There was a period of a few days after launch where scalpers were getting a premium for PS3s. I remember not preordering and checking on-line prices on Ebay and they were selling at $1K+ for a day or two. I would assume local resellers were getting some premium over MSRP as well. I know all of my local stores "sold out" on launch day, but by the following week PS3s were relatively easy to find again and that's when I bought mine. You are correct that the Wii was literally hard to find for years in many areas.