PS5 Stock Shortage Has UK Politicians Pushing for Online Bot Ban

I usually hate politics getting involved in things, but I would support some pressure from them to help spur corporations into action.

With citizens being denied fair market access due to dodgy practices, it isn’t good for anyone and this highlights once more that Sony needs to also pressure companies to take action or allow pre-orders or whatever. Their name is gonna be soiled over this and none of us want that.

If people think this isn’t how government should work, well in the UK we had for years banks selling dodgy insurance (PPI) to people who took out loans or credit cards and the government rightly stopped this and ordered them to pay people back.

It was an underhand practice that was ripping off the public and lining the pockets of bankers.

Likewise, scalpers are lining their pockets by gaming the system through underhand practices and shops need to stop them doing it. Right now they don’t care because they are getting their money. They need to be prompted to take action.

"Chapman told BBC Radio 4: "It's simply not in the consumer's interests to have lots of stock for in demand, very exciting new products just being bought up en masse. It doesn't give the ordinary consumer fair access to the market... It's just so unfair for the ordinary person who just wants to play their game or give a gift to their child for Christmas. This situation's just going to get worse and worse.""

I wish this man all the luck in the world. Hope he can spread his message far and wide.

This is how you make real change. Godspeed!

As much as I support what this guy is trying to do, the last thing our government is going to care about is this problem.

They don’t even care about the children of this country, never mind getting access to a games console.

Solutions is simple: make it unlawful to sell more than MSRP in the first 6 month, or even a year, for a new electronics machine.

End this online only crap. Sell instore limit one per customer.

I've been suggestion to restore the death penalty specifically for scalpers as a joke for ages, but this makes it a little bit too real. I don't see how they could ever implement this, but it would be the first political decision I'd fully support in over 13 billion years (I'm not that old, but the universe is).

I don't live in the UK, but I've totally given up trying to get a PS5 at this point. Nice to see people in positions of power taking notice, even if it's something as frivolous as this. Hopefully we'll all have better luck this Spring/Summer getting a console.

Yeah, it’s pretty much criminal behaviour in the underhanded methods used to obtain these orders. It’s mugging people off. Good to see positive action from politicians, I don’t really trust any party up here, whether it’s SNP, Labour or Tory, but I can get behind a bill which puts into place the same protections that online ticket sales have.

BAN THE BOTS! BAN THE BOTS! BAN THE BOTS!

Applies to this current situation but also probably to some not to distant distopian future where androids are taking over all the jobs.

Sony set a price and I agree with it and that's as far as economics should go. Independent resellers and freedom of market crap is just people that contribute nothing to the transaction, holding the item you want hostage, everywhere else there is a reason for why money should go to your hands.

I'm gonna be Mr "I-Told-You-So" for a second. I called this in a previous comment back in like November.

I said I was glad the scalping was so out of control because it was going to bring the hammer down on scalpers as far as regulation. This is just a first step but a sure sign of where things are headed.

Well scalpers, you've made the bed... should've stayed under the radar like in previous gens and not been so bold and brazen about the whole thing. Killed the golden goose, and thank goodness.

@Gaming365247 In case you hadn’t noticed, shops that sell unnecessary items like the PS5 aren’t open in the UK as part of measures to counteract the thousands of new Covid cases every day. I’m sure everyone would rather be alive to get a PS5 later in the year rather than have a PS5 and then die or be violently ill.

@LordSteev we just read the article. No need to quote half of it lol. I do agree, and would support a bot ban. Many of my friends are still on the ps5 hunt.

If you’re in the UK I would suggest writing to your local MP. This will require cross party support, my MP has been very engaging in this topic.

@Jacko11 "As he sees it, it could only be a matter of time until bots become more and more of a problem — and not just when shopping for luxury items."

I think he might be on to something. With the drastic shift to online shopping in the last year, more and more people are going to acquire basic necessities this way and companies are going to streamline the way in which they provide goods for customers. Brick and mortar stores are eventually going to be a thing of the past. What happens when things like hygiene items, clothing, non-perishable food, and first aid supplies are snatched up en masse by bots and resold at extreme markups? I think he's trying to curtail an issue now before it becomes too big to fix.

If consumers refused to pay more than RRP then we wouldn't have this problem. People buying the scalped machines are as much to blame as the sellers. I want a ps5 but I will not pay more than its worth, so I'll just wait until it's possible...

@Bliquid
I guess they will require the online platforms to remove ads for products above a certain price. But, more importantly, they’ll be looking at how to de-legalise using bots to scoop up stock.

