Scalper complains about bad press...

Apparently, this scalper thinks he’s doing us a favour and doesn’t deserve to be seen as a ‘bad guy’ - https://www.cnet.com/news/playstation-5-scalpers-say-theyre-tired-of-being-seen-as-bad-guys/

Takes arrogance to the next level, doesn’t it?

Not on scalpers side or anything, but scalpers exist only because of buyers. They have a choice to not get PS5s for 999 dollars from scalpers, but they have clearly chosen. Have fun with this being a thing forever, consumers.

Scalpers couldn't scalp without a place to scalp. eBay, Amazon, Facebook, all incentivize scalpers by allowing them to sell products at prices well above MSRP. If they had rules against it, 99% of scalpers would have no place to sell them.

The spineless buyers that feed into scalper’s prices don’t help. Just pre order and be patient.

The scalper, identified only as Jordan, said nobody complains when a grocery store buys milk from a farmer and resells it for twice as much.

Yes, nice analogy failure there. The farmers don't have a direct storefront, their customer is the retailers. You're making sure the stores are never supplied with milk at MSRP and selling it for twice/3x more. What they're doing isn't wrong, but they're gonna have to get used to taking the heat when you're gatekeeping to line your own pockets over highly anticipated items. Man up.

They would not exist if idiots didn’t buy the products for stupid price’s

I don’t understand why people need to play the victim with everything.

Coping mechanism. Piece of shit, but don't really want to acknowledge it. So... "other bad things happen"... "Hitler liked dogs".....

Am I good now?

I wish scalpers and the people who buy from them all choke to death, no beating around the bush from me.

selling the new consoles as part of a bundle only is f#%king low aswell..optional yea but not with an extra controller for £500 like GAME have been doing...twats

lol really...

GAME still exists? lol. Funny that the store manage to survive solely on people who have no idea they're being scammed. There's enough parents and grandparents in the world buying things for their kids, I guess. "Oh, you want 80 bucks for this game? Ok, I'm sure that's what it costs normally, here you go".

Just read the article, always hillarious funny ( and stupid) when people try and justify their douchebag moves instead of just owning up to it and saying no laws are broken so I don’t care about being a prick when I earn a few dollars!

Excuse me while I go find a drawing pin and a microscope so I could press F on the world's smallest keyboard.

Don't be a scumbag and you WON'T get bad press.

Wow, what a clown. GTFOH 😅

I don't believe this. This is Protoss level of fake complaing to get attention, which they got.

What I don't like in the media about this is the bias and big corporations that have been scalping people for decades. Where is the outrage against telecommunications companies, banks, big pharma etc? If I didn't have health insurance one of my prescriptions would cost over $300 for one refill, banks still have service fees if you dont have enough money in them, US citizens pay 3 to 4 times per gig of data compared with many other countries. So again where is the outrage? Hard to blame scalpers for making money like this during a pandemic in a capitalist society. It would be different if these were essential commodities but they are not. People need to get used to these new prices as they are not coming down anytime soon. Still can't believe how lucky I was to get a 3070 on launch day by just walking into a micro center, entire build would have been screwed.

I still feel both MS and Sony should be making a loyalty prioritization for their base. For instance, give people prioritization to order based on maintained XBLG/PS+ subscriptions, tracked digital spending, possibly social metrics (because gamers who game with friends will get their friends to get the same system, possibly). The average attach rates for gaming consoles (at best, depending on console) averages 10 games per system sold so the gamer who buys more than this should easily be at front of line when they want to claim theirs.

If people want to flip their access to these systems than so be it. But better that than any ass hat holding all of these.

Are scalpers "bad guys", or are they simply savvy businessmen taking advantage of a profitable market? The only reason they exist is because there is a demand. Think about it: if there weren't customers willing to play a scalper's marked-up prices, then the scalper industry would disappear overnight.

@Starshine_M2A2: I hope scalpers burn in hell.

@dzimm: are savvy businessman good guys?

How can I help people who do garbage things feel better about themselves ...is the question we should all be asking

Scalpers are not doing anything illegal, and they are not depriving people of essential goods, so, no, not particularly bad. They're just taking advantage of idiots willing to buy products at double the retail price. Is it immoral or unethical to prey on the gullible? I think that's a grey area.

dumb people gonna dumb

@Litchie:

they would give ps and xbox online store a run for their money in the too expensive stakes..they were on their arses but the fat mess mike ashley bought them out.hah

All they would have to do is have a special pre-order limited to PSN and XBL subscribers that have been active for a year first. And then XBL and PSN customers that have subscribed for a year. Limited one per account and continue that until such pre-orders are no longer maxed out.

Between Xbox and Sony, first one to do something like that would score big with consumers.

Unfortunately though there are millions of people who are not gullible enough to pay scalper prices who don't even have the opportunity to own one of these consoles because of scalpers and the gullible. They create a demand to pressure people to pay those prices and gullible people incentivize them to do so but really it's the third party who isn't going to pay those prices, but can't find them in stock who are having the most trouble and that is why Playstation and Xbox should do something for them.

But since neither company cared enough to do anything about it last generation, don't expect them to give a shit this generation either, or next. And the fact they won't do anything means more people will scramble on the pre-orders next time making each consecutive generation worse until something is done.

