:
    [link url=http://www .ps3pricecompare.co.uk/press.php
    ]http://www .ps3pricecompare.co.uk/press.php
    [/link]

    One has a 72% of men preferring gaming to sex, and one has a third preferring it.

  • cjb_bjc #37 2 years ago

    Wow, Eurogamer i know there's not much happening at the moment but seriously.

  • kangarootoo #38 2 years ago

    This survey is an utter sack of shit.

    EG, I've never before accused you of a slow news day, but seriously. IF the survey was even remotely reliable, it might be interesting. But it is clearly a load of meaningless bollox (3% of PS3 owners won it in a competition??? puleeeeezzz!!).

    So what on EARTH makes you think anyone should know about it (regardless of whether they WANT to know about it).

    This is just giving ad space to some company, for reasons I can't imagine.

    If I conduct a survey on my cat, will you print the results of that too?
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 16:02

  • Gao #39 2 years ago

    Why does anybody comment that it must be a slow news day. what is the point? slow life day? (yes i know it's ironic me wasting my time writing this.)

  • JimWest #40 2 years ago

    How do people not understand the simple percentages. 33% is the most because that is the highest percentage of all the options as stated in the article.

    33% - Used sales
    26% - Freebies (Phone contracts and whatnot)
    24% - Full Price
    14% - Gift
    3% - Competitions
    Thus equalling 100%

    Out of all of them the section with the MOST is used sales with 33%, with more than any other section. Basic maths.

    EDIT : Cleared up a spelling mistake plus a +1 to geeza2020
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 16:38

  • chudders #41 2 years ago

    I got mine with a phone contract too, precisely because I couldn't justify spending (then) £300 plus on a console. I can well understand that a fair percentage of owners got theirs this way as out of the 'free' gifts available with phones, this is one of the most expensive.

  • geeza2020 #42 2 years ago

    wahey, someone else who understands percentages!! Now i just have to start on these "pole" using fools. ITS A FUCKING POLL PEOPLE!!!!

  • FireMonkey #43 2 years ago

    I wonder how many of those second hand PS3 were originally freebies, gifts or competitions (or even already second hand) and so have made it into the poll twice (or more)?

  • Zaiz #44 2 years ago

    I am 100% certain that they just quoted an online poll on their own site, or something. A sample size of 1017 is such a bizarre number that it can't be anything else. I also took a little trip around their site to find the source of these numbers, which I didn't, but I did find out that they released "research" about girlfriends vs PS3s, and PS3s won. Odd.

  • Jamaicangmr #45 2 years ago

    This makes no sense to me.
    For the a PS3 to be considered second hand doesnt it have to first be purchased by someone who then returns it? So how could second hand sales exceed 1st hand? This article just doesnt make sense to me.

    Ebay = Second hand
    Refurbished = Second hand
    Craigslist = Second hand
    etc.

    Someone had to buy it first so how is it that second hand purchases are more? I mean Sony doesn't make Second hand PS3's.

  • Ryze #46 2 years ago

    eBay here.

    Wanted a back compat model at a decent price 1 year ago. No chance of a full price purchase until the recent low priced Slim deals.

  • Bill Gates is Evil #47 2 years ago

    It's impossible for second-hand sales to be greater than the number of people who paid full price.

    This poll is shit.

  • nickthegun #48 2 years ago

    I got mine free with an AOL contract and I still feel ripped off.

  • doulema #49 2 years ago

    I remember when people voted about their RROD on a website ( which just fanboys voting is good enough to fuck over a pole online from a stupid website ) most people in this website were more than happy to agree with it. I will always find odd the way people excuse Sony's product on the other hand. ( I got both so i dont give a flying fk :) )

    But yeah like ive always said, how can someone be so dumb to count on a website's pole made out of a few people? Those specific ones might actually be saying the truth but they are using that website for specific reasons and they represent only a tiny portions of consumers. Nothing more. If they sell second hand consoles on the website itself what's so weird if they head to it to buy that expensive console second hand?

  • Godhather08 #50 2 years ago

    Just wow!

    What a fucking retarded article of an even more retarded poll. I'm speechless.

  • Les #51 2 years ago

    "It's impossible for second-hand sales to be greater than the number of people who paid full price."

    And so of course it isn't. But that's EG being creative with (sub) headings again... 33% never constituted the majority as far as I know...

  • WayMucho #52 2 years ago

    A recent poll revealed that most people couldn't give a shit about this article.

  • Murton #53 2 years ago

    Firstly, EG uberfail at math. 33% by definition is not most, in fact it's quite short of being anywhere near "most" which would be more than any other method.

    Secondly, in order for there to be second hand PS3 for sale there must have been first hand sales to build a supply, so it's very, very unlikely for the second hand figures to even approach the first hand sales, let alone exceed it in order to be classed as "most"

    Also, 1000 PS3 owners from a non-defined geographical area? There are over 30 million PS3 owners in the world, their so called survey is completely irrelevant and non-newsworthy, other than to bait a few fanboys and drive the hit counter of course.

  • jambo74 #54 2 years ago

    Well, at least they last that long, hu?

  • SEVQA #55 2 years ago

    When ever buying second hand don't forget to do the crotch test!
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 20:37

  • Diomedes #56 2 years ago

    Each and every second-hand bought PS3 has been bought first hand before...this studio must have been done by an absolute moron.

  • BlinkeredAxis #57 2 years ago

    If the poll (NOT pole...) mainly constituted PS3's purchased in, say, then last twelve months, then the second hand sales could indeed exceed the number of newly purchased boxes.

    The number of new ones would only equal the number of second hand PS3's if you could count sales (or competition wins!)
    over the full current lifetime of the console.

    Giving away a lot of consoles makes some sense when you're hoping to gain market share, and eventually sell a lot of
    expensive software.

    Nobody, (including me) expected the Playststation brand to be challenged so hard by the stuffy old geeks at Microsoft,
    but there you go. Sony still need a lot of help to get back to where they were with PS2.

    And before anybody says, don't mention Wii. It's for mums.

  • Dylbot #58 2 years ago

    I bought one of the phantom 9%.

  • lockload #59 2 years ago

    Guys this is obviously a funded advertisement article, surely everyone can see that?

  • SlapLaB #60 2 years ago

    And out of that 330 used PS3, how many had a bluray fault?
    Edited by 1 at 27/04/10 @ 08:10

  • TheApologist #61 2 years ago

    Please don't post articles on obviously bullshit research. It does the site no favours.

  • nasanu #62 2 years ago

    Does eurogamer even have an editor?... Once upon a time this site was trying to be the edge of gaming sites (yes i am well aware that there IS an edge site), but the standards are getting lower by the day.

  • zedzee #63 2 years ago

    Mostly are bought second hand?

    I can believe that - the PS3 is the most extortionately priced console ever, in video game history.

    Over & Out.

  • callum9999 #64 2 years ago

    People seem to be forgetting if you buy a second hand PS3 you are still allowed to sell it again, hence a new PS3 could be sold on countless times in theory. Still a completely rubbish poll though

  • Imagamer360 #65 2 years ago

    Wow