SEATTLE -- Forget day trading -- the best way to make a buck this holiday season may be to flip your Xbox 360.\nSome people fortunate enough to get their hands on Microsoft Corp.'s new videogame console when it was released Nov. 22 immediately resold them on eBay, occasionally fetching thousands of dollars for packages that sometimes also included games and other add-ins.\nThe online auction site said about 1,800 Xbox 360s were sold there between midnight and noon Pacific time Tuesday. Retailers across the country had opened their doors at midnight so gaming enthusiasts -- and, apparently, entrepreneurial eBay users -- could get their hands on the console immediately after it came out.\nInternet retailer Amazon.com Inc. and the Web sites for Circuit City Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. all listed the consoles as being sold out Nov. 22. Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf said the company also sold out of the consoles at most of its brick-and-mortar stores Tuesday.\n
Holiday shopping rush starts slow
\nNEW YORK -- The nation's retailers had a modest start to the holiday shopping season as consumers jammed stores for bargains in the early morning hours Friday but seemed to lose interest as the weekend wore on.\n"There was a lot of hype, a lot of promotions and lot of people, but the results were on the lukewarm side," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.\nAccording to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which monitors sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets, sales for the combined Friday and Saturday period slipped 0.5 percent to $13.4 billion, from the year-ago period.\nAnalysts said there was heavy shopper traffic for the day after Thanksgiving, but consumers apparently lost their enthusiasm once those early bird specials were over.\n"If you give Americans a bargain, they will get up whatever time to take advantage of it. But I don't think this weekend turned out to be as big as retailers hoped," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C.\nDiscounters and electronics stores appeared to be the big winners. Analysts said business at apparel stores seemed more mixed.\nWal-Mart Stores Inc. attracted shoppers in the pre-dawn hours Friday with discounted TVs and digital cameras. Its efforts appeared to have paid off; it reported better-than expected sales Friday and estimated that November sales at stores open at least a year would be up 4.3 percent.\nForecasts for holiday shopping have improved in recent weeks amid declining gasoline prices. But gas is still more expensive than this time last year, and shoppers face higher heating bills this winter. Given such challenges, stores tried to lure shoppers with more enticing bargains, expanded hours on Friday and other gimmicks.sh: New Xboxes resold on ebay
SEATTLE -- Forget day trading - the best way to make a buck this holiday season may be to flip your Xbox 360.\nSome people fortunate enough to get their hands on Microsoft Corp.'s new videogame console when it was released Nov. 22 immediately resold them on eBay, occasionally fetching thousands of dollars for packages that sometimes also included games and other add-ins.\nThe online auction site said about 1,800 Xbox 360s were sold there between midnight and noon Pacific time Tuesday. Retailers across the country had opened their doors at midnight so gaming enthusiasts - and, apparently, entrepreneurial eBay users - could get their hands on the console immediately after it came out.\nInternet retailer Amazon.com Inc. and the Web sites for Circuit City Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. all listed the consoles as being sold out Nov. 22. Best Buy spokesman Jay Musolf said the company also sold out of the consoles at most of its brick-and-mortar stores Tuesday.
