Well, I think the cheapest price that you can get a psp is at
sony for 280 but I heard that unable to modify, may be temporary.
But the price outside for a psp set which is able to be modified is
at around 300.
4gb mspd cheapest would be around 60. Hard case... If it is just
normal crystal casing for psp about 20 max...
Most probably you had it modified to play *ahem games* since you
got yourself a 4gb card and no games.
And if your psp do not have the sony SG sticker on the back of
the box, it was never warrantied in the first place which is export
sets.
Yes, in a way he did con you. You had paid much higher than what
you should for the items but if they modified for you and maybe
given you some games... I think that should make up for the
lost.
It is just sale grimmicks for people who are price hunters and
search for unbelievable pricing for the items that they wanted to
get which is famous at the location that you mentioned.
Yes, there is no such thing as need to place in chip to play all
region games as the psp is region free for games but not for UMD
videos. In regards to the laggy thingy, I think they had done
something with it so that you would actually fell for the
additional payment to actually cover the cost so that they can sell
the items to you while still earning profit.
Just treat it as an additional service paid to them for allowing
you to play homebrews then.