cheapest (legal) way to get a 360?

[c0ldb33r]

So I've decided I want to get an xbox 360. What's the cheapest way to get one? My only preference is that it have at least the 20GB hard drive.

Wasn't sure if this should be in this forum or the marketplace forum.

[carlcarlson]

Buy a broken one and send it in. That's what I did. Just make 100% sure that the warranty seal is still intact and the it is having the RRoD problem. Search for newly listed 360s with a Buy it Now throughout the day on ebay and you'll have one within a couple weeks.

[Alfador]

Snap that's a good idea, or just do one of those Free 360 sites. That's how I got my iPod. Most people don't seem to trust them though, meh

[sisko]

Buy a broken one and send it in. That's what I did. Just make 100% sure that the warranty seal is still intact and the it is having the RRoD problem. Search for newly listed 360s with a Buy it Now throughout the day on ebay and you'll have one within a couple weeks.

Ethics and morals aside, yeah I suppose this would work :roll:

[MrSparkle]

step 1) get diplomatic immunity
step 2) jump through a store front window in an awesome james bondesque manner
step 3) profit (aka xbox 360)

this method is completely free medical bills not withstanding

[YoshiM]

Sell bodily fluids until you have enough for a 360?

[ProgrammingAce]

Ethics and morals aside, yeah I suppose this would work :roll:

I don't actually see anything wrong with this, the warranty is fully transferable. You can't really blame someone if they've had their 6 RRoD and just want to be rid of the damn thing and buy a PS3...

[sisko]

I don't actually see anything wrong with this, the warranty is fully transferable. You can't really blame someone if they've had their 6 RRoD and just want to be rid of the damn thing and buy a PS3...

Straight from the 360 warranty:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/resources/warranty.htm

"This Limited Warranty applies to the original retail purchaser only and may not be assigned or transferred. However, some jurisdictions extend the protection of implied warranties to subsequent consumers and therefore this limitation may not apply to you."

So there may be a chance that is transferable depending on your state laws, but not likely.

[MrSparkle]

mehhhh microsoft shot themselves in the foot putting out 10 tons of crap if people want to get working crap out in the wild for broken crap out in the wild on microsofts tab i say let em.

[otoko]

That warranty thing is exactly what my friend did. Several times over.. He's gotten 20 360's that way. Then he sells him.

[ProgrammingAce]

Straight from the 360 warranty:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/resources/warranty.htm

"This Limited Warranty applies to the original retail purchaser only and may not be assigned or transferred. However, some jurisdictions extend the protection of implied warranties to subsequent consumers and therefore this limitation may not apply to you."

So there may be a chance that is transferable depending on your state laws, but not likely.

If you call up customer service, there's a form you can fill out for change of ownership that transfers the warranty.

[modest9797]

I just waited until I found a good deal at Best Buy.

Worth every penny.

[carlcarlson]

Straight from the 360 warranty:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/resources/warranty.htm

"This Limited Warranty applies to the original retail purchaser only and may not be assigned or transferred. However, some jurisdictions extend the protection of implied warranties to subsequent consumers and therefore this limitation may not apply to you."

So there may be a chance that is transferable depending on your state laws, but not likely.

When I called to set up the repair I told them I bought it used, it was broken, I needed to transfer ownership and then needed to get it repaired. They said "okay!". I've done that twice, and my friend did it as well. Calling it unethical is quite the stretch when MS themselves support it. Thanks though.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Unethical is selling something that is designed (or rather destined) to break. It stinks of sleazy-used-car-salesman. MS's warranty "fix" barely passes as an apology. I say send them every single broken box you can find. Maybe next time they will make sure their box works reliably before unleashing it at retail. *Looks at Vista* Doubt it though.

[MrSparkle]

i could just see a microsoft employee with a comb over packing saw dust into the drive bearings and rolling back the odometer just prior to reshipping a defective console.

[unwinddesign]

Unethical is selling something that is designed (or rather destined) to break. It stinks of sleazy-used-car-salesman. MS's warranty "fix" barely passes as an apology. I say send them every single broken box you can find. Maybe next time they will make sure their box works reliably before unleashing it at retail. *Looks at Vista* Doubt it though.

I really wouldn't call it unethical. I think it was just rushed to market. There's no logical reason as to why Microsoft would try to make their product shoddy or take ZERO quality control measures. They just screwed up, plain and simple. It's a complex machine, not a SNES or something like that. There's a lot of stuff that can get toasted in there. As far as consumer failure rates have gone, at least the 360 hasn't killed people. Look at Ford's Pinto -- that's what I'd call unethical. As for their warranty fix, what else were they to do? They've publicly acknowledged that there is a defect in the consoles, and they've taken steps to correct that. What Microsoft has done already is unprecedented in the electronics industry. There have been hundreds of shitty products before the 360, but Microsoft took extra steps to try to make things right. They haven't done a great job with turn around time, but I'd say that's due to the volume of defective units more than anything else.

