J.B.
All of our game systems have been not new. Some were hand-me-downs and some were refurbished. We got a refurbished PS3 last year that has been running great for over a year.
We tend to use small dealers instead of Game Stop. The little guys do a good job of cleaning out the old system and making sure it's really running well and stand by their work. My husband bought a tablet from the same place that we bought the PS3. We ended up not liking the tablet at all because it was a bit slow and buggy so we brought it back and they gave us a full refund.
You might want to wait though and see how the sales are later in the month before pulling the trigger on anything. Scope out the price of a used system now so you have a reference point. But with XBox One and PS4 coming out in November, you might see HUGE deals on XBox 360 as retailers try to clear those out to make room for the newer systems. If you wait, you may also get a better deal on a refurbished one because the people who need to have the latest and greatest may trade in their old systems for credits towards buying a new one.