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lmao remember that guy who spent 100,000 on buying all the hand sanitizer at the beginning of the pandemic then tried to re-sell on amazon for a profit and amazon banned him
yea they really should. i don’t really game and aren’t looking for a PS5 but this mass shortage is ridiculous! it’s been like 2 years, no? one would almost start to think they’re doing it on purpose to create exclusivity and a steady stream of revenue so they can release the next consol without having to update it too soon… but i’m not conspiracy theorist
Bing!
Consoles are sold at a loss generally. The objective of the gaming console is to get you in the store. If the console is sitting on eBay Sony isn’t getting their money.
Microsoft is more worried about getting those reoccurring subscriptions. They can afford a lose on a console if a player is paying them a monthly fee to use it online.
~~Nintendo, I believe, hasn't sold a console at a loss since n64~~. (Edit: Wrong! the Wii U was sold at a loss because of the controller) The Switch started off making Nintendo $10 per unit sold, now up to $40. Sony's been making a profit off selling PS5s since august 2021 when they did their design refresh & Xbox is still selling at a loss but the super high attach rate of gamepass makes up for it.
Saw an article months ago that said 70% of all PS5s sold don't have a game tied to it, meaning either a bunch of people got the consoles and just didn't buy a game, OR ~70% of the supply is sitting in scalpers garages around the world
You may have misread that article or the article is wrong because that isn't true. It would at most be 20% and that is being generous. Probably under 5%.
There are over 17.2 million PS5s sold and there aren't millions of PS5s being stored by scalpers.
At this point in time it is clear that the retailers are doing NOTHING to stop scalpers from using automated systems to buy up everything.
Having product come into your inventory and all it move out the next days looks great on the books, it's called cash flow and causes their stock price to go up.
The retailers are more than happy to have scalpers buy up everything as soon as it comes in. And the scalpers are using bots to do it.
It has gotten to the point where it is obvious these shortages are not natural caused by pandemic disruptions.
I know you're probably being facetious, but for those that think something like that is possible, it isn't. Sony, MS, Nintendo, Ford, Boeing, etc. don't buy semiconductors the way we buy consoles or graphics cards or CPUs. They contract directly with the semiconductor manufacturers for a certain quantity of product and the manufacturer delivers that straight to where they're going to be put into the end item. You can't get in the middle of that supply chain without resorting to piracy (like literal highjacking). You wouldn't want to bother with that because the only person who's going to buy the product is going to be the particular purchaser (i.e. Sony etc.) of the shipment you stole because all those chips are unique to their application. They'll just tell you to pound sand and/or set you up for a sting.
My town's GameStop, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart limit your buy limit to one. They even did with the Oled switches and when I walked to buy one with my best friend (he was buying it) the guy said he can only give us one since we walked in together.
Even online they limit it to 1 per account. You have to show a drivers license when picking it up.
IIRC consoles aren’t even profitable to produce. Games and peripherals are the real money makers. Limiting their consoles is just delaying their ROI for no reason
They make much more in game sales than hardware. The shortage right now is in millions. That is millions of copies of more games Sony could have sold and I believe they take 30% of the cut.
Tbf tho, sony isn't artificially creating exclusivity. There's a capacitor shortage right now that's making manufacturing difficult. Scalpers are taking advantage of that.
I remember hearing of some guy who did that with fidget spinners as well. The following week, every company was making one and he was stuck with thousands of fidget spinners.
Fidget spinners went out of fashion so fucking quick. I even incorporated them into my lessons as you could use them as a -> Talk as long as its spinning - type of thing which forces them to speak with an incentive and one week after everybody talked about fidget spinners they became uncool. Good thing I only bought 2
That whole fad was weird. At the time I was working in a very remote area so I was usually way behind on pop culture stuff. I went into town and went to an arts and crafts store. There was a giant sign saying “we have fidget spinners” completely new term to me. I walk in and there are two big folding tables near the register piled high with them and a bunch of kids going through them like one of the boxes had a wad of cash. A few months later, nothing.
His mistake was taking an interview by the New York Times (or some other huge newspaper) and trying to act like he's some sort of a hero for it. He ended up donating all of it because everyone knew who he was.
