Apparently, some PlayStation 5 scalpers are displeased with their bad public image, and claim what they're doing is justifiable.
If you're not aware, PS5s — and other highly sought after items — are being scooped up by scalpers, people who employ sophisticated programs to automatically purchase the consoles from retailers before regular customers even get the chance. They then resell these units for highly inflated prices.
According to a report by Forbes, some of these individuals feel their actions are being unfairly judged. Jordan is co-founder of The Lab, a "cook group" that advises paying customers on how to scalp products. Here's what he has to say about public perception of scalping: "There seems to be A LOT of bad press on this incredibly valuable industry and I do not feel that it is justified, all we are acting as is a middleman for limited quantity items."
He compares scalping to how retailers operate. "Tesco, for example, buys milk from farmers for 26p or so per litre and sells it on for upwards of 70p per litre. No one ever seems to complain to the extent as they are currently doing towards ourselves."
Forbes put these quotes to frustrated people who've failed to secure a PS5 themselves, and the response is expectedly irate. One called Jordan "deluded", pointing out the fallacy of his argument. "He's not Robin Hood."
Jordan and fellow co-founder Regan say they're helping others by providing opportunities to make some extra money. That's great for the scalpers — not so good for those who just want to play PS5.
This whole issue is exacerbated by the fact that PS5 stock is hard to come by even without scalpers. Sony has said that short supply of key components is slowing down production, meaning it currently can't keep up with demand. Combine this with people using bots to buy up consoles in seconds, and it's no wonder people are struggling to get one for a fair price.
The trouble is that there is a market for these resold machines. Part of the reason scalpers are so prolific is because customers are willing to pay those dizzying prices. Ultimately, the practice sucks for most people, but there's little that can be done while it's still legal.
On that note, scalping PS5s is attracting the attention of the UK government for being "so unfair" to consumers. One MP is pushing for these bots to be banned, which is good news, but it'll take some time even if the bill is successful.
Check out the Forbes report to learn more about scalping, bots, and insight from the people behind it.
[source forbes.com]
Comments 117
Come on fair enough if someone had two one to keep and wanted to make abit of extra money for genuine reasons then ok but the amount some are buying tens and even that guy got hold of 2000 minus they got cancelled but there you go deserve the bad press.
I dont understand why these people think they are some form of white knights. The milk example is quite frankly ludicrous.
All they are doing is throttling supply and stopping genuine consumers getting a console - which hurts Sony as it means they arn't selling software (bearing in mind they sell hardware at a loss, and make their money back through software sales), and most importantly, it hurts the genuine consumer who has to mess about wasting their time trying to fight scalpers to get a console at RRP.
There is nothing virtuous about buying up all of the stock and sticking it up for sale at double or triple the market value. To argue otherwise is quite frankly insulting.
It’s just not something I would ever do.
Having two Nephews who love Lego I occasionally find sets which are massively reduced and would only ever buy two (one each). Whereas someone of this mindset would buy every set on the shelf to sell on eBay at inflated prices.
Another example recently was finding RE2 remake on PS4 for £7. Bargain! When I went to the store to collect it, someone else arrived to pick up their 8 copies. It’s just wrong and shouldn’t be allowed. But stores don’t care as long as they’re selling them.
Very selfish IMO.
Talk about ballsing up your own analogy.
Tesco buy the milk from the farmer at 26p, sell it at 70p to the scalper who then buys all of the milk and sells it at £1.40.
Jordan isn't a white knight saving the world from capitalism, he's exploiting a shortage in availability for profit. Tesco don't care, they're still getting their 70p, and the farmer is still stuck with his 26p as Jordan isn't sharing the wealth
If they were buying Playstations from sony directly for - say - 400£ and reselling them for 450, then his argument would make sense.
BUT WAIT! Shops are already doing that!
They are the middle men for a job they invented to screw normal people up.
They are thieves.
They should all burn in hell.
If I didn't get a playstation 5 in the first wave - thanks to curry's that employed a queiung system that actually worked - I would be going full Jack Bauer on them.
The difference with the milk analogy is that the supermarkets provide a “purchase point” as well as bottling, labelling and distribution to customers. I don’t think these scalpers are obtaining the PS5s directly from Sony and providing the boxes plus an accessible method of buying them.
