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Japanese store fights PS5 scalpers by writing their name on the box
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What’s the deterrent of having one’s name on a box??
ID: hfwg1o3ID: hfwqwigMost of them are selling on Ebay so the person buying already has their name and address on the shipping label.
ID: hfwgbhvI mean, if you see a PS5 for sale for $1300 you know they are a shitbird. The name on it wouldn't be any bigger deterrent.
ID: hfyukf2You can just paint over your name and that's it
ID: hfwzdarWell this is Japan and shame matters.
ID: hfwza8qIn Japan, blemished used items are a little stigmatized in a way that they end up a bit more cheaper than they would in other cultures. Something as little as an obvious scratch on the casing of an otherwise perfectly functional device, or even just a banged up box, can sometimes knock the price down quite a bit because people avoid it if they can. Especially when there are a lot of competing alternatives.
My guess here is that the store isn’t necessarily doing this to catch or punish scalpers, just to discourage them from scalping from this store in particular in order to avoid having to deal with potential cancellations, refunds and bad reviews.
ID: hfxm7aeI buy used stuff from Japan yahoo auctions and can confirm this. I just won a ps2 with about 15 games for under 1500 yen. I see lots of other auctions like that.
And most of their used items are in good to very good condition.
ID: hfzr2ssThat explains how I got an insane deal on a Japanese market exclusive Fender guitar when I imported it via eBay. The seller made a big deal about some scratches, but when I received the guitar it was in better shape than anything I’d seen on the wall at local stores, and it was 7 or 8 years old! If it wasn’t one of my favorite guitars of all time, I could flip it here in the states for nearly double what I paid!
ID: hfxzrsaDick B. Hugh
ID: hfydh0fJapanese people are deeply private. Some people will even go so far as to only tell you to use their family name with an honorific, so you’ll never even know what their real name is.
Combine this with the fact you can’t purchase a console in Japan without ID (and most times) a store credit card.
So they have your real name and if you want to sell it, you no longer get to do anonymously. For people buying or selling - this can be a deal breaker, as now I will not be able to maximize selling it at any time in the future if your name is tattooed on it.
ID: hfzn3znThe Japanese people are not a monolith.
ID: hfyzczqPeople are less likely to buy a ps5 with someone else's name on it.
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I don't get what the deterrent here is. However even if I did, I'd probably be annoyed at this if I were buying it for myself.
I like to keep the boxes. And I like to keep them in decent shape. Stickers and writing irk me.
ID: hfzzlcuI think you just explained what the deterrent is. If I was buying a scalped PS5 for $800-1000, I would definitely avoid buying one that has another person's name written on the box.
So this would probably encourage scalpers to avoid this store, because the consoles they buy here will be harder to move at full price due to having damaged boxes.
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Can someone explain to me why can’t stores just sell one per person if they really care about scalpers? My local store does this and I don’t see a problem with this unless you wanna buy PS5s for your 4 brothers or something.
ID: hfz2h0nI think a mixture of one per person and store pick up would be highly effective, I can see scalpers roping in friends and family to buy a PS5 but standing in line to flip it for a profit that you then have to share more than likely would be nuts.
I dont have all the answers but the issue isnt that Sony tried something and failed, it's more of a "Weve done nothing and were all out of ideas" situation.
Scalpers exist for the precise same reason WoW is riddled with Bots, because a sale is a sale and while it hurts the community at large it's still huge sales/account numbers.
ID: hfz3vl3I agree that stores don’t care, but Sony should absolutely care since they profit from services not hardware sales. Not sure how much influence they could realistically have over stores though.
ID: hfzfnvzthe issue isnt that Sony tried something and failed, it's more of a "Weve done nothing and were all out of ideas" situation.
Is Sony's private invitation sales thing not seen positively? That's what worked for me and it seems like a good solution to get single consoles to real players.
Doesn't help local stores though, if that's where you're coming from.
ID: hfym19tBecause scalpers can also get their friends and family to buy, so each of them can buy one each.
In Japan for a limited edition Gundam model, they actually got a solution to beat it:
2 tests, one, you need to speak in Japanese (many scalpers are Chinese and cannot speak Japanese), secondly they need to be able to name some of the Gundam models, if they can’t, they won’t get sold the model.
ID: hfz183zI mean sure, but there’s a limit to how many people they can employ for this. Number of items they can buy will go from hundreds to dozens (unless it’s like a fully fledged operation). On top of that they simply can’t buy in bulk since every order will need to be separate.
ID: hfz37zfYodobashi Camera did this in Japan at least. The only way I was able to get a PS5 here was getting a Yodobashi Gold credit card and then with that credit card you are allowed one purchase of a PS5 at the yodobashi store, so they know you can't buy more than one.
But not all stores do that.