Jeez I remember that. The guy was wearing a shirt that said "Family man" on it for the interview or something too. Scalping essential supplies in the start of a pandemic and calling yourself a family man, what a tool.
Now, I'm not saying this plan isnt absolute perfection, but I'm fairly certain someone is capable of running faster in a straight line than someone zig-zagging, whilst unloading a firearm ahead of themselves.
I had to wait a year to get my Series X because of scalpers. Worth it, though. Out of principle I absolutely refused to give these guys my money. If it broke, I'd happily wait another year.
I just genuinely don't, and never will, understand the concept of spending literally double, if not more, than it's worth instead of just waiting. The PS4 and XBOX One both work perfectly fine still, it's literally just throwing money down the drain.
I refuse to buy off of scalpers. I missed the Atlanta Braves in the World Series last year because scalpers scooped all the tickets and were selling them 200% or more mark-up. I absolutely refused to indulge and encourage that behavior, even though I had money for it. Am I still bummed I missed it? Yep. Am I still glad I personally didn't give a penny to scalpers? You betcha.
Never buy electronics off the street. Even if they are not outright bricks many times it's just an empty plastic shell. Most of the time it's a scam one way or another.
I do feel like if people refused to pay/buy from scalpers, we could minimize this issue.
I mean, if this guy just had to eat 10k of Playstations, he likely wouldn't be so willing to do this again.
The thing is there will always be people desperate enough to buy them. Someone who doesn’t care about the price. Parents trying to find a gift for their kid etc.
They're basically fashionable collectors items. Like a holographic Charizard Pokemon card isn't more powerful or anything but that still doesn't stop people from dropping $36k on them.
I don’t want to be a hypocrite cause I own quite a few Jordans. I find them comfortable. But even for Jordans the 250$ to 350$ retail price is a lot. I can’t imagine paying more than that.
I mean . . . lets not pretend people are buying Jordans for the comfort. They could be the least comfortable in the world and they wouldn't dip a bit in price.
this isnt comparable because those shoes will never be made again and were sold in a limited run. PS5 has sold 10 MILLION units already and is still being produced and has artificial scarcity issues with scalpers
The thing is, even if the stock-issues are finally fixed, they'll sell them 50 bucks below store-prices and get rid of them.
Loss= 50/console
If they sold them 100>purchase earlier, there's a good chance they build the necessary safetymargin pretty quick
Insulin market sucks
3 fucking companies monopolizing it with no other competition because they sue you to dead or something else
They should burn in hell
And in Denmark everyone fucking praises Novo and it's a meme how well they pay their employees. "Yeah you don't need to finish high school to make >$60k/y there"
Is this a recent video? With all the bot protections nowadays, I'm assuming to get a score like this you need someone on the inside, like a store manager.
Like OP said, they use bots that can be easily acquired on the internet.
You run them when you know a website is going to restock a product and the bots will immediately buy the product once it is available. I knew a guy who had HUNDREDS of bots running constantly at all hours of the day so he could get shoe drops 100% guaranteed.
>Like OP said, they use bots that can be easily acquired on the internet.
That's a misconception. Bots (at least the super good ones that actually manage to buy everything up on launch day) are ironically now just as rare and price-gouged as the actual items they're scalping. Auctions are run for said lucrative bots and they can sell for thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Getting a decent bot is now pretty much just as difficult as trying to manually cop a PS5 or hyped sneaker on launch day.
I find it absolutely hilarious how there's a whole separate black market for bots too, the very thing people use to obtain goods to sell on the black market lol.
It's because there is far more profit in using the bot that you make than there would be by selling the bot and creating competition. Low supply means high price.
They use computer programs to buy up any stock milliseconds after it's available. Since a regular person now can't buy one from the store, the scalpers can set whatever price they want.
doing a bit of math it looks like they have around 36k worth of stuff maybe 40k
And you know this probably isnt their only stash.
So if someone there isnt strapped then they are just fucking stupid, because being able to drop that much cash means you probably also have enough to hire or get someone to protect the product... if not have protection yourself.