At first I was a bit shocked, but then again I think to be a scalper you need to lack a conscience, you need to have a bit of a socipath type of mindset, so of course they think what they are doing is a.) not that bad, and b.) in fact, they are sort of the good guy.

I bet that is exactly what they believe. Just like Darth Vader believes he is making the galaxy a better place.

A more apt analogy would be that the farmer sells the milk to the store, then the scalper/profiteer buys all the milk in some back-alley deal with the store owner before it is put on shelves during a milk shortage, and charges 10x the price. He then sends out an army of henchmen to scour all stores in the area, guaranteeing the they and no one else will only get future milk shipments.

I see where you are coming from and don't disagree with it entirely, but c'mon...it's pretty fucked up. I get the whole "something is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it" argument, but this is manipulation.

To people that actually want the console, it's not just a 500-dollar item. It's entertainment. It's a chance to distract yourself from the woes of the world. It's an opportunity to assuage your boredom from being cooped up due to COVID. So yeah that might be worth 1500 dollars or whatever scalpers are charging but it shouldn't have to be that much.

In general I'm sort of getting a little tired of the whole "appeal to technicalities" argument. No, they're not doing anything technically wrong. Yes, a console is technically worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. But **** that.

Yeah, he deserves a punch in the face by all those who couldn't buy a PS5 on a retailer.

@dzimm: it is immoral. The whole system we live in is immoral.

boo fucking hoo for him. Buuuuut, if folks wouldn't buy at these markups, scalpers wouldn't be able to sell. And yeah, I have bought from them before. Hypocrite I know.

I'm not saying I necessarily approve of what they're doing, but neither can I outright condemn them. It seems that the only arguments against this practice are almost entirely emotional, and I don't find that particularly convincing. If people are happy to pay huge markups to buy from a "middleman", and the products are still getting into the hands of customers who no doubt proceed to buy software for their shiny new consoles, then where is the business incentive for manufacturers and retailers to stop it? The only way it will end is if people simply stop buying from scalpers, but good luck convincing the gullible of that.

The people who are defending the scalpers i say this, when you use bots and the like to gain access to thousands of consoles thus depriving the public an equal chance at getting one online, then yes you are a piece of shit, and it should be illegal.

Maybe people wouldn't be buying them at double the price if the scammers aren't getting access to thousands upon thousands of consoles, every time they get back into stock.

I suppose you could appeal to the "Humans have the capacity to act immorally; therefore, everything they do is immoral" argument, but that is obviously illogical.

Look, I don't like what scalpers are doing, and I would be pretty pissed if I couldn't buy something I wanted simply because scalpers had cornered the market and wanted me to pay more than retail, but I really can't find a reason to declare what they're doing to be immoral or unethical.

im buying some games in a local shop and saw them displaying ps5. curious why there are plenty of boxes, i ask how much it is as im surprise there are few stocks. was shock they are selling it almost double the price. have to return the game im about to buy and bought to another shop. i know its business but it could have been to a hands of someone who will not overpay and enjoy the console.

You pay people for the work they do:

You pay a baker, because of the work he put into making the bread

You pay a game dev, because a lot of work has gone into making a game.

I'm sorry, but what work has a scalper put in exactly? That I would pay him for his services? He bought a bot, that's all.

If these scalpers operate as businesses, they should be taxed as such. This isn't second hand sales, this is a business set on making tons and tons of money from scalping people.

If this shit is legal, than so was the Corleone family.

Honestly lol wut? but just wait, no point paying an outrageously inflated price to get the same product a bit earlier than someone else, and to be frank I'm not seeing the value in the new consoles right now anyway, once more titles are out then sure but right now I just don't see what makes either a console a must buy right now

The co-founder of a scalper group called The Lab is unhappy with negative media coverage.

Maybe scalpers wouldn't get access to thousands upon thousands of consoles if people didn't buy their shit. 🤷

Not defending them, yes they're assholes, and yes, it's weird that it's legal to do this. But as long as it's legal, only the buyers could fix the problem by not buying. Which they wont. Not even for double the price. Scalpers are merely taking advantage of these dumber people. Sucks, but taking advantage of dumb people is a very common thing to do in business.

Someone's buying from the scalpers or they wouldn't be scalping. I was able to secure two Series X and 2 PS5's for me and a co worker with relative ease over late in December when I decided to try, I'm pretty sure if I wanted to I could just continue to snatch PS5's and make a killing, at least offset the cost of my next gen hardware.

The reality is I contemplated selling my PS5 because there was nothing to play, that's going to be the case for most people that grab them now retail or otherwise, but that forbidden fruit is tempting.

Piece of shit complains that no one likes the smell.

Doesn't surprise me any... everyone tries to play the victim these days. It's funny, scary, and mind blowing all at the same time. Especially when the morons somehow persuade many others into thinking they are the victims... sounds like life the last few years. I could go further but I'll just stop there.

On another note, if they cared so much then they would sell the consoles at cost and just tell everyone they are buying them and selling them so other scalpers can't mark them up. Then they could give the option of supporting them with donations. Of course the price would be a little higher due to shipping and handling and a small surcharge under $20 for them to secure them.

I would have no problem at all donating $50 extra if it wasn't added in the price to begin with... but alas that isn't what this is and them trying to pretend they are doing people a favor is hilarious.

The Series S has been in stock at BestBuy.com for over an hour now. Here’s your chance