If you're looking to get a 360 the cheapest way possible, I'd honestly do one of those free sites (as someone already mentioned). Go to anything4free.com and look at what sites are legit. If you have 6 or 7 friends willing to help you, you can all do a few offers for each other on various sites and each get a piece of $300 - $400 electronics for like $10. Takes time, though -- most cheap ways of acquiring stuff do, though.

Vista, by the way, works fine with SP1. Better than XP, actually.

[jajaja]

Unethical is selling something that is designed (or rather destined) to break. It stinks of sleazy-used-car-salesman. MS's warranty "fix" barely passes as an apology. I say send them every single broken box you can find. Maybe next time they will make sure their box works reliably before unleashing it at retail. *Looks at Vista* Doubt it though.
I doubt that MS designed the 360 to break on purpose. They extended the warranty and took about 1 billion dollar loss on that so i'd say that they take the problem seriously. The Xbox 360 is a complex designed machine and i also think that MS didnt take the enough time to quality check the Xbox 360 as unwinddesign said.

[mnbren05]

You could always befriend a person who owns a 360 and get them to bet it in a game of poker or something. Me thinks the warranty fix on a RROD console is the cheapest you will find.

[The 1 2 P]

Keep serching your local Good Wills. One's bound to pop up eventually.

[Fuzzball24]

You could always befriend a person who owns a 360 and get them to bet it in a game of poker or something. Me thinks the warranty fix on a RROD console is the cheapest you will find.

Alcohol usually works best with this.

But seriously, buy a broken one. Even if it doesn't have the RROD, can't you just tell them it does? Surely they don't check every single one.

[carlcarlson]

Alcohol usually works best with this.

But seriously, buy a broken one. Even if it doesn't have the RROD, can't you just tell them it does? Surely they don't check every single one.

I would call ethics on that one, and I'm guessing they do run some sort of test to check it. They might not physically power every system on, but they can probably run some sort of diagnostics on the board to see if it has failed.

As for the Goodwill suggestion, that's not a bad idea, though it may take quite awhile. I got an elite for $300 from them, but it's the only one I've ever seen.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I really wouldn't call it unethical. I think it was just rushed to market. There's no logical reason as to why Microsoft would try to make their product shoddy or take ZERO quality control measures. They just screwed up, plain and simple. It's a complex machine, not a SNES or something like that. There's a lot of stuff that can get toasted in there. As far as consumer failure rates have gone, at least the 360 hasn't killed people. Look at Ford's Pinto -- that's what I'd call unethical. As for their warranty fix, what else were they to do? They've publicly acknowledged that there is a defect in the consoles, and they've taken steps to correct that. What Microsoft has done already is unprecedented in the electronics industry. There have been hundreds of shitty products before the 360, but Microsoft took extra steps to try to make things right. They haven't done a great job with turn around time, but I'd say that's due to the volume of defective units more than anything else.




I doubt that MS designed the 360 to break on purpose. They extended the warranty and took about 1 billion dollar loss on that so i'd say that they take the problem seriously. The Xbox 360 is a complex designed machine and i also think that MS didnt take the enough time to quality check the Xbox 360 as unwinddesign said.


Why have Sony and Nintendo not had a problem of this scale before? I'm not saying this was intentional... but it's Microsoft's cutthroat methods and need for over-achievement that forces them to rush out a product that may or may not work.

Pissed off customers aside... what about the environmental ramifications of all these RROD 360s that are gonna be sitting on the shelves of pawn shops and thrift stores everywhere when their warranty expires? They won't have the chance at a second life in someones house if they don't work. I know for one I'll never buy a used one. It's why we have a PS3 and a Wii but no 360. And I'm still a die hard fan of the original xbox, as it's the system I still play the most.

[skaar]

Craigslist deals and the like are probably your best bet - I see bundles on there all the time - $300 for a 360 with extra controllers and 10+ games.

The mom selling the son's 360 because his grades are slipping are my favourite kinds. I bought a PS2 from one such mother for $50 with all his games and shit. The kid was screaming at me in the background and kicked a hole in the drywall when I picked it up.

I later gave that puppy away because I actually felt a twang of guilt. But considering the way the two were interacting when I got there the little fucker had it coming. (the WWF shirt topped it all off for me)

[c0ldb33r]

The mom selling the son's 360 because his grades are slipping are my favourite kinds. I bought a PS2 from one such mother for $50 with all his games and shit. The kid was screaming at me in the background and kicked a hole in the drywall when I picked it up.
That is the best thing I've ever read.