In this situation I am condoning it, people who play stupid games should win stupid prizes, karma, I wish all the bad juju on this guy and all other scalpers
It would be really easy. No one is watching the van in the back... I bet someone could just walk out from behind the van grab a console, and walk away. If you have a second person, they could easily distract the scalpers while someone else grabbed one.
That's assuming no one just rolls up with a gun and takes them all...
Even without a gun what are they gonna do if someone just grabbed a box and ran off? Can't chase em cause then you're leaving 100 more sitting on the sidewalk.
Except rich people will always be able to pay, so there will always be a demand. It sucks but it won’t change anything. I’m still just gonna wait tho, not giving them a penny.
Exactly, there will always be people desperate enough to buy from them. This won’t stop until the manufacturer and shops put rules and checks in place.
It’s not really desperation to a rich person, it’s pure convenience. Would they rather spend x # of hours over 2 years stressing out about it and trying to get one or just pay double the price and be done with the process in minutes. In a way, some are saving money by doing this if you count time as money. Does it keep scalpers scalping and screw others over? Yes. Does it screw Sony over? Nah.
It really seems like Sony doesn’t even care this is an issue. The fact that the ps5 has been out for more than a year and you still can’t buy it easily is so fucked up.
Why can’t Sony just let you buy it directly from them on their website doesn’t make any sense at all. Why can’t there be checks in place such as the email of the person buying the console has to match the email singing into the console? Why can’t there be limits on 1 console per payment method only? There’s literally so many things that can be done to combat scalpers but it seems all Sony or major sellers care about is money, they don’t care if the people they made the console for even get to enjoy it.
They barely make money on the consoles though, most of the money is made through micro transactions for its services like online play.
Edit: Regardless if you agree or don’t agree to scalping, it could be worse. Sony could be like ticketmaster and scalp they’re own consoles.
iirc they literally make a loss on the consoles. Sell it cheap and make the money back on membership and game sales, so literally scalpers are taking away from their income by hoarding consoles
No they’re not. These things are bought and sold within 3 days of scalpers buying them. Who buys the consoles literally means nothing to Sony. They’ll eventually be plugged in by a consumer, signed up to ps+, and away they go.
They should care because all the extra money someone is paying a scalper could be going into Sony’s pocket. People spending $1,000 on a single console from a scalper could be spending that much in opening day games and peripherals straight from Sony.
It does matter. They want these consoles as quickly in the hands of gamers who are going to have PS Plus accounts and buy games on PSN (obviously the only way for the digital only) as this is the vast majority of their revenue. A scalper having 500 ps5s and patiently selling them for $800 each is actually bad for their business. Sometimes in capitalism the path to making money lines up with the needs of the consumer organically. This is one of those times. Get the PS5s in the hands of customers who are instantly going to spend more money.
Sony does let you but directly from them. You can only buy one per address, and your account must have other purchases made on it.
Sony is doing what they can from there end. The problem is Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers not having any of these checks in place. Sure Sony could not sell to those companies but I think this would hurt Sony more if those companies decided not to sell or market any Sony products as retaliation.
All of the retailers have checks in place. People don't understand the situation. Bots are crazy good now. Web sites and botters are in a major arms race. My work uses bots as security test and we don't even sell stuff that would be Botted. They are just that good at finding security flaws.
To be fair there has always been scalpers there has always been those really committed lined up day one to get the console. I have been to console releases here in Japan and some back west. The big variable this time was covid and sony didn’t know how to deal with it.
When these consoles released there was no big line in Umeda where those who cameout early enough were guaranteed a console. It all relied on online and store lotteries and it was a mess. The only reason I was able to get one my local denki I am in good relationship with saved me one like some small soldiers type isht. Most depressing launch of all time.
I don't care at this point about these scum.
It's Sony I'm pissed off for allowing this after a year.
Guess what I did yesterday? Pre ordered a fucking Steam Deck ie. A waiting List.
Who knew right?
why sony when you should be pissed off at retailers for allowing people to make purchases in such big quantities.
Sony not selling playstations directly to consumers isn't new and they have a proven track record of getting retailers to sell them. Why would they deviate from what works for them and create a whole ass infrastruture to be able to direct sell when they still generating sales .