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I don't understand how this is a problem. The article states that the deterrent is that scalpers wouldn't want their name out there circulating, but the scalpers can easily just block out their name on the thing with marker or another pen to make more grooves so their name is not readable
ID: hfz4mwoSell the stuff with big ass markings on the box reduces the price, sell it without the entire original box, reduces it even more. If you don't remove your name. I mean you want to resell for more than the original price while part of the product is missing or vandalized. Going to be harder with that for sure.
ID: hfysnykThey could even just sell the console without the box.
ID: hfz8pvxNot that I would buy a hyper inflated cost console from a scalper, but I’d be even less likely too if it weren’t sealed in the original packaging.
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I know there’s probably a million loopholes and no law that can legally regulate this fucking bullshit, but I wish there was a policy where eBay, Amazon, and every other major retailer would not be able to list certain things from private sellers including consoles, for more than $25 or $50 over MSRP for at least the first 6 months of release. That way if they did, it wouldn’t be worth the effort to them. By the time that ban is lifted, so many would have the console these pieces of $h!+ wouldn’t even bother trying.
ID: hfwhlc6There’s no incentive for them to do this. They get paid on the percentage of sales so EBay and the others want scalpers to do what they are doing. They benefit from it.
ID: hfwn9qzExactly. They're getting a commission for doing nothing. The higher the purchase price, the better it is for them. No retailer is morally obligated to ensure that a console ends up in legit buyers' hands. If you really think about it, places like Amazon and Walmart are double dipping on profit. They sell consoles at MSRP to scalpers. Scalpers turn around and resell it on the Amazon or Walmart marketplaces. Now they're getting a cut from the resell profit on top of the profit they made from the original sale.
ID: hfxwndbNo economic regulation like this comes from initiative of private parties lol of course there has to be some legislation in place for something like this to ever happen
ID: hfwl5ggReally interested to see how well the Steam Deck rollout goes. Their reservation process and straight-to-consumer shipping seems to be the best way to minimize scalping that I've seen.
ID: hfwhnf2If they put a $50 cap on it you’d lose money with the fees.
ID: hfwlpyu2 fcks given about scalpers losing money
ID: hfwlsj3That’s not how an auction works though so that’ll never work/happen for eBay.
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I just wish scalping could be combatted more on a legal level
ID: hfwcoepThe issue is it isn't illegal and making it illegal would be very difficult without screwing ordinary consumers. It's not illegal to buy something and it's not illegal to sell your property.
ID: hfxvglxTicket scalping is illegal in many places.
ID: hfwexouOf course it's fine to sell and buy but it's also very obvious what a person is doing when they buy and sell tens, hundreds or thousands of consoles.
ID: hfww1hbIt is, dont know in other places, but in my country you can report anonimously people to the equivalent of the IRS, and no scalper is paying taxes over the profit they make, so they are running an illegal business by non being registered and no paying taxes, and since they sell online, leaving a trace on their account of how many ps5 they have sold, so if they got caught they will have to pay the unpaid taxes plus a huge fine, ending with no profit or even making a loss on this whole thing.
So this all can end as easily as starting reporting online all the scalpers and they will all get screwed
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The problem isn't the scalpers (at least not completely). The problem is that there are so many dimwits that are happy to pay over well over the retail price. They are fueling the high prices.
ID: hfwv33uI wouldn’t call them dimwits. Most just don’t want to waste hours and hours searching for something they can easily get if they just pay a couple hundred over msrp for. Also, there are tons of people that have a lot of money to where an extra $200 or so is hardly nothing to them. I’ve bought 3 so far but if I couldn’t find one after almost a year I’d just go ahead and pay the premium as well. I make like $200 in half a days work. I’d rather not pay more than full price, but $200 isn’t that bad.
ID: hfyanauU make 400 dollars a day? I'm honestly jealous. I make 100 a day after taxes... a ps5 is a whole weeks worth of work to me...
ID: hfxz8rlWhile I personally wouldn’t pay over MSRP for the PS5, I think people should be able to spend their money however they want. If they can afford to buy a scalped PS5, it doesn’t make them “dimwits”.
When the PS2 first came out, the MSRP when adjusted for inflation costs about the same as a scalped PS5 today. If people feel that that is what a console is worth to them, who are you to judge how they should spend their money?
ID: hfy6dinOr it is worth it to them. Clearly not to you. You probably spend money on a lot of shit that other people think is dumb. It’s not dumb to you though.
ID: hfx1rkyI paid $100 more than cost for mine back in February. I have zero regrets and as far as I’m concerned the extra $100 was worth not having to deal with the internet.
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Only way to stop scalping is the buyers gotta stop buying over MSRP. As much as I hate scalpers, they are doing what they are legally allowed to do with their property.
The buyers are the reason the scalping market exists.
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The longer time goes on, the luckier I feel to have had mine for almost a year
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I'd like to buy your PS5 for $800.
