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'Owning a PS5 is a luxury': Inside a full-time scalping operation keeping consoles off shelves this Christmas
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Constructive discourse has long since ended and the thread has devolved into shit-flinging, threats of doxxing, and calls to violence. Locking.
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The only reason I have my PS5 is because I found a guy that sold me one at retail price through an ad. Turns out he got two by accident and just wanted his money back. He called me to make sure I wasn't a scalper trying to resell. When we met, he told me he didn't care to earn money off it, he just wanted other people to enjoy it without having to deal with scummy scalpers.
Fantastic guy, I'll always be grateful to him.
ID: hnqwnknID: hns00gzThat's crazy, I did the same thing. I managed to get 2 ps5s, sold the spare at MSRP on craigslist. I told them "prove to me you're a gamer and I'll sell it to you, scalpers get fucked".
Email blew up, 30+ responses in less than 2 hours. Only one guy sent me his PSN.
Know how I know he was a true gamer? He was basically skipping back to his car after the exchange and his girlfriend/wife (dude was in his 30s) was rolling her eyes!
ID: hntv69mToo bad the same system doesn’t exist when buying a home. So many people are buying to flip and sell that it’s hard to find a house to live in at a decent price.
ID: hnrfjeqVery similar to me. I couldn’t get through when a batch up for sale but a friend of a friend who used a sniping tool ended up with a second one in a Best Buy cart that he didn’t want. Good dude too, wouldn’t take a commissions and refused to take anything and resell because he (believe it or not) hates scalpers.
ID: hnrg7bvSimilar story here, the guy got it as a gift and doesn’t really play. Although I paid ~30 bucks extra, it’s still no where near what others charge.
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Was about a week ago but I recall someone in this sub bragging about buying a PS5 from a scalper for $900, lol. Dude was calling everyone broke because they couldn’t afford one. Even went as far as to call scalping “an honest business”. Fucking insanity.
ID: hnuatb5I’ll ride this PS4 to the PS6 before I’ll ever buy from a scalper. It’s not about the money.
ID: hnu4ac1More money than sense. Far too common these days.
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If you can buy 30 PS5s, you probably aren’t worrying about next months rent…
ID: hnpvn72Well, there is this investing concept called 'speculation.' Anyone can max out their credit card or take out loans (margin or otherwise) to do this, regardless of their current cash balances.
That is a lot of money tied up in inventory, but specifically for PS5s these losers will most likely get their return by Christmas.
ID: hnq9me4I was looking for two of the 3D Pulse headsets and found an eBay listing asking for list price, but it had a “make an offer” option so I lowballed the seller down to $60 each and they took the deal. I assume they stocked up on headsets and controllers, expecting a shortage and that wasn’t the case with accessories. Presuming this seller paid for the items they were selling, they took an $80 loss to make a sale.
They arrived unopened and with GameStop price labels still on them.
ID: hnq0e2xI see a lot of people against buying of scalpers anymore so I can only hope they go into debt.
ID: hnqelihThey probably put it on credit hoping they’d sell before the first bill
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"Look at every single step in the supply chain. Someone is adding value somewhere."
Do they honestly believe this shit? What value, exactly, are scalpers adding?
ID: hnqgtwj[deleted]
ID: hnr83reConsoles will always be a target for this despite how many units they can churn out due to parents not wanting to disappoint their kids.
Yes...parents not wanting to disappoint their kids... *sweats nervously in childless grown adult*
ID: hnqsw04Scalpers are just the Gig Economy equivalent of the middle men like Ticketmaster that are plaguing all industries.
ID: hnrcf51I'd like for him to try and explain how scalpers "add value". Typically a merchant is adding value by making the product conveniently available for purchase instead of the consumer having to directly order from the manufacturer. These scalpers are just taking the already limited supply thats available from these merchants and reselling at an inflated price. These scalpers are adding no convenience and charging a higher price, not to mention the higher likelyhood that the customer can get scammed by one of these resellers. I'd really like to know what the "added value" is here.
ID: hnr27vcThis is the exact issue with scalpers and "scalper unions". THEY did not design the hardware. THEY did not design the software architecture. They didn't employ people to come up with and implement the ideas that went into these devices. They didn't employ factory workers to construct the devices, or plan logistics, or develop accompanying software to make the devices useable, or do any of the work that went into the development and manufacturing of consoles.
What they've done is used underhanded tactics to acquire large numbers of finished products just to sell them above face value. Realistically, scalping like this REDUCES the value of the consoles because Sony and Microsoft don't have accurate real-world feedback to provide software updates and developers are disincentivized to make games for the next-gen architecture because if consumers don't have the devices then the cost won't be recouped.
But no, let's all pretend that scalping is a totally normal thing that anyone should be allowed to do. Hoarding resources is not something that should be applauded
ID: hnrhsuj"scalper unions", that sounds like something completely Argentine
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"I am very in touch with my moral compass" says guy who requests to have his face blurred.
ID: hnr6js8Oh, he's in touch with his moral compass alright. It's just terribly misaligned.