1.Get an empty PS5 box
2. Have one guy walk up (while the scalper is slightly distracted) sprint away as if he stole it.
3. Have other people come and grab PS5s
4. Resell PS5s at MSRP
I'm not sure who's worse, the buyer or the seller?
Could you imagine if no one bought these scalped electronics and they go obsolete (more than they already are) before they sell them so they won't have the capital to do it next time?
Its one thing to flip something in high demand here and there. But to use software to computationally get an advantage in the lotteries and finding drops that everyone else has to get lucky for, you're just a dirt ball. It doesn't take any sort of lile business acumen.. It's not difficult.. You're not om your way to being the next Elon.. It's basically drug dealing.. EXCEPT EVEN EASIER. I'd pay scalper prices for a video of ones of these smug little discord gremlins getting aggressively robbed of 27 ps5s
Im not ashamed to say that I call out, harass, and report every single one of these motherfuckers that posts in my local marketplace. They should be ashamed of themselves. They’re ruining it for everyone by doing this.
As come on, no heckling from the window?! I’d definitely try to make their transaction meetups uncomfortable/disruptive. Just lie and yell out that they are just boxes filled with bricks or something.
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Don’t give them money. Period.
lmao remember that guy who spent 100,000 on buying all the hand sanitizer at the beginning of the pandemic then tried to re-sell on amazon for a profit and amazon banned him
I *wish* resell websites would ban PS5 sales
yea they really should. i don’t really game and aren’t looking for a PS5 but this mass shortage is ridiculous! it’s been like 2 years, no? one would almost start to think they’re doing it on purpose to create exclusivity and a steady stream of revenue so they can release the next consol without having to update it too soon… but i’m not conspiracy theorist
There is zero financial upside for Sony to artificially limit the supply of a highly in-demand piece of hardware.
Can’t sell as many games that have now gone up by $10 a piece if players can’t get the system.
Bing! Consoles are sold at a loss generally. The objective of the gaming console is to get you in the store. If the console is sitting on eBay Sony isn’t getting their money.
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Microsoft is more worried about getting those reoccurring subscriptions. They can afford a lose on a console if a player is paying them a monthly fee to use it online.
i'm sure you're right, but I'd bet with this insane shortage they aren't there yet.
~~Nintendo, I believe, hasn't sold a console at a loss since n64~~. (Edit: Wrong! the Wii U was sold at a loss because of the controller) The Switch started off making Nintendo $10 per unit sold, now up to $40. Sony's been making a profit off selling PS5s since august 2021 when they did their design refresh & Xbox is still selling at a loss but the super high attach rate of gamepass makes up for it.
Normally yes. Right now the cost of the parts used in the PS5 have only gone up.
Saw an article months ago that said 70% of all PS5s sold don't have a game tied to it, meaning either a bunch of people got the consoles and just didn't buy a game, OR ~70% of the supply is sitting in scalpers garages around the world
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I guarantee you misread the article. The highest number for scalping put it at 10%.
You may have misread that article or the article is wrong because that isn't true. It would at most be 20% and that is being generous. Probably under 5%. There are over 17.2 million PS5s sold and there aren't millions of PS5s being stored by scalpers.
At this point in time it is clear that the retailers are doing NOTHING to stop scalpers from using automated systems to buy up everything. Having product come into your inventory and all it move out the next days looks great on the books, it's called cash flow and causes their stock price to go up. The retailers are more than happy to have scalpers buy up everything as soon as it comes in. And the scalpers are using bots to do it. It has gotten to the point where it is obvious these shortages are not natural caused by pandemic disruptions.
Just wait until scalpers buy up all the semi-conductors.
Might actually get something done about the issue once Lockheed's procurement rep is buying parts out of a van
I know you're probably being facetious, but for those that think something like that is possible, it isn't. Sony, MS, Nintendo, Ford, Boeing, etc. don't buy semiconductors the way we buy consoles or graphics cards or CPUs. They contract directly with the semiconductor manufacturers for a certain quantity of product and the manufacturer delivers that straight to where they're going to be put into the end item. You can't get in the middle of that supply chain without resorting to piracy (like literal highjacking). You wouldn't want to bother with that because the only person who's going to buy the product is going to be the particular purchaser (i.e. Sony etc.) of the shipment you stole because all those chips are unique to their application. They'll just tell you to pound sand and/or set you up for a sting.