"Great when would you like to meet? Oh, just an fyi, it says Dan Jacobs on the box in sharpie"
K... I dont give a **** you selling it or what I'm chucking the box in the garbage and covering the PS5 in Vans off the Wall and Supreme stickers and crap, what do I care?
"Yeah, bring cash, k? I don't take Zelle"
Cool, see you.
That concludes my example of a typical OfferUp sale from typical "I play CoD and Madden and that's about it" console gamer. Oh yeah, freakin major deterrent right here....
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Cross the name off then? What a dumb thing. Thanks for the attempt though. If anything, ebay and amazon are the ones who need the restrictions.
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Why can't Sony give every potential buyer a spot in a virtual line? No estimated time, just "we'll get to you when we get to you". You have to sign in to your ps account to grab a spot (just like Steam Deck). Sony will make literally just as many sales. Every person in line will be one less person interested in a scalped unit.
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Being a collector it would matter to me if someone defaced my PS5 box like that with a permanent marker seeing as I like to keep everything in pristine condition. I'd be mad as hell
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I also like to do that but damn the PS5 outer box is very flimsy. I tried to glue it back together and it still fell apart after a couple days.
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My PS5 and PS5 Pro boxes were basically just paper. Way different from the PS4 carboard box I still have.
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I thought i was the only one experiencing this.
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Trying to sell a used PS5 as brand new? LOL
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The PS5 outer box is garbage
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The simple thing to do is enabling capcha or something that can't be automated during checkout. This small change will stop all scalpers who use bots to place multiple orders seamlessly.
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Something, freaking anything to fight these scalpers. I still can’t get a console.
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Sony has been on top of sending invites lately, that’s how I snagged one this last month. Keep an eye on the email and don’t lose hope!
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Me too. Currently, it’s the best way to secure a PS5 since online retailers are dropping the ball hard.
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Oh, dude, thanks man. Srsly, I’m an old gamer, got the kids and busy af. Hard to keep up with my own interests.
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Why not just make it 1 unit sold to a individual per credit card per email address per identity. That way sony will know who exactly buys what. And no one person will be able to buy more then 1 unit?
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yeah there‘s just no way people can have more than one email :/
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The truth hurts yeah. But Sony would get more goodwill from the customers in doing so. Who knows, it might build more loyalty to keep players buying playstations instead of the next Xbox or new console in the future.
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If only there was a way to cross out the name...
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Huh, yeah this whole PS5 thing is out of control. I had mine brick, and had it since launch. I was already hunting replacements through normal channels, as well as just checking the after market. But Sony ended up fixing my original at no charge, and sent it back.
It got me thinking how if a $499 console got fried by a surge, or lightning that I use daily. I’d just up and buy a new one…end of story. Come up with a way to protect it better or do whatever. But the scarcity I realize, and all the PS5 games I’ve bought. I mean you’re just fucked…because even those eBay ones at 1k+ can look iffy as well like they are used, shipped badly ect.
Can’t wait till the shortage is over for everything even my audio gear…in the meantime I’m babying my newly fixed console. I have/had a nice surge for years and always kept up, but recent old home in the city no true grounded outlets. So it doesn’t protect as well as intended!
So getting an electrician out to wire a good ground on my AV source. Then putting in a a good high end UPS protector for everything. With mark ups on PS5, and scarcity I’d rather put my money into a good clean energy setup early. Then lose it later, and pay double for the same product. I didn’t realize my place I got at the beginning of 2020, had no true grounded outlets till it happened. That was a lesson to check even if I have a surge protector. Also being weary of surges traveling through cable modems to Lan with weather.
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Lol. When I bought a series S a few weeks ago at Yodobashi, they just made me verbally promise not to come back and buy a X at a later day. Another S was probably ok, considering the massive pyramid they had of them behind the regi.
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If you're scalping I highly doubt you're going to feel shame or care if the guy you ripped off that you'll never meet sees your name.
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It's big brain time!
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Why don't store just limit one product per person?
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Nojima Denki o7
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The only real deterrent for resellers is not buying from resellers. No one is buying PS5s if they can’t sell them on
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So, what happens if they did this and I'm a collector? I decide, 'hey! I don't want this now!'??
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“Specially packaged for Mr. Shittard Bumblefuck III”
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I’d expect the person selling me a PS5 to have a name.
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Sony could have done something like only sell on the PlayStation Store to begin with, and have it so only people who have had a Playstation Plus account for longer than 6 months could buy, but instead they just let scalpers profit.
I got mine from a lottery at an electronic goods storeblast November, so I don't really care. But it sucks to see my friends not being able to get one.
引用元:https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/q45yg1/japanese_store_fights_ps5_scalpers_by_writing/
If you're a shitty reseller, do you want people knowing your identity?