How to wipe PS3 before selling it?

I have a PS3 am I going to sell, but I am looking up what to do before selling it, so nobody can log into our accounts or buy stuff or anything.

But this page freaked me out:

https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1212/~/remove-personal-info-from-a-ps3

"You can only have a maximum of five activated systems allowed on one Sony Entertainment Network account and must have the system physically with you in order to deactivate it."

I thought they had gotten rid of that? (trying to remember on which forum I was told this)

"If you exceed this amount, you will need to deactivate a system before the new one can be used to download content. You must also have the system with you in order to activate or deactivate it."

So basically if I get a PS Vita, I should not bother linking my old PSN account to it? I should make a new PSN account? It better fecking let me use the same email... I would laugh so hard if it said "this email is already in use" although it wouldn't be funny..

Anyway, as for the PS3, I guess I will delete local users (which deletes their PSN accounts by default) and format the hard drive, and I guess that's that. Maybe I will manually delete PSN accounts first, just in case.

You might be mixing up the PS4 stuff with the PS3. PS3 switched to this limited system a few years ago to stop game sharing.

You can deactivate all your devices at once through your SEN account management, and then reactivate only the devices still in your possession. Alternatively, you can deactivate your PS3 before you sell it through Account Management>>System Activation on the console. After you deactivate your account, and then delete it, you can factory reset the console from Settings >>System Settings >> Format Hard Disk. That will erase all your saves and system preferences off the the PS3 (networking, time zone, your all-important printer settings, etc.). After that, it should be good to go.

Your profile will transfer over to a Vita just fine, unless you have activated your account on more than 1 other Vita or PSP. You get 2 Portable systems (PSP/Vita), 2 PS3s, and 1 "primary" PS4 on a PSN account for games (5 "activated' systems). If you try to activate over your limit, it won't let you login.

> SEN account management

whoa. I just signed to this, and it says right there I have four Playstation systems! (two PS3's and two PSP's!)

ok, I tried to deactivate a PS3, and it says

"You can only deactivate your PlayStation®3 system from PlayStation®Network using your PS3™ system. You cannot deactivate it using a PSP (PlayStation®Portable) system or PC."

This is shit.

Ok, I try to deactivate my PSP, but for that it says I have to connect my PSP to the PC

I'm not doing this.

The SEN website gives you the option to deactivate All devices once ever 6 months (you can't pick and choose via the website, only by using the system itself). I would suggest doing this to clear the slate and then re-activating the stuff you are using.

Or you could just log into your PS3 and deactivate it in your account settings, before reformatting.

How do I do this? I don't see the option on the website. But I'll try poking around to find it.

EDIT: Did it! Thank you very much.

My account is officially cleansed. =p