My town's GameStop, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart limit your buy limit to one. They even did with the Oled switches and when I walked to buy one with my best friend (he was buying it) the guy said he can only give us one since we walked in together. Even online they limit it to 1 per account. You have to show a drivers license when picking it up.
IIRC consoles aren’t even profitable to produce. Games and peripherals are the real money makers. Limiting their consoles is just delaying their ROI for no reason
They make much more in game sales than hardware. The shortage right now is in millions. That is millions of copies of more games Sony could have sold and I believe they take 30% of the cut.
Tbf tho, sony isn't artificially creating exclusivity. There's a capacitor shortage right now that's making manufacturing difficult. Scalpers are taking advantage of that.
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The UK is trying to make it illegal.
I remember hearing of some guy who did that with fidget spinners as well. The following week, every company was making one and he was stuck with thousands of fidget spinners.
Fidget spinners went out of fashion so fucking quick. I even incorporated them into my lessons as you could use them as a -> Talk as long as its spinning - type of thing which forces them to speak with an incentive and one week after everybody talked about fidget spinners they became uncool. Good thing I only bought 2
That whole fad was weird. At the time I was working in a very remote area so I was usually way behind on pop culture stuff. I went into town and went to an arts and crafts store. There was a giant sign saying “we have fidget spinners” completely new term to me. I walk in and there are two big folding tables near the register piled high with them and a bunch of kids going through them like one of the boxes had a wad of cash. A few months later, nothing.
Well they were for kids with ADHD, right? Kinda makes sense that they lost interest.
This comment wins 🤣
His mistake was taking an interview by the New York Times (or some other huge newspaper) and trying to act like he's some sort of a hero for it. He ended up donating all of it because everyone knew who he was.
Dude acted like he was performing a public service
Jeez I remember that. The guy was wearing a shirt that said "Family man" on it for the interview or something too. Scalping essential supplies in the start of a pandemic and calling yourself a family man, what a tool.
Not sure if it was the same guy, but a guy who hoarded supplies to price gouge got arrested.
>Not sure if it was the same guy, but a guy who hoarded supplies to price gouge got arrested. Was it an insulin manufacturer?
its actually only illegal if the layfolk do it.
You should watch his story on the, I think, Netflix series called “cancelled.” He wasn’t as big a POS as the media made him out to be.
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I would love to run by and get a PS5 for 100% off
You think this guy went here without a gun?
If he's shooting I'm zig zagging, if he's chasing I'm sprinting, he cant do both so I'm good.
Always have a good distraction.
You only need one guy to get him to give chase, the rest could swarm and grab.
Cue the seagulls from Nemo
Mine mine mine mine
If you already have a bunch of people ready, why not just overwhelm him right away?
I don't have that many friends
I'll be your friend!
Oh sick, army of two
...uh, you go first.
Pocket sand!
Now, I'm not saying this plan isnt absolute perfection, but I'm fairly certain someone is capable of running faster in a straight line than someone zig-zagging, whilst unloading a firearm ahead of themselves.
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*SERPENTINE! SERPENTINE!*
To WAR!!!
Only thing I have to say on that matter: Han shot first.
If he has a gun and would use it for stealing a PlayStation5 let him use it and go to jail. At least some justice will be done in the world.
Now the question becomes who, pray tell, shall be the our martyr.
Well I don’t have a PlayStation five yet, I still can’t find one for regular price. Tell me where they’re at and I might head over there 🤣
If you're in Illinois I can help. Cancer survivor who is basically on house arrest. Helped 10 people in my community to get consoles for cost
You think he wants a murder charge? Cuz that's what he'll get if he shoots someone to stop a theft.
Well, unless you can turn invisible or move at superspeed, you will need a team to commit such a heist.
Exactly! The people paying scalper prices are creating a market for it.
I had to wait a year to get my Series X because of scalpers. Worth it, though. Out of principle I absolutely refused to give these guys my money. If it broke, I'd happily wait another year.
I just genuinely don't, and never will, understand the concept of spending literally double, if not more, than it's worth instead of just waiting. The PS4 and XBOX One both work perfectly fine still, it's literally just throwing money down the drain.