I think what they could do is if you buy one they send you a code to an email address afterwards you then have a hour timeslot to go to their website input this code then it will finish the transaction to prove you are human because you then have to associate each bot with an email address that will have to then put in a code to access releasing console to that person, the bots will buy it but does it mean they will be able to put some code in that the shop or retailer has sent to that email address that the bot would have to activate that link to input that code, it would take longer for it all to finalise etc to be able go purchase it.

I think another thing they could do is like argos in my area well one of the individual stores you would just click and collect and a couple of colleagues would be stood at the front door with a table infront of them and you go to the store not to go in but they hand it to you so you can confirm this is you at least you would have instore pick up rather than online buy only.

Another option is when preordering a console payment must be made immediately in order to obtain it, it might dampen the people buying them to sell on as when you don't pay on preorder people just advertise they paid a small deposit and they aren't losing any money while they have preordered the item waiting to be sold so I don't know anyway probably many ways they could implement things to help combat the whole saga.

Unfortunately no-one cares when it involves an already expensive games console - a non-essential luxury item. Same goes for sneaker resale. At least people paid attention when scalpers applied the same practise to supplies of hand sanitiser last year. It's a worrying trend...

We need a footballer to start a campaign on this. Only way s**t gets done.

I think as somebody suggested a ban on selling above RRP for the first 6 months or so would be a simple fix, but the issues are also with online retail sites that have limited to no bot protection, and places like e-bay as well, if these guys did not allow for the sale of these items at insane prices there would be no issues either.

Over the last week sites have has stock but it's been impossible to check out items, Curry's had stock today but the site has crashed with a queue of over a 100,000 people, and there were people bragging about bots snagging 2000 consoles from the Game restock yesterday, although Game are looking into this and will be cancelling any suspicious orders.

Another good idea is for all sites to operate a ballot like system where you sign up to buy a console, they then hold a lottery type affair where everybody has an equal chance of getting a console, surely better than the almost impossible task of competing against bots.

@gomersoul,

Good point, although that still does not remedy the fact there is no other option for people if they want a console, I mean if the sites were fair and you were all competing for stock in an equal manner then fine, but as it is a lot of stock of a very limited item is going to appear on e-bay and similar sites.

Good, this is a step in right direction. And please please please please, do not pay the sclapers prices. Your wallet will thank you and the less people use them the quicker they will go away.

@Saitama117 I get your point entirely and understand the potential situation in the future. But its not an issue at this current time.

I’ll reiterate, our government was going to let children starve. 322 votes to 261 blocking the free school meals scheme, thats a majority of 61. Its only when Rashford got involved that things changed, and even then they screwed it up with who they contracted to deliver the meals.

The Tory government are not proactive, they are reactive.

This won’t become a factor until what you have said above actually becomes an issue. And due to video games still being seen as a negative by government towards mental and physical health, this guy, as hard as he may try, will not be able to do anything.

I’m more than happy to be proven wrong, but until that time comes, its my word against yours or whatever idk.

Well the bloody prove your not a bot things are not obviously working, even though I seem to fail them on a regular basis.

It would be cool if they changed the law on this. But I thought the tories prefer deregulation? Let the markets decide, greed is good and all that. Thatcher's legacy still going strong.

No PS5 in sight around here for months I'm afraid

Guess some of those politicians happened to be among the parents failing to find a unit for Christmas only to see half the stock on parade north of $1000 elsewhere.

@Gaming365247 I really hope people simply refuse to purchase this over inflated stock. If there's no demand, then the supply is pointless.

@deathaxe not trying to turn this into a political soapbox, i’m just looking at the clear and obvious evidence seen all over the news. Plus simply having a discussion, is that not allowed now?

And what makes you think i’m Labour? Because that is also an irrelevant point in regards to what I have said in relation to this case at hand.

Current government won’t deal with the current situation until it becomes an issue for them, or as the other guy said, it expands to other much more necessary goods. And I believe they will react after its already too late, again based on evidence from just the past year.

@billyboyblue666,

You tend to get to a saturation point on sites like e-bay, at the moment there are around 1000 PS5 consoles for sale pretty much all over £750, whereas there are 3200 Xbox Series X units on the site, and you can pick one up as low as £500, which is only £50 or so above the retail price. So as more and more PS5's are listed the prices will drop.

Of course if people keep on buying them and keep the levels to around a 1000 consoles or so, then this will go on for a while, and it's up to Sony to get more stock into the system as this will solve the issue with no need for legislation.

@Greenfisted SOME of you did. 😉
Cool inlaid fret. Yours?

@nessisonett You're right not to trust any politician, regardless of their persuasion. I feel the same.

Just looking at the state of the country right now, I can't see this being any sort of a priority for any government, they have far more pressing matters to deal with.

