Looking to buy an Xbox One or a PlayStation 4 before Christmas? With the Xbox One you should be safe, but the PS4? That’s a different story. After a quick call around, and speaking to some official reps it looks as though the Xbox One, while still in high demand, will be available for most. The PlayStation 4 is slightly more tricky.
“More people are interested in the PS4,” said one store clerk when we asked.
“We’re getting a lot more Xbox Ones in store,” said another, from a different store.
It’s difficult to tell at this stage whether it’s demand, a lower level of stock, or — more likely — a combination of both.
“Xbox One is not under any real constraint at the moment and we have adequate supplies until just before Christmas,” was the official word from JB Hi-Fi when we asked this week.
But if you haven’t pre-ordered a PlayStation 4 by now, you most likely won’t get a console before Christmas. Even if you did pre-order, if you pre-ordered too late, the details get a little more murkey.
“All pre-orders received before July 9th are guaranteed and reservations prior to about September 10th have been successful is securing a Day one allocation,” explained the JB Hi-Fi rep. Meaning that anyone who pre-ordered before September 10 should be able to get their console today.
“Subsequently, all reservations until about November 20th have secured an allocation before Christmas.”
The folks at EB Games have Xbox One consoles in stock, but suggested they might not last long.
“The Xbox One is still available in EB Games stores,” explained the rep, “however this is not set to last and we will definitely sell out in a few days due to demand. If you are looking to get yourself an Xbox One for Christmas it is a good idea to get in as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.”
Again the PlayStation 4 situation was more complicated.
“We will always guarantee all preorders our customers make,” said the rep, “however due to the worldwide supply shortage for the console some customers will not receive their console launch day. All of our preorder customers have been contacted by their local stores to advise them of the timeframe their allocated shipment will arrive in.”
Anyone here manage to get a PlayStation 4 without a pre-order? Anyone planning on picking up an Xbox One before Christmas? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments
80 responses to “Is It Possible To Get A PlayStation 4 Or An Xbox One Before Christmas Without A Pre-Order?”
Was in JB at lunch and overheard one of the sales people on the phone asking another store to hold a PS4 for a customer. So there are some out there… they may however be few in number!
I’d say that would only be if they didn’t have enough stock for the customers that had a preorder for the launch batch. JB HiFi has “spares” but it goes down the list of many preorders and trust me there is a lot. No skipping the queue there.
I would say check K-Mart/Big W/Target.
Those would be the best bets. Most people don’t consider checking any of them for new release games or consoles and they are often in stock, and cheaper than Dick Smith/EB Games/JB HiFi.
Can confirm that! Got my WiiU Pro and a game from Big W, cost less than just the WiiU next door at EB.
Friend just walked into Big W where they had PS4s on the shelf. Picked three up and put two on eBay.
Free PS4.
that’s not shock, Xbox One games are $99 at EB. What a joke. Biggest rip off store ever. Big W had them for $68
Did you get one for $68? I went there and they couldn’t even find the stock! So typical of these department stores advertising it cheap and having like two copies. I’d rather pay more if I know I can have it day one.
$68 is below EB’s buy price for games. They lose money on every $68 game the have to price match.
I almost feel bad asking them to price match, because I DO want EB to make money…..just not from me.
LOL this guy… are you an EB representative?
Negative.
Years ago maybe but these days – I reckon publishers have adjusted their pricing for the Australian market – it’s just that EB tries to hit a bigger profit margin in the first few months.
I say this because I’ve observed Big W’s prices for new release software plummet almost $20 in the past two years
Don’t feel bad. EB makes plenty of money. They may not make much on the new games, but pre owned makes them a fortune
They sell it at RRP. Big W sells below RRP, and at a loss because they are massive corporation and can make money back other ways once they get you in the store. EB only sells games, so they can’t.
Selling bellow RRP doesnt mean you are making a loss. Take electronics stores for example. Everything is sold below RRP.
thats not true i work at a Big W, It is indeed true that some things we do sell at a loss but games are not one of them we sell them at a price just above the cost the company pays for them! EB on the other hand are a “specialty” store and mark up the products to make more of a profit… dont get me wrong i still shop at EB myself at times as, Yes you are guaranteed a copy and they do special and collectors editions and sell “other games” that dont quite make it to the big dub, target and kmart shelves but by all means they are no way losing out by price matching and you’d be surprised that even tho these companies are a massive corporation by no means are they bringing in the money like they could be
$68 deal was for the first week, they have changed to $78 now
Still a lot cheaper 😉
I have actually found this is not the case, As most parents go in early and just layby them on the day, and pay it off before christmas.