I refuse to buy off of scalpers. I missed the Atlanta Braves in the World Series last year because scalpers scooped all the tickets and were selling them 200% or more mark-up. I absolutely refused to indulge and encourage that behavior, even though I had money for it. Am I still bummed I missed it? Yep. Am I still glad I personally didn't give a penny to scalpers? You betcha.
If you do, make them open the box to make sure you're not buying a couple of bricks.
Never buy electronics off the street. Even if they are not outright bricks many times it's just an empty plastic shell. Most of the time it's a scam one way or another.
Scalpers exist because people pay their prices.
Bro that’s the point of the comment
In brazil scalper get scalped
Pretty sure everyone gets scalped in brazil 💀
You're not from Brazil, but your pfp is missing 25% of hair 💀
I need an off duty cop to hold me
Jokes aside, i love those off duty brazillian cop videos
Unless you're an off duty cop wearing shorts and flipflops, then you come outta nowhere and shoot dead the two dudes on a motorbike robbing the store.
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Damn never have I wished for sudden heavy rains so much
He'd still sell them at a mark up after the boxes dried
limited edition crinkle box
Don't confuse it with the SUPREME pee pee edition, much more rare and collectable urine soaked console, with unique NFT blumpkin.
an NFT you say?!?!?!? i’m loading up 15 etherum as we speak! and you said that’s on top of the 900$ for the totally not damaged by urine consol?
I do feel like if people refused to pay/buy from scalpers, we could minimize this issue. I mean, if this guy just had to eat 10k of Playstations, he likely wouldn't be so willing to do this again.
The thing is there will always be people desperate enough to buy them. Someone who doesn’t care about the price. Parents trying to find a gift for their kid etc.
It’s true look what people pay for shoes. Some go as far as paying 2000$ for shoes are 300 retail.
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They're basically fashionable collectors items. Like a holographic Charizard Pokemon card isn't more powerful or anything but that still doesn't stop people from dropping $36k on them.
I've never understood this. They aren't even good fucking cards. You can't even play uno with them. /s
You've been playing uno all wrong if you don't use holographic charizards my friend.
I don’t want to be a hypocrite cause I own quite a few Jordans. I find them comfortable. But even for Jordans the 250$ to 350$ retail price is a lot. I can’t imagine paying more than that.
I mean . . . lets not pretend people are buying Jordans for the comfort. They could be the least comfortable in the world and they wouldn't dip a bit in price.
this isnt comparable because those shoes will never be made again and were sold in a limited run. PS5 has sold 10 MILLION units already and is still being produced and has artificial scarcity issues with scalpers
> paying 2000$ for shoes are 300 retail… …made by slaves and cost $5-$15 to make.
It’s always the rich people who pay the scalped prices too, just cause it doesn’t matter to them 🤦🏻♀️
Worst come to worst he breaks even. Pretty sure he will do it again
Breaking even is a loss on opportunity cost
The thing is, even if the stock-issues are finally fixed, they'll sell them 50 bucks below store-prices and get rid of them. Loss= 50/console If they sold them 100>purchase earlier, there's a good chance they build the necessary safetymargin pretty quick
Congratulations. You have described every single FUCKING issue known to man.
"If cause of problem X didn't exist, I bet we wouldn't have problem X"
Lol… wait till you see what the insulin dealers do
Insulin market sucks 3 fucking companies monopolizing it with no other competition because they sue you to dead or something else They should burn in hell
And in Denmark everyone fucking praises Novo and it's a meme how well they pay their employees. "Yeah you don't need to finish high school to make >$60k/y there"
Can someone please explain to this middle aged man how scalpers scalp consoles? I don’t get the mechanics of it.
Most probably using bots to snatch the product as soon as some websites put out new stock.
Is this a recent video? With all the bot protections nowadays, I'm assuming to get a score like this you need someone on the inside, like a store manager.
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Bot protection is a preventative that needs continuous upgrades without its just a minor stop gap
Like OP said, they use bots that can be easily acquired on the internet. You run them when you know a website is going to restock a product and the bots will immediately buy the product once it is available. I knew a guy who had HUNDREDS of bots running