They are simply putting up an additional barrier at extra cost. I’m not after a PS5, yet I wouldn’t care if their computers blew up in front of them.
They are like Toll Booths; they block your journey unless you pay up or take the long way round.
Good i hope they cry themselves to sleep every night! Nobody asked for or required a middle man. They are like turds in an exquisite swimming pool. GET OUT!
What the actual f
Big flaw in the Tesco argument: Tesco buy their produce from WHOLESALERS, not from other retailers. Tesco are not in competition with customers - they are in competition with other retailers (who also buy their stock from wholesalers).
The scalpers are in competition with general customers - totally different situation.
Where's the world's smallest violin when you need it?
@naruball We can’t find it; the world hasn’t built an electron microscope powerful enough for the violin warranted for this.
@AndyWK I mean, it's just a console, man.
"incredibly valuable industry"? In what universe is there a value in adding a huge premium on a product with an RRP hundreds of pounds/dollars less?
From an objective viewpoint, it's supply and demand. For those gullible enough to be willing to pay much more for a product, there will be scalpers.
For me, waiting until a PS5 exclusive title makes me want one, I can manage on my Crucial SSD equipped PS4 Pro as all the top games are still coming out on the PS4.
Its 100% justified, they are scum and they know it. The sooner this type of thing becomes illegal the better, not just for consoles but things like concert tickets etc
My girlfriend's mum has her own cow (true story) and next week she will be buying a PS5 production line (not a true story).
That's the first and I assume last time I will see a PS5 compared to milk unless some retailer starts to make some funky milk packaging to cash in..
F these scalpers, people that buy maybe 2 or 3 ps5 to sells to others people already bad enough but to using bots to buy hundreds of ps5? Yeah, f them.
I hope there's law that make it illegal to sell new console/electronics more than msrp in the first year of that console release. It's fair for everyone and collectors that want to sells it maybe a couple of years later.
This guy is a moron.
Don't hate. They buy a product and resell it at a price based on demand. If you could afford to pay 500 and double your investment, you would. Babies.
The truth is probably somewhere between as always. I think if they have bought one or even multi legitimately rather than using a bot and see the opportunity to make money I dont see why not. Did I have half a temptation to sell mine for double when I got it, sure, if someone is willing to pay that.
The problem I see here is they are not in the same game as everyone else, and thats what makes it scummy.
Deluded morons
They keep churning out these excuses, but public opinion turned sour a long time long ago
PS5 scalpers sad over the bad press they have received? Oh boo, freaking, hoo!!
Want to really stick it to the PS5 scalpers? Don't purchase a PS5 from them. Let them eat their PS5's.
@Rob_230 I did not think my opinion of these guys would get lower, but they managed it.
The milk example is beyond idiotic, "Tesco" buys the milk to the farmer, then pays transportation, storage, refrigeration, all expenses related to the supermarket, employees and taxes...
but yeah... they're doing the same!
talk out of touch and disillusioned what a moron. boo hoo someone said something nasty about me.
does he really think he is doing a service for people , is that the best excuse he could come up with, hows buying stock and selling it at double or more helping anyone apart from him and his greedy friends.
hell they put Ferengi to shame!
World's smallest fiddle-gif
I don’t like mass scalping at all and have my PS5 luckily.
But if there are loop holes and the trade law allows this then these need to be closed up.
It’s just like the 80s with Cabbage Patch Dolls.
Humans want to make money for many reasons and I believe it is a legal way to make money.
Humans even make money illegally, drug trade, people trafficking etc etc. Terrible stuff.
The governments can’t stop that, let alone what is currently a legal thing to do.
The blame is the Human Race, end of.
Tesco makes it more convenient for both parties (sellers and buyers) - that's exactly what a middle man is for.
Meanwhile, all scalpers do is make buying a console less convenient and more expensive at the same time.
Their argument holds no water and I find it hard to believe they seriously think that. F them.
"We're not a bunch of c***s, we're just doing what lots of other c***y people are doing, to make money off of others"
Greeeeat.... whatever helps you sleep at night!
People trying to justify things but they can't, you can blame the retailers, Sony, and customers for paying high prices on e-bay etc, but in the end of the day these scalpers are making a decision to charge people over the odds, for a product that the customers can't buy in a level marketplace, that's in great demand.