I can guarantee that no Kmart will have stock before next year.They’re first set of preorders are for the end of January.
Still looking in the Northern Sydney area. Any help? Can’t find one online or ANYWHERE for launch…
The JB I was at had more PS4s than I thought they would this morning – maybe 100? All pre-ordered though obviously – makes it pretty easy to believe there’s a shortage.
If I were looking for one without a pre-order, I’d be trying a Target or KMart, preferably right nearby a JB/EB so that people aren’t going there for it.
Anyone think Sony has deliberately decreased stock levels of the console to inflate the demand?
Nope, I bet that PS4 has massively outsold Xbox One. I remember the Hype around PS4 when Sony came out and announced GAMES GAMES GAMES over Xbox’s media setup. I would have preordered one myself except for Steambox/Occulus Rift, and my 35 PS3 titles I haven’t finished yet.
I doubt it – that would basically be leaving money on the table, especially if MS have consoles available to buy. Sony would prefer (and need) to have the money in the bank if they can get it rather than drum up some kind of false scarcity. The fact is that selling consoles earns them money, not selling consoles earns them nothing.
I think it’s more a case of greater demand and also I think Sony are launching in more countries than MS, especially across Europe, which means stock is spread more thinly.
Yup, 20 countries today and then another dozen (or so) next month — has the X1’s 13 launch countries beat by a comfortable margin.
Sony are also aiming for February in Japan, aren’t they? MS don’t even have a date for Japan yet and, let’s face it, they won’t need to allocate a lot of units to that country when they do get around to releasing there.
Yeah I think the Xbone hitting less countries has an effect – although make no mistake both companies are throwing a lot of consoles at the US to take (Sony) / hold (M$) that market
There’s already at least a handful of people on whirlpool forums saying they are getting an Xbox One instead of a PS4 since they can’t wait for 2014. Sony was too late in starting production.. explains this shortage plain and simple!
Sony started production a month before Microsoft… It’s plain simple, the demand for the PS4 is extremely high and the Xbox One demand isn’t high.
I could buy a Xbox One at my local EB Games now. But when I spoke to the store manager at the PS4 launch, he told me that there was over 600 people waiting for PS4’s and that have paid them off… This is the 2nd largest shopping centre in Western Australia, so they were always going to have high sales. He said that PS4 is outselling the Xbox One by a factor of 3 or 4.
Apple likes to trickle their stock so as to make the impression that it is always the HOT item. This is my experience from working in Telstra for the last 8 years and it has been a trend that Apple does each year.
I’m not sure if it’s deliberate, but I suspect we might have been a little neglected with those 1mil units shipped to North America two weeks ago.
It’s actually not worth it for sony to create an artificial shortage when people can so easily decide to jump to Xbox One if it is in stock. This early of a new release cycle, you want to lock in as many people as possible to your console.
That will probably just mean higher prices on eBay for a while.
I’ve seen a few auctions nearing the end at almost $900.
Of course, this does nothing for Sony’s profit margin, so an intentional shortage isn’t a smart move.
Maybe Sony are holding back units and selling them on eBay themselves? An extra $300 on top and no retailer margin. Profit!
If you’re a cynical type of person, sure, that’s the first thing you’d think.
Sony has pretty much said they did. There was a statement about not wanting to see like they were not selling by having too much stock on shelves and how they wanted to balance it, by someone in their marketing/sales division like 2-3 weeks ago.
And sure, it might hurt sales now, but if they manage to seem more popular, it could effect their next 5-8 year investment a lot more.
Most certainly not. Sony are still making a loss on the console. So getting the games out the door is paramount to their profits. So many people will be buying whatever console is available to give their kids before xmas. Sony aren’t that stupid.
Making a loss? I don’t think so. Not this time round…
Apparently it costs US$381 to build. Add distribution costs, packaging and so on and the US price of US$399 probably *is* making a loss.
The Australian price of $550 may have enough margin to make it profitable, although my bet would be Sony are still taking a slight hit. It you assume a retailer margin of 20%, plus GST, there’s very little wiggle room for Sony to make a profit.
Apparently the XBox One costs an extra US$71 to make, mostly due to the Kinect.
