Pre-order a PS3 for just $46,000
No, the eBay markups haven't gotten completely out of control. The culprit behind the latest over-priced next-gen pre-order is Citibank, which is offering PS3s through their ThankYou network for just 46,000 reward points. With most CitiCards offering one reward point per dollar spent on the card, you're only a Cessna 172 Skyhawk away from earning a "free" pre-order of Sony's next-gen system. Citi hasn't forgotten the Sony-haters either -- an Xbox 360 is only 56,500 points, easily earnable by purchasing a small home in Idaho.
A smart spender can earn bonus points by shopping at preffered merchants or banking at CitiBank, but getting enough points for a pre-order still requires thousands of dollars worth of transactions. It's enough to make those free PS3 pseudo-pyramid schemes look like a good deal.
(Thanks to Eric Hikade, who was apparently crazy enough to actually do this!)
