In the wake of the mass Xbox Live bans hundreds of Xboxs have appeared on online marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist by gamers looking to offload their Xboxs.
In the past two weeks Microsoft has banned nearly one million users from the online gaming service after finding that they had modified their consoles to play pirated games.
Since the ban is connected to the console rather than a gamer's online account, many modified Xboxs have appeared on multiple bidding and personal sales sites.
eBay has issued a warning to potential buyers on its website to be wary of buying consoles in the wake of Microsoft's move. In a post on the website's guide section, it said: 'If you are looking to buy an Xbox 360 on eBay in the near future, ask the seller if it has been banned from Xbox.'
Curiously, most Craiglist "modded" Xbox 360 sellers are forthcoming about their console's "banned" status, whereas ebay sellers acknowledge the system modifications but often do not specify whether their system's been banned or not.
There's even a "want to buy" market on Craigslist for the banned systems. One Craiglist ad reads "I'm looking to buy one of the newly banned X-Box 360's," adding that it needs "to come with some new games such as Modern Warfare 2 and what not."
Microsoft has said that all bans are permanent to the console and no affected units will be permitted back onto Xbox Live on any account. Apparently, the race is on to offload banned systems and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of people willing to buy them.
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