Retailer margins on gaming consoles haven’t approached anywhere near 20% since the days of the SNES.
certain dick smiths have spares/cancelled pre-orders, mate of mine walked into one sydney store and bought one this morning. he promptly sold it on ebay for $850, kicked himself for not buying two. he was heading back to pick up another one (dont know yet if he got another one or not.)
Your friend is a scumbag
yeah but what do you do…
i sorta wish now i had pre-ordered 2 (or 3) put 1 (or 2) on ebay and then i wouldnt have to explain myself to the Mrs.
many many scumbags today MANY
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=playstation+4+console&_frs=1
Why? People are willing to pay that much. How is he a scumbag for making a profit?
That’s how the free market works. Are the people paying $850 scumbags too? Is myer a scumbag shop for not selling everything at near cost?
I personally think its a scummy act because if no one did this then there would be many more consoles for us gamers today..
It’s essentially just scalping, a cheap and nasty way to make a buck.
Buying a high demand item / concert ticket for it’s RRP with the intent of jacking up the cost to sell to someone else is definitely a scumbag move. Generally the reason people are subject to paying these costs is because scalpers hoard all of the inventory from day 1 (not quite the case with ps4’s but they were running out over a month ago)
I mean if you preordered/won/got given a ps4 and didn’t want it anymore or thought “meh I can wait a couple months” so you sold it on ebay for a profit then that’s fine, I’m not making a judgement there. It’s the “oh man if I knew I was gonna fleece the public I would have spent my life savings on ps4’s to maximise returns”. It’s why concerts go out of sale 9 minutes after they open… and about 15 minutes later you see ebay flooded with overpriced tickets.
For me it’s just massively immoral, like who are you to make a buck out of something you don’t give two shits about or had anything to do with…. and the guy buying these consoles could be some rich kid…. but it’s probably some hard working parent who didn’t realise their kids wanted to go see some concert or even knew a ps4 was out, and now their paying for their mistake into some “profiteers” pocket.
tldr
Scalpers = Scumbags
Nice write man. Yeah you said that well. Those people are the worst!
I know people that preordered months ago at DSE and told today that they have to wait for the next round
pre-ordered PS4 on 7 September…went to JB Osborne Park to pick up at 9am this morning and I couldn’t get one as too far back in the queue. Told I would have it in the next pre-Christmas delivery….trying to resist going to grab an Xone…
I pre-ordered a PS4 with EB Games months ago, but missed the original shipment & now have to wait until the 2nd week of December. “Oh well” I say. Considering the only game I’ll have to play on it is AC4 for a while, waiting is fine.
Pre ordered in September at Target and got a call yesterday, so if you can get in there you might still be able to snag one sooner than at Eb or JB
Is that dude in the Bulls hat flipping someone off?
Haha looks like it but I think the ‘finger’ is the guy behind him. Part of his arm I think.
And what’s with “double hat guy” in the foreground?
One hat says XBOX the other Playstation. He’s in xbox mode right now.
I’m at work today and finish at 7. I’m not sure when target closes but I’ll call into Kmart and see if they have any left. Called harvey yesterday and they had all their stock allocated to pre-orders.
I have a slightly related question. I preordered a PS4 from JB HiFi on the first day they opened up that second wave, so mine is “guaranteed” to arrive before Christmas. So, um… what happens if they don’t get one? I mean, I understand that they’ve probably got contracts with Sony and suppliers and all sorts of things, and if they didn’t get them it’d be a Big Deal, but if one doesn’t arrive then they can’t exactly make one appear out of nowhere. So it’s not really a guarantee, then, is it?
Hmm yeah I wonder what the legal definition of “guarantee” is in a case like that? Maybe you’d have a case to get yours for free if it arrives after xmas?!? 😛
Nope, not a guarantee at all. But you should be ok. They’d have some idea of numbers. First world problems, hey? What a bastard of a thing.
Very possible to get an Xbox One without a pre-order. Just called up my local EB Games, and had them put aside the console + FIFA 14 download bundle for me. PS4 appears to be virtually impossible to get without a pre-order.
those asshats at EB sold me my X1 which Id pre ordered over a month ago.. and they said Id missed out on a day one and Fifa 14.. I did complain to head office they relented and sent me the code.. but still I pre ordered my PS4 August 30 tens shy of the guaranteed 2nd shipment.. stuff you EB .!..
