Yahoo Japan has reasonably priced PS3s; eBay laughing all the way to the bank

SiliconValley.com has an article up detailing the prices of the ultra-rare PlayStation 3 console on Yahoo Japan’s auction section, and the results are not what you would expect.

With PlayStation 3s hitting $2000USD and higher on this side of the pond, people (and especially eBay) stands to make a killing off of the scarcity of the system, but in Japan, the prices are far lower, with systems (even those with games) averaging around $500USD.

While Japan only received around 80,000 launch day units, all of which sold out almost immediately, the demand doesn’t seem to be as insanely high as it is in the US. A number of factors may be at work including Japanese anticipation of the Wii, a weak used-panties-to-US-dollar exchange rate, and, of course, the recent Mothra attacks all over Tokyo.

Earlier this morning, I spoke to a Japanese college student to gauge the general interest of the Japanese people in Sony’s new console, but since he spoke no English, and my Japanese is limited to things I’ve learned from reading Japanator, the conversation did not go very well, though I believe I’m now engaged.