And even if they did get involved, they would only balls up the legislation.

Personally, I feel the third party platforms that allow the resale of these goods such as game consoles at way above the RRP should adopt a more pro-active stance.

Amazon (UK) doesn't allow it.

If these scalpers don't have a platform to sell on...

@ApostateMage Yer, like David James?

Wasn't he the one that blamed his dip in form and loss of his place in the national team on staying up all night, playing on the PlayStation?

Yes David, cos that was the reason LOL!

@johnvboy If there are egg boxes for sale at only £50 above the RRP on eBay, I'd be even more suspicious of them.

Did you know some jokers are even listing pictures of consoles?!

They put it in the very small print but, still have them listed for hundreds of pounds.

Lower than a snake's belly.

@Woogy,

Good point, I noticed Amazon are not allowing this practice, I guess that's why some call it Flea-bay.

Yes the photo of an actual console, and in the small print A4 picture of the console not an actual console, luckily most of these listings are being removed.

@Woogy,

I don't think the Xbox is such an issue in the U.K, as there are 3200 of them listed on e-bay, looks like the scalpers have saturated their own marketplace.

So this is JUST NOW a problem? As far as I remember, this has started happening since online shopping sites started popping up in the world and becoming a 'thing'. When I was younger, the NES, Genesis and Super NES were hard to find when they came out too at launch, so were some of the others. PS2 was impossible for a long time and the Wii was almost a year before store shelves started to be able to keep it on the shelves. Since the past, I've known better, it's going to be like this for any console launch, but yeah, the scalpers do get away too easily, and it's parents that become the victim more...especially around the holidays. Other than that, there is a way to stop it...DON"T PURCHASE FROM SCALPERS DEMANDING MORE PRICES.

Other than that, not sure how 'bots' work, but I wish someone could look into it and put an end to it, even though it will never happen, and this isn't just for video game consoles...people do it with the hottest Christmas-seeking toy (tickle me elmo, hatchimals or figures anyone), cellphones and even tablets. No matter what, though, even if they push laws, it won't stop scalpers in general...they'll find a way around it to get their money. Anyone actually know if this is happening with the Xbox Series Next, as it seems to be impossible to find that console too? Also, the Switch hasn't been seen on store shelves too, so is that another one (which has happened the last 3 years of it's lifecycle)?

@Woogy Ha! I remember that. I quite liked David James, he was a rare breed in the fact that he was actually quite intelligent for a footy player.

I mean we have consumer protection laws and this is a consumer protection issue when all is said and done. Essentially a consumer does not have an equal opportunity buy a product as someone that uses software to drive up demand by ensuring product unavailability.

Good news that this is taken seriously and I mean that genuinely.

@LordSteev true. Good point. I do play but that isnt mine. Its the last of us guitar that taylor made. Love guitars and love that game so it works for me.

@Greenfisted Love both too. I spent waaay to long strumming that guitar in game, lol.

Got an old Gibson SG irl. No fretboard inlay art, sadly, just squares.

@wiiware That actually seems like the fairest, easiest, and most manageable way of doing it. It doesn't matter then if it's advanced bot rings or small-scale scalpers physically buying the product, if they can't resell it for profit there will be no need for them to scalp at all. It'll also stop CEX.

Selling these systems above MSRP should be illegal regardless...it’s not a limited quantity (yes Covid and high demand means the production line can only supply so much at any one time) but the system will constantly be produced in the near future so there’s no justification to allow ANYONE to sell a “common” (which I’m assuming it will be) system for years and years to come at stupid inflated prices. The only reason it should go above MSRP if there’s additional hardware or software being sold with it. Absolute joke at this point.

This is simply pathetic. I guess there is more of an uproar from the public about not getting ps5s than there is about the inadequate policies brought in to protect us from covid, because I don't see politicians being pressured into increasing the fund being used to protect extremely clinically vulnerable people.

In England we didn't give enough of a **** about ECV people to cause uproar over the fact that we wasted £500m on a 'eat out to help out' scheme whilst only putting aside £32m to assist ECV's, but now it's gone too far?!

We can't get ps5s and we're entitled so we kick off about that but not the fact that we should've had less than half of the excess deaths we've had since the pandemic reached us. I'd like ('like' being the key word) a ps5 but frankly there are much bigger tragedies we should be focused on that are more important than some ****** not getting the new shiny console. I think people should get the **** over it and show some humanity, we're becoming a country of self-absorbed sociopaths.

@polljord Agreed.

I'm in the 'ECV' as you call it due to LGMD 2A and I'm in the very fortunate position of actually having a digital PS5.