Scalpers use bots to buy consoles, if that's a single console from each retailer it's still wrong, as each and every instance takes an opportunity away from a genuine customer, the use of bots is unfair as the normal customer can't compete.
E-bay could help with this by not allowing the console to be put on sale or auction for above retail, there would be then very little reason for the scalpers to buy lots of consoles.
The milk example they used is a gem. Sure, Tesco's buys at 26p and sells at 70p. But if I'm not happy with that I can always go to Morrisons or Aldi or [insert random Supermarket chain here].
Good luck getting a Ps5.
Entitled, opportunistic psychopaths’ fragile egos are often easily wounded when they face criticism for their antisocial behavior.
@Gilvin Absolutely, and of course there is also not a supply issue with milk.
One of the big issues with PS5 is the fact that demand for chips outweighs production capacity right now. And companies like Huawei and Apple have been stockpiling, which is placing additional pressure on the market. Added to the fact Sony reportedly has a low chip yield due to the custom nature of the internals of the PS5, it means that it is almost impossible for them to increase supply to meet the enormous demand for systems.
The scalpers are clearly exploiting this issue for financial gain, at a time where people are desperate to get their hands on a machine
@si2525 in your constant defence of something that is, unarguably opportunistic and represents the worst side of capitalism, (regardless of whether it actually happens or not!) Youre beginning to seem a lot like a scalper, yourself.
Hmmm... 🤔
@johnvboy I’d only agree with not allowing a buy it now price above rrp. If an auction goes above retail why shouldn’t it be allowed?
@Robinsad,
As this would not solve the problem, you would have to stop the console being listed on the auction side, and only allow buy it now.
Supply and demand make it a profitable business. I don't like it and would prefer bot usage to not be llegal, but the rules to do that would have to be very tightly written to bots only. That way normal resellers can still exist. I can't think of a reason bots should be allowed., but maybe my views are skewed because I have been trying hard to get a ps5 at a normal price. 3 seconds later sold out..bots win everytime
Other businesses usually provide something of value. The milk example for instance, shops and supermarkets enable milk to be sold to the mass market. Scalpers don't benefit anyone except themselves.
Thing is, it's not just scalpers. Walked by my local CEX the other day and there was one in the window priced at £900.
You could possibly argue that CEX are scalpers anyhow, but I think we all know what I mean.
I'm curious why retailers don't do a lottery for a ps5, saying come in today get a lottery ticket we will email you if you win. It gets people in the store to buy other things, avoids huge crowds as it is all day AND avoids bots. I'm sure it can be cheated too, but I would feel my odds would be better
@johnvboy That is more than a dangerous path though. Why shouldn't I as a regular consumer be able to make money off something I have legally bought that has become valuable? I can only liken it really to having both bought and sold comics way above RRP as they value has fluctuated. I feel like some people are bitter because they haven't gotten one. I'm very much for a fight against bots but in no way am I for even more legislation to stop a common person making money.
@johnvboy So I guess a 500 year old heirloom should be sold for a few cents based on that logic? Scalpers are evil, but saying no items should be auctioned above retail even if they were discontinued years, decades, or centuries ago is pretty dumb as well.
@si2525,
Any instance of scalping is wrong, no matter how many consoles it is, any move to justify it is wrong too.
Btw, I signed up for a PS5 newsletter with one of the retailers in Poland way back before pre-orders. Just got an email saying they're holding one for me if I call them in the next 2 days.
I already got one elsewhere so I'm not doing it.
@si2525 you do have a point, and playing Devils advocate I can say show me the proof it's not scalpers. The odds are in my favor though, as to where there is huge profits, leads to huge bot usage. Im trustin reliable news outlets not just internet stories...but yes no one knows 100% how much is bots.
@TowaHerschel7,
Not the same thing, as the item you mentioned does not have a value in the traditional sense, it will sell for what somebody is willing to pay for it.
The PS5 is a current item that has a retail price, and it's been in short supply since launch, greedy people on the internet are taking advantage of that fact.
If the console is readily available and people still choose to pay more on e-bay, then that's a different matter.
Putting words into people's mouths is stupid.