ID: hnrxss0That article was infuriating because of the bullshit justifications for being a scalper. I'd respect him more if he just admitted it was out of pure greed.
ID: hnrxlqyHe knows he sucks, he just doesn't care which makes I'm suck more.
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I remember an article during the first wave of the pandemic of a teenager in the US making a fortune and be called young business man. Essentially he was scalping anything that was popular while everyone was locked in including video game consoles. Fuck off.
ID: hnq0i5zAnd if I’m remembering correctly, he was also using his parents credit card or a “loan” they had given him or something
ID: hnq2lrsHis parents gave him something like $10,000 and he did this with it. Made a smaller profit margin than seemed worth it, but anyway.
ID: hnq1zgu“A small loan of 10 million dollars”
ID: hnq2akyI “bought” 6 PS5s from 1 guy on eBay when it first launched. He was selling them for 2k each!! I had no intention of paying but kept indicating I’d pay so that eBay didn’t cancel the transaction. It postponed him selling them for about a month and he had to drop the price to around $1200 each. Essentially losing him $4,800 profit.
Say what you will about my morality but I don’t give a shit. I hate scalpers. He was so angry he somehow found my personal info and threatened my family. What a piece of shit. When I called his bluff he said he’d call the hospital I worked at and tell them. I said “you want to call the ICU I work at during a pandemic and tell them one of their nurses is fucking with you on ebay and you think they’ll give 2 shits? I’ll give you the number personally!”
I’ve also trolled about 10 switch scalpers on Facebook marketplace and had them meet each other to sell instead of me.
ID: hnq36mzChaotic good af
ID: hnq6d7lNot all heroes wear capes.
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MP Mr Chapman makes the most important point: "This is a situation where shoppers are being treated badly and having to pay way over the odds for goods, goods which are then not covered with warranties or the right to return, or recompense for faults."
Even if this guy has deluded himself into thinking he's doing a good thing for people, he can't deny that he is taking away consumer rights from anyone buying from him.
ID: hnqnedxCompanies offer warranties and returns based on factors within the supply chain. Resellers add significant unknown variables to the chain, extra handling of the packages and extra shipping time using unknown (to the original retailer) shipping companies.
A reseller then sells this item “with the original receipt”, offloading the requirement to provide an actual point of sale warranty and return policy.
Surely this is the easiest way to deter scalpers and change rules around the whole process.
Why should a retailer cover warranty on a resold item?
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Meanwhile Valve has figured out how to queue up actual players to buy a hot new console and it was pretty obvious.
Blame the scalpers if you want but the manufacturers could play a part in ending the practice.
ID: hnrz1d7In many cases it would take very little effort to prevent this. But it is not worth it to the biggest vendors.
ID: hnsgh69Manufacturers will only do something if they see a hit to game sales from all this scalping. they don't make money on the consoles anyway.
ID: hnshf39Apple has done this since forever.
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The mental gymnastics of that gambler mentioned on the article must be great. "I was scammed by the system so now it's my time to scam back!"
And people wonder why NFTs and digital coins are getting so much exposure. From an economy based on producing added value we have shifted to another based on scamming the next guy. We have realized in a flash that most jobs add nothing, but the system refuses to acknowledge that.
ID: hnrj3kdEveryone is the hero of their own story.
With the exception of true psychopaths, who are very rare, everyone wants to do good in the world.
They just convince themselves that doing bands thing is actually good for the world somehow.
It's really important to keep an eye on what you think is good, and why you think it's good.
That way you can make sure you haven't just twisted yourself in a knot to protect your own feelings of self-worth.
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The solution is soooo simple, but too many people don't want to follow it.
STOP buying for more than msrp. Period.
If everybody stick to that, we send all scalpers in bankruptcy and shelves will fill up again because nobody will want to take their place.
ID: hnq0bguThis. I had a friend who was contemplating buying a PS5 on eBay. I talked him out of it and moved heaven and earth to get him one from a retailer.
ID: hnq8yc0I was so tempted, but I just stuck to it and eventually got lucky with a twitter notification for Best Buy.
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Scum
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That image brings me great sadness..
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If you must censor your face for the photo-op, your business is a shady, immoral venture.
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I fucking hate these type of people they are some of the worst kind. Be so funny if their house got robbed and they lost every PS5/series X they had
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To me, owning the PS5 or an Xbox isn't a necessity, it's a luxury, okay? If you can afford to spend £450, spending the extra £100 should be pretty marginal, if you've got cash ready to splash on that.
Fuck this attitude and fuck this guy.
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This generally has to stop soon. Not just for the sneakers, or games consoles (because in the grand scheme of things, they're not that important themselves), but the implications of this practice extending beyond these items is genuinely chilling and the proper culmination of capitalism.
If you don't stop here, where do you stop? TVs? Clothes? Food? Water? What commodity is too far?
引用元:https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/rbr2le/owning_a_ps5_is_a_luxury_inside_a_fulltime/
My wife got two through that Wal-Mart+ thing the other day because she could and she didn't know if I wanted the regular one or the digital one. Im passing off the one we aren't keeping to somebody else for what we paid for it. Fuck scalpers.