[c0ldb33r]

Well, I got an xbox 360. I got a reasonable deal from a guy on a local message board.

Got a premium (20GB) with charge and play kit, messenger pad, halo 3 legendary, mass effect, forza 2 and (uggh) NHL 2K8. I got the original receipt for it in case anything ever goes wrong. I'm now trying to trade NHL 2K8 for something more interesting. :)

There were a few XBLA games on it - Hexic (fun) and Speedball 2 (horrible!!). There was also Indigo Prophecy for original xbox on the hard drive, which I assume means it was downloaded from XBLA also.

Quick question about XB Live - what is a silver membership? It basically allows you to buy stuff online right? To play multiplayer you need a gold? To get a silver setup what do I need to do? Just plug in the ethernet and get an ID or what?

[Perkar]

Well, I got an xbox 360. I got a reasonable deal from a guy on a local message board.

Got a premium (20GB) with charge and play kit, messenger pad, halo 3 legendary, mass effect, forza 2 and (uggh) NHL 2K8. I got the original receipt for it in case anything ever goes wrong. I'm now trying to trade NHL 2K8 for something more interesting. :)

There were a few XBLA games on it - Hexic (fun) and Speedball 2 (horrible!!). There was also Indigo Prophecy for original xbox on the hard drive, which I assume means it was downloaded from XBLA also.

Quick question about XB Live - what is a silver membership? It basically allows you to buy stuff online right? To play multiplayer you need a gold? To get a silver setup what do I need to do? Just plug in the ethernet and get an ID or what?


you pretty much have it down. silver is free to anyone, just slap in the ethernet and you should be good to go. all you can do is purchase things on the marketplace though, and your gamertag and gamerscore will be visible to others.

you purchase the gold and you get all the good stuff. online multiplayer, online leaderboards... occasionally there are "gold member only" downloads (or at least ability to download before silver). well worth the money.

[c0ldb33r]

you purchase the gold and you get all the good stuff. online multiplayer, online leaderboards... occasionally there are "gold member only" downloads (or at least ability to download before silver). well worth the money.
Great - thanks. What's the best deal on getting xbox live? I've already got a headset.

I've noticed that a year membership is $59.99 CDN but there's another combo that has a vision camera along with a year membership and 200 MS points and it's $89.99 CDN. Is the vision camera worth it? Is it useful for anything? I can't see myself doing any video-chatting or anything, so could it be useful other than that?

[Harkunan]

Personally I just ask if they want that or need it. Sometimes people is like " its busted"

[DeputyMoniker]

Snap that's a good idea, or just do one of those Free 360 sites. That's how I got my iPod. Most people don't seem to trust them though, meh

How the hell did you get people to complete offers?

[carlcarlson]

Personally I just bought a year subscription card off of ebay. It was cheaper ($40 as opposed to $45) and this way my 360 doesn't have my credit card info on it. I've heard it's pretty difficult to get that stuff removed, so that is the main reason I went that route. My card also came with an extra month, so I got 13 months for $40. The guy emailed me the code about an hour after I bought it, so it was quick and painless.

[c0ldb33r]

Personally I just bought a year subscription card off of ebay... The guy emailed me the code about an hour after I bought it, so it was quick and painless.
Somehow that weirds me out. Is that safe? I'd be afraid of getting ripped off.

[DeputyMoniker]

Somehow that weirds me out. Is that safe? I'd be afraid of getting ripped off.

It's as safe as anything else on ebay is. He emailed the code so carlcarlson wouldn't have to wait for shipping.

[c0ldb33r]

It's as safe as anything else on ebay is. He emailed the code so carlcarlson wouldn't have to wait for shipping.
I suppose, provided the guy has good feedback who cares.

[carlcarlson]

j-deals.ecrater if you want to check him out. His feedback is great and he has a rep for being one of the quickest and easiest card suppliers on ebay. He seems to have a steady flow of them, and he's quick with delivery.

[c0ldb33r]

j-deals.ecrater if you want to check him out. His feedback is great and he has a rep for being one of the quickest and easiest card suppliers on ebay. He seems to have a steady flow of them, and he's quick with delivery.
Awesome. Will do. I like the idea of NOT using my credit card because I will forget about it and it will auto-renew :(

[rbudrick]

Come this fall the first 360s will be out of warranty. So, be very careful doing this in the near future.

-Rob

[c0ldb33r]

Come this fall the first 360s will be out of warranty. So, be very careful doing this in the near future.
Does the three years start run from when the console was manufactured or purchased? My was purchased last fall (I've got the receipt).