Picked one up from the infamous DSE in the city about 20 minutes ago with no pre order. I feel bad about it …but I have my Ps4 now ..no waiting! I saw a few guys buying 3 at one register as well which i think is not cool… I’m getting one for me ..not for ebay nonsense
I pre-ordered my PS4 in early August and was told by EBGames at the time that I was in the second shipment. I received a call about a week ago advising me again of that and that I would receive my PS4 “sometime before Chirstmas”. A pretty vague answer but I’m hoping they will start to receive weekly or fortnightly shipments. They must have some idea of numbers, because I know they are telling people who pre-order a PS4 now that they’ll receive theirs early Janurary 2014.
Totally pre-ordered with EB in August. Am yet to receive a call…
Yeah i pre ordered around August and have yet to hear anything back from EB since i placed the order.
I checked in store today just to see if i could get one and i was told i should have received several emails this week with information on my order but i haven’t received any.
Yep, I am another EB games pre-order customer yet to recieve a call.
only if it was before August 20
I do not understand Sony they knew by the preorders that the release was going to be huge worldwide. They also knew that its Christmas and yet the PS4 is in short supply they have had years to plan for this and yet they have failed just like Microsoft. It really is a stupid business decision.
Pre-ordered PS4 late August at my local JB, was told first shipment was exhausted. Heard BigW had allocation still so ordered with them on 30 Aug, and changed my JB order to AC4. Got back from lunch to find a box at my desk. Result. 🙂 No sign of AC4 yet so this weekend will be finishing GTAV… Was in JB at lunch and heard the poor staff telling many people that they won’t get one ’til January.
I managed to pick up a ps4 from JB this afternoon, I asked how many they had left the guy said “about 20 left” turns out the JB didn’t get as many pre orders they thought they would and I know a few people who managed to pick up a ps4 from that store.
Which JB?
I preordered mine at ebgames at the start of July, they tell me that I was one day off the cut and now I have to wait for the second shipment, such bs, this is why I don’t usually bit anything from them
How is it their fault you were past the cutoff and unless you were buddies with the guy, there was no way he was going to put you in the day one launch. You can only be blamed in this case, no EB.
Do you think I can take that Jbhifi quote and my August 21st pre order receipt into the store and convince them to give me one?
Sure! EBGames are still selling them Day One Edition! I am so temped!
https://www.ebgames.com.au/featured/xbox-one?utm_source=ebgames&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=hero&utm_content=xbox-one
I rang all around Brisbane the sarv and no-one has any in stock at all until January unless you’ve preordered early enough
EB Games still has stock, including a few Day One Editions
There are heaps of PS4’s at my local Big W in Brisbane, maybe give the big department stores a call before you pre order from jb/eb?
Just to clarify, this was at Taigum Big W.
Cheers for the tip. I just called them but their stock is “only for pre-orders” now.
At my launch, the store manager at my local EB Games told me that the PS4 had about 3-4x the numbers of Xbox One’s sold. He said that about 600 people have fully paid theirs off and there are still lots of people who haven’t. I expected the PS4 to outsell the Xbox One but not by that much, it’s fair to say I was surprised and Sony did something right if people are willing to wait 3 months to get a PS4 instead of just buying a Xbox One now.
Rang Dick Smith at 9am yesterday (launch day) asking if any available. They put my name on a list, rang me at noon and I’d picked up a non pre ordered ps4 by 1pm. Guess just ringing around.
Killzone pack with extra controller and camera up on ebay from Gamesmen, due to ship on the 16th of Dec
Went to my local jb to try my luck on launch day. Supplies exhausted, won’t have any stock till February/march, etc, etc, etc. Fella was nice enough about it, just stating the company line. Said I’d place my order anyway. Wanted to be ahead of everyone who takes their Christmas cash and places an order. He told me I was the first person to go through with an order when hearing about the wait. As a result, the first cancellation will be heading my way. Happy enough with that.
I had a customer at work today tell me he managed to score a PS4 at Costco without preordering. Apparently they only had about 6.
It must be hard for Sony to judge demand for a new console and provide/manufacture enough to satisfy customers. Hey, I preordered and payed so I got mine. It does make me wonder though on the games and accessories that sit on the store shelves when the console sells out and new consoles get dates weeks and sometimes months afterwards. Most people I know who bought one got all the accessories on day 1 which means that shit is just sitting there gathering dust. That would give me the shits as a store owner knowing you would not see movement/profit on that stock.
I think it is sad that people buy more PS4s than they need to sell the extra on EBAY for a higher amount to make money thus making the supply less for the individuals who want to get one for their son at Xmas for the normal price because that is all they can afford.