Same happened with hand sanitizers at the start of the pandemic and Ebay took all sanitizer sales off their site due to scalpers, so why aren't they doing it with the ps5? Make it unavailable on ebay and watch them cry
@Playstation That means 1 in 30 are going to scalpers. That is a quite a high rate to me and worthy of a mention. If you went to the shop to buy milk and they told you to take a ticket and if it was a multiple of 30 you couldn't buy milk then would you be happy or would you cry to the press?
@UltimateOtaku91,
Amazon did not allow people to resell the console on their site for the first three months, of course you can't expect Flea-bay to do the same.
@si2525,
I do not suggest it's every console, but it's still enough of a problem to warrant discussion, and I can't really side with the scalpers on this.
@si2525 Yer, we've been here before with you and your incendiary comments, haven't we?!
YOU are part of the problem as you had two and sold one at an inflated price.
Now go away.
@Robinsad,
The scalpers and people like you trying to justify this is part of the problem, the scalpers are contributing to making the console more scarce than it already is, they are then taking advantage of the demand they helped create in the first place.
@MarcurShaw also the supermarkets are the ones delivering the product from a hard to get source to the consumer. It's not reasonable for a consumer to visit a farmer everytime they need milk.
The scalpers, however, are the ones making an easy to come by product more difficult to come by (allmost impossible even) ..
They're not lending a service or helping anybody other than themselves
Every time I read a story about scalpers, after waiting for my anger to die down, I'm left arguing with myself. The right to sell what you own at the price you choose is a fundamental aspect of a free economy. I hear the arguments about selling heirlooms, old comics, etc. at prices above initial value, and this makes sense to me.
BUT, these things have a finite quantity and are not actively being produced, and most importantly, your ownership of them doesn't impact demand. Large scale bot enabled purchases of PS5's with the intent to resell artificially inflates demand by limiting consumer access. It smells like market manipulation and it should be stopped.
They're just profiteers, like you get whenever dishonorable people see a way of making an easy profit from others. I think they used to hang them at one time.
And the guy with the Tesco analogy is a moron. If he was going directly the supplier and buying stock like any other real business then yes it works. As it stands in that analogy he, and the other losers like him, are going to Tesco and buying all the milk to resell at stupidly inflated prices.
There is zero justification for their actions. The sooner it is illegal the better and any punitive action from that should be retroactively applied. All the individuals involved should be forced to pay back all the income they made and release any stock they still have back to the market for free. And then be fined or imprisoned for being *****.
@si2525 They're on the twitter, boasting about their many ps5 on their house.
the scalper groups are a ***** disgrace. They buy all the stock and sell on eBay for +£400 above value. Robin Hood robbed from the rich to give to the poor. They buy from the rich to sell to the desperate. I pity the people who pay inflated prices, I would rather hang on than pay those arseholes.
@si2525,
So we can't discuss this because there are not scalpers on here?
@Woogy argh I hate that in trying to be balanced I seem like I’m falling on the side of scalpers but if he had legally and fairly acquired 2 and someone was willing to give him a bunch of money for one of them, why shouldn’t he be allowed to say “go on , I’ll sell this and go back to the queue for my second one?”
People keep saying the milk argument isn’t relevant, but let’s be brutally honest, they are both white.
@johnvboy The problem is its easy to fly off the handle over one little thing like this but it sets a wider precedence to commerce as a whole and you seem unwilling to look at the bigger picture. Is the use of bots scummy? yes. Should we be allowed to trade our own legally purchased goods on an open market, also yes.
They stopped the f*ckers doing it with concert tickets, so do the same with these items too.
I don't mind the odd person buying, say, a couple, keeping one, and selling the other for a modest profit. But buying thousands of items you don't want yourself, for the sole purpose of milking money off those who genuinely want it... that stinks. It creates a shortage which wouldn't necessarily exist otherwise... same as with those who were panic-buying hand sanitiser and bogroll when we had the first COVID lockdown.
It would help if we did away with "RRP" or "SRP" ('recommended' or 'suggested') and fixing it at "RP" - retail price - where the manufacturer states the price, and it's illegal to sell above it.
As a farmer, the milk argument is total BS. Factories control the price they're paying farmers and price in stores.
Factories are a middle man controlling the supply and the price, just like scalpers.