What I would rather most weeks is the simple ability to be able to book a home shopping delivery slot.

The PS5 helps me past the time but, my wife and I still need to eat.

@johncalmc most sites I've bought from recently don't seem to have this system in place. At the end of the day, whether it's a scalper or a human, they just want to get paid.

My son has autism and the PS5 was the only thing he wanted for christmas as hes a massive playstation fan but unfortunately i couldnt get one and am still trying, its breaking my heart, its about time government done something about this but also retailers need to put a limit of 1 per purchase to stop this and please people stop buying from these scalpers as you are enabling this.

@polljord Forgive me for saying but I'm not sure of the link between the two? I mean I agree that the handling of Covid is a disaster but I don't think anyone is saying that getting a PS5 is as big an issue or deserves a bigger outcry than Covid 19. I mean, an MP bringing this up is just daily government business that hasn't stopped because of Covid. It is just being reported and discussed by gamers because it is part of the hobby. There are huge injustices in the world that dwarf any consumer rights issues but (most) people are capable of being interested in one more point and sensing scale. By the same logic, climate change is going to risk far more lives than Covid over the next few decades so we shouldn't be making a fuss about Covid when we have that to deal with?

@deathaxe All very true - it's a shame and a lottery about what gets brought forward.

@Rhaoulos if the government can step in a stop the use of bots in the sale of concert tickets then it can be done for high demand electronics. Fingers crossed

@gomersoul I couldn't agree more. Yes something needs to be done regards the use of bots, but the consumer also has to take some blame to the situation we find ourselves in right now. I have been trying to get my hands on a 3060ti, as many others are too, but it was impossible on its launch and now even mainstream online stores are now inflating their prices as they know people will pay it, makes me sick. I refuse to pay more than the msrp and if everyone else did the same there wouldn't be this issue.

Don't know if it's already been said as not read all the comments, and I understand demand for new tech, but is there really enough exclusive content/next gen only content to be going out and paying such an inflated price for a ps5 at the moment. If people just wait for stock to stabilise then the scalpers prices will also drop as they'll want to sell their stock left that people weren't willing to pay for.

There is one really easy way to solve this problem. If everyone simply refused to purchase a PS5 from eBay for anything other than the RRP then the scalpers would have no business model and as a bonus be seriously out of pocket. They would quickly stop if there was no money to be made.

@Woogy I'm sorry to hear that but I am happy for you that you managed to get a console, I hope you're enjoying it.

I'm having the same problem often with booking home delivery slots. One thing that's helped me is I've been waking up early hours 2/3/4am, when I need a delivery, to check slot availability (because the supermarkets have to update them each day at some point) and if I get one I only order a few small items and check out because I can amend the order up until 10pm the day before it will be delivered. Then you can go back to sleep and wake up the next day to add the full shopping list to the order. The supermarket will deal with the price change so it will reflect correctly in your bank. Hope this helps you both.

@polljord One issue does not stop another from existing. It should be within our capacity to address both, and many more others.

Re bots they should be banned, one way or another. Market sales cannot be treated as wholesale. Someone made a good point about warranty, usually it is not respected if an item is re-sold.

@finalstan Yes but one issue is clearly more prominent and concerning than the other.

What you are saying is passive idealism. England 'being able to' resolve both issues and 'actually resolving' both issues are 2 very different things, when the more prominent issue isn't resolved then it should be heavily focused on.

Surely people would agree that ECV's not being given enough support is a bigger concern than people not getting consoles.

Also, there will be many more ps5s made over the next several years whilst the dead cannot be brought back. If people don't want to be ripped off or have no warranty then have some patience and don't bend over to buy off scalpers.

sorry completely off topic here but can I just say whomever came up with the article tagline “Bad robot” should be given a medal... 🎖👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😹

@XanderTigerclaw The article taglines are a consistent source of merriment on this site

@polljord No Worries.

LGMD is not my cross to bear, being a Spurs fan is.

And between my pensioner parents and I, we add shopping to whoever is lucky enough to get a slot to ensure two households are kept running .

@XanderTigerclaw I love your profile pic.

Playstation should have sold all new consoles only to gamers with ps accounts. Name/email/billing address. The console would only work for one user for the time it takes to flood the market with ps5. Then the soft ware could be removed using a update thus allowing the owner to add users/sell ps5. Remove the resale demand to cut of the scalpers ???????

@nessisonett people can easily social distance outside stores that sell it.

This is the only way to stop these scalpers, as everyone who wants one will get one eventually for the rrp

@johncalmc the greatest irony is when a computer asks you to confirm you are not a computer 😂

@Woogy haha right back at you! 😺