A reader is exasperated at scalpers charging extra for PS5 and Xbox Series X on eBay and calls on Microsoft and Sony to do more.
If there is one thing that isn’t really good for anyone it is when you have a lack of consoles and then have to wait months for the next batch, only to not be guaranteed to get one. Both Sony and Microsoft have managed to sell lots of next gen consoles in a very short period of time, however a very large part of this problem, aside from the stock shortages, is the scalping that is going on.
Fans of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are finding these systems being sold on sites like eBay for double or triple the price and are seeing scalpers buying consoles in ridiculous amounts, shortening the supply and preventing many people from being able to acquire these systems at normal retail prices.
The scalpers know exactly what they are doing and until Microsoft and Sony implement measures to counter this the supply shortages will only get worse, with scalpers now claiming that they will acquire a large amount of these systems, even with Sony promising 2.5 million units being shipped.
So what measures can sites like eBay and Sony and Microsoft do to tackle this scalping problem? Well, eBay could implement a policy where anyone listing a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X above the recommended retail price will have to have their listing approved by a real human. If a listing is above the recommended retail price by, let’s say, a maximum of £100 or $100 then the listing will be rejected.
Another great measure is for Microsoft and Sony to limit the amount of consoles any retailer can sell at once to one per customer, as well as automatically rejecting anyone who tries to buy more than one console.
This would halt the scalping problem and ensure supplies are not quickly depleted by scalpers. It would also allow people to get a console without having to worry about dealing with a scalping problem and being unable to purchase a new system. These simple counter measures would also quickly render bots useless and would force scalpers to quickly drop their prices.
The scalping has gotten way out of control and the fact that people are being allowed to exploit anyone wanting a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console is clearly exploitive and until eBay, Microsoft, and Sony start implementing tough measures to counter this problem then it could easily be until April before people will be able to acquire these systems without paying ridiculous amounts from exploitive scalpers.
There are new games coming before April and unless the scalping is tackled fast developers won’t be seeing many sales of their games for these systems, as a lot of people won’t be able to acquire them. The fact that scalpers are doing this during a pandemic should be more than enough to convince people that at the very least the law needs to be changed to ensure this does not happen in the future.
For me, I will be happy to wait a year if I need to, as paying double or triple is just ridiculous and all this will do in the long run is reduce the profits made by games developers and deter many people from getting a console sooner rather than later. The best thing a lot of people can do is not give into these scalpers and refuse to pay their clearly exploitive prices and force them to start selling these systems at a fairer price.
By reader gaz be rotten (gamertag)
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