Flying to Hong Kong to buy a PS3 is cheaper than buying one in the UK March 14, 2007

Posted by Al in : gadget

This sounds really stupid, but after a discussion in work today we decided that flying 12,000 miles to buy a Playstation 3 may actually be a cheaper option than buying one in the UK!

PS3 in the UK – £425

4 games @ £40 each – £160

Second controller – £28

Total – £613

When I was in Hong Kong I bought a PS3 which may actually be of better spec than the upcoming UK PS3, as my PS3 has the emotion chip which the European version will lack. I also bought 4 games and a second controller.

PS3 in Hong Kong – $3778 = £250

4 games @ $338 each – $1352 = £89

Second controller – $320 = £21

Total – $5450 = £360

So all we need to do now is to find some flights to Hong Kong for less than £250 to make flying to Hong Kong cheaper than buying in the UK. I have searched and currently the cheapest return flight I can find is £303, which is not good enough, but the airline these cheap flights are with, Oasis Hong Kong, regularly have promotions so signing up for their mailing list would be an option. (It’s also worth noting that this price is for return on the same day as arrival, or for return 2 days later).

However there is another way to make buying your PS3 in Hong Kong cheaper than buying in the UK: buy 2 PS3’s!

2 PS3s, 4 games and a second controller – £720

Flights – £303

Total – £1023

Since an equivalent PS3 package in the UK would be £613 then £1023-£613=£410. So all you need to do is sell the second PS3 package for more than £410 and you’re on a winner. In fact if you could sell the second PS3 package for £550 then you would have £140 for spending a couple of nights in Hong Kong – a quick search on Expedia turned up 2 options for less than £70. The Tatami Hampton is within 2 blocks of the main electronics area of Hong Kong and very close to the markets of Mongkok as well.

So you could have a short holiday with 2 nights stay in a hotel and £70 spending money, AND a PS3 cheaper than buying one in the UK!

And on one final note, and thanks to Alex in work for pointing this out, you could spend a little more (£329) on the return flights and fly with British Airways. The advantage here is that you get free booze on BA flights, so providing you don’t get so drunk you make a nuisance of yourself you can fly in comfort, get fed on the flights, get drunk on the flights and get a PS3 cheaper than buying one in the UK. Now the big deal about getting drunk on the plane is if you travel on a weekend you can save all the money you would have spent in pubs and clubs back here in the UK. This saving would definitely make the trip even more worthwhile – in fact I suggest you all go now.