What an absolute moron. Tesco is a actually a somewhat useful middleman, because it's hard for the consumers to get eggs directly from the farmer. Scalpers aren't useful middlemen, because that already exists in the form of places like GAME and Amazon. They're not useful for providing stock if they're the reason there is no stock.
Back in the early 1900's or when the whole Oklahoma panhandle dust bowl thing happened, everyone was starving and some crooked merchants were charging 3 times the going rate for basic staple products like food and water. No one said they were within their rights as free market capitalists. No one said they were doing the consumer a favor. Instead, they were hung. The government sanctioned it. I'd like to see some of that justice make a comeback.
@Robinsad,
So by this rule normal retailers should be able to do this as well?. i mean it's only a recommended retail price, so Game could sell the base console for £800, would you be happy with this?
@si2525,
I do not need a PS5 at the moment and am happy to wait for stock to be more available, and it's very debatable to how much of an issue this is in the first place, but it's still wrong no matter what scale it's on.
Yes, but Tesco don't buy all of the farmers milk and make sure there's no more milk and then when there's no more milk sell their milk for an absurd price, do they, you cretins.
Scalpers are scum. If you're okay being scum, embrace it. Be the bad guy. Don't try and make out like you're hard done to.
Diddums, my heart bleeds for them
@si2525 Without a doubt, the problem is largely one of supply not being able to meet demand. And with chip shortages set to go late into this year, it's probably not getting any better any time soon.
But imo, this makes scalping all the more detestable. There's already a problem on the manufacturing side. Then you've got Covid making these things non-existent in stores. Plus it's a launch which already means high demand.
Frankly, however small the impact of scalpers, no one needs another impediment to purchasing a console so the hate is well deserved.
@kyleforrester87
LOL! You're the best, man!
These people suck. They suck in every medium where things are scarce and people are desperate and have money to burn.
I'm not in the market for a PS5 yet, good luck to anyone who is.
They might have a legitimate point if they actually went to the effort to start a business, establish suppliers, buy things at cost price and then sell on for RRP. But no, instead they buy things at the price the public is supposed to be able to buy things at, and then sell on for extortionate amounts. Retailers actually serve a function, because for the most part wholesalers/manufacturers don't particularly want to specialise in supplying the public, and similarly the public want to have easy access to all the things they need rather than having to work out which warehouses they're stored in and driving across the whole country to get the things they need. Scalpers though, are an unnecessary middle man, whether they like it or not. They exist to inflate prices rather than serve any useful function, hence why they're hated and they'll always be hated, regardless of their stupid arguments
C**ts
Ohh boohoo to them. It would be fine if they bought them and resold them for an extra $50 or something like that but over doubling the price is greed. And they’re not the middle man. You can buy a PS5 at Walmart for the same price you would from Sony. They’re just greedy and want to get justification for their schemes.
As much as I hate scalping, though, I'm really having one of those "maybe people get the markets they deserve" kinda days. It's disheartening really. Who buys from these people?!
@deathaxe,
Totally agree with the fact the scalpers are going to saturate their own marketplace, we have seen this in the U.K with the Xbox Series X, it's very easy to pick one up between £500-£550, as there are around 3000 consoles listed on e-bay.
In most places, milk is a loss leader, pasteurization, bottling, and shipping all add to the cost.
Taking items and selling them at double MSRP should be treated with scorn, you add no value and do nothing to facilitate easier access.
I really don't see the problem with this at all. If people don't like the practice then don't buy from a scalper. If nobody buys from a scalper then there won't be any scalping. Scalpers have every right to buy as many consoles as they want and sell them for whatever they want.
No console is an essential purchase and people who whine about not be able to get of one really need to have more patience and get some perspective on life.
I'll tell you what if you ever make anything and you can only make a limited number, I'll buy I all up and sell for 3x the price. Tell me how justified it feels then.
Small time 2-bit Del Boys - the margins aren’t life changing - the window to make money is tiny and people will be left holding consoles theyll have to sell for less. No one is getting rich off this venture - apart from those that are selling “info on how to scalp” - the reason these scalpers are down on their luck and chasing this as a dream is because they are stupid. The risk/reward here is all wrong. Long term no legs in this at all. People in here saying “if you could do this you would” - no we wouldn’t - plenty of us have enough savings to buy 1000s of ps5s and get involved but it’s shady and pointless.
