Only hours after retailers shut down preorders for the 400,000 launch-day PlayStation 3s, auction sites such as eBay exploded with offerings averaging $1,500 a pop.Last November, eBay was full with listings for the hard-to-come-by Xbox 360. Now, enterprising auctioners have been placing preorders for the PlayStation 3 and then immediately preselling the console themselves for a huge profit on eBay.

Last November, eBay was full with listings for the hard-to-come-by Xbox 360. Now, enterprising auctioners have been placing preorders for the PlayStation 3 and then immediately preselling the console themselves for a huge profit on eBay.GameStop announced yesterday that preorders for Sony’s next-gen console were now sold out, with some stores only taking as few as 6 orders. Excited customers had been queuing for hours outside stores to pay their $100 deposit, which guarantees them one of the first 400,000 US-bound PS3s.

This isn’t the first time that canny consumers have taken advantage of a shortage in gaming hardware. Back in 2001, eBay was loaded with PS2s at highly inflated prices, with consoles changing hands in Europe for around £1,000 (about $1,800). Heck, I even remember somebody screwing with an SNES and trying to sell it as a PS2. I believe Jon was behind all of that. As previously mentioned, Xbox 360 preorders were being sold on from their original buyers for $1,500. Some deceitful sellers took advantage of desperate buyers by selling them photos of the Xbox 360 instead of the actual console.

The average going price for the PS3 on eBay today was also in the region of $1,500, although one hopeful seller had given his console a ‘buy-it-now’ price of $100,000. They hadn’t had any bids as of the time I’m posting this.