Buy a couple and you’ll make 500+ Quid maybe - small fry. - buy 2000 and you’ll never be able to shift them
@HUMPERDOO I've seen it too it's absolutely preposterous!
The difference between scalping and normal business is that it is an unnecessary middle man. If I could buy from the farm directly I wouldn't go to the super market.
@__jamiie I managed to get a PS5 preorder on 25 Sept, so I was incredibly lucky in the race to get a PS5 - so I don't have anything against scalpers because of my own struggles to get a PS5, and yeah you can argue that scalpers have the freedom to buy at RRP and sell at extortionate prices if like - but it's very telling that scalpers are arguing "we're just like any other business" - they're not. They're a completely unnecessary step in the supply chain that serves no purpose other than to vastly inflate prices, whereas most retailers at least serve the purpose of being more convenient for wholesalers to sell to and for consumers to buy from.
I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that scalping needs to be banned, but I'd certainly go as far as to say that they're a bunch of scumbags. And they're free to be scumbags if that's what they really want
Absolute nonsense, im not buying all the milk and then selling it for a 100 pounds
Scalpers are horrible.like buying all those ps5 and some are not even gamers and people want a ps5.cant find it its crazy when they cant be found anywhere but the scalpers are buying multiple ps5.word up son
@kyleforrester87 as always spot on 🤣
@Flurpsel Indeed. I didn't even want to go that further into how their logic is flawed.
The re-stocks in my country are getting more frequent and you already see scalpers selling the systems for as little as 50€ above the retail price. I hope they lose money.
And I hope they get even more bad press.
Poor things, I hope their little hearts dont get broken
If you want to sell something that is currently (supposed to be) in stores, buy it from distribution and sell it for MSRP. Scalpers are taking items out of the hands of other buyers and gouging them. The fact some scalpers use bots and other tools to make it easier on themselves makes it even worse.
"My actions add nothing of worth or value to society, and I disadvantage and exploit others solely for my personal enrichment."
Is he honestly surprised people are frustrated with this sort of thing? If so, he may actually be delusional. The other major possibility is that he's a selfish jerk.
@johncalmc “Scalpers are scum. If you're okay being scum, embrace it. Be the bad guy. Don't try and make out like you're hard done to.“
I like this take quite a bit. What they’re doing is not illegal, and I appreciate my freedom, warts and all, but don’t try and defend your utter moral bankruptcy with absurd statements. “An incredibly valuable industry” - ha! From his obviously selfish perspective, I suppose he’s not wrong.
Then should all be arrested and charged. Got get a job like everyone instead of stealing.
It’s a ridiculous and nonsensical argument, to be sure. They offer no legitimate service to society. I don’t understand the logic at all. The milk analogy is completely erroneous. Buying wholesale versus strong-arming through the crowd to siphon away access.... those are two different things. I imagine this guy was was the one buying all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer a year ago also.
If Sony wanted to control access to PS5’s by changing $1000 for them, then they would have done it at the beginning. The seller doesn’t want these scalpers, the buyers don’t want these scalpers... they serve no purpose other than to line their own pockets.
@LordSteev
If only society worked this way anymore - no arguing semantics, no excuses. While a certain part of me knows it isn't ethical, people would act a little more considerate of their fellow man/woman if the punishments were swift and severe.
But no, we are socially evolved beings now and that is morally beneath us.
LOL. Legit retailers charge RRP. Utter cretins. Get out of town scalpers you'll get no sympathy from me. Luckily I got my PS5 at retail price. I'd never pay scalpers I would just wait.
Milk analogy? LOL
Its bad for everyone except for the scalper,, the console didnt arrive at customer hands, because customer buys/download the software, publisher and game dev gets a slow sales than they should be.. because as many as ps5 get to the customers the faster also the software sales and the development process for the ecosystem i guess
That people like this have found ways to rationalize it is horrifying. Perhaps public gibbets and gallows should be brought back.
That they think they're retailers is both offensive and depressing. Supermarkets don't purchase up all available quantities of milk to manipulate market price upward and resell the inventory at inflated market prices. Commodities speculators do that. Market manipulation is a criminal offense, but the big boys never get caught. These guys aren't the big boys. And i wonder how much earned income they're reporting for these profits? They're filling 1099 forms, right? Just like other legitimate business, right?
If they want to be retailers they need to call up Sony and establish a distribution contract. They can then legitimately wait for their allocation, they'll pay less per unit then retail, but they'll be expected to sell at MAP and make the same margin as actual retailers.
Funny these legitimate businessmen haven't done that, no?
These criminals want sympathy? GTFO!
Sure. Let's post more and more articles for free advertisement and promote them
. Let's go PushSquare Forbes and co
@UnlimitedSevens Yep.
Isn't it weird how being socially evolved has made many people, I don't know, a little greasier?
But there is already a ‘middle man’..... the shop that they are buying it from. So really the scalpers are a ‘middle middle man’!!
none of them get my sympathy. They are all thieves end of story. Let them rot in hell.
Governments really need to step in here. I do NOT agree that a company has any right to stop people either buying or reselling their products at whatever price they wish, and their stopping people or (esp) organised groups buying more than one is not practical, so it really is down to governments to stop the use of bots, which give scalper scum an unfair advantage.
As to this idiot’s comparison, whatever we feel about supermarkets and their pricing to farmers (or whoever), they are at least providing a service in acting as a national distributor for what would otherwise be local produce. These guys add no value anywhere in the chain.
The milk example is stupid they dont have employees, stores or anything else its just making lots of money of people by creating a shortages never seen a supermarket do that.
Comparing it to selling farmers milk is a bit OT. The farmers use the distribution channels that the supermarkets have because they don't really have the means. Scalping is taking away from something that is already easily accessible by the consumer (taking stock levels out of this) and charging a premium for it.
I was lucky enough to get mine at launch but I really feel for those who feel they need to pay way above the RRP to get one. I know it it miniscule in comparison to the stock being sold at RRP but it is still a joke. Especially during a pandemic when people need to escape from boredom!
I don't buy from farmers in the same sense I don't buy a console direct from the manufacturers.
A better analogy would be scalers buying all the milk from Tesco and selling it at a huge mark up from what Tesco was selling it for.
And yes there is a market for resold units, even scalped ones, but the free market isn't a fair market. Regulations are needed.
While I believe gamers overreacted, there are worse people out there than scalpers, they are using bots to increase the already bad scarcity. Many of them are not small time scalpers trying to get by like they claim, some have huge operations that required capital. Not get the last 10% of my rent capital, but buy a sports car capital. I got no pity those get even richer quick douchebags are hated, spend a day being poor or a minority and see what a real struggle looks like. They can rest easy knowing they got piles of cash they didn't need from piles of cash they already had and the only thing they did to get it was exploit scarcity while people pick berries to feed the people for a fraction of the cost and get demonized for "stealing jobs". Cry me a river.
I hate everything these guys stand for but as long as there are desperados with more money than sense paying those ridiculous prices there's always going to be demand for scalping.
Criticism is one thing. They need a slap, they are stopping honest gamers from enjoying the latest things. This is fraud plain and simple.
I "scalp". The way I look at it is, someones gonna make the money, why not me. You can look down at me all you want, really doesnt bother me.
This is necessary evil of free market economy. And if you don't like the milk example, let's look at LEGO sets that cost several times their RRP. Why no one complains about them?
Oh pull the other one! They knew PS5s and other tech items would be in crazy high demand! That's exactly why they did this. Saying stuff like to put food on the table when they already had the funding to bot 1000s is such BS. They even hacked websites to get in early orders. Also if this isn't some shady, selfish, greedy quick profit method then why is government trying to get it banned? GTFO scalpers no sympathy ever!
When trying to get a PS5 the problem isn't just the scalpers. It is in the interests of the stores to keep stocks drops low. It means they get more traffic to their websites and more potential sales of other items on their sites.
@CrushALL
When trying to get a PS5 the problem isn't just the scalpers. It is in the interests of the stores to keep stock drops low. It means they get more traffic to their websites and more potential sales of other items on their sites. The stores love all this free advertising they are getting through constant news of scalpers and stock drops.
They hoard all the units, leaving next to no chance for people that genuinely want the system buy it. They deserve all the bad press they can get.
Im sorry but I've said it before I blame the people buying them thay are the problem without the market the scalpers would not sell any so thay would not bother stop buy them people
well scalp if you want, but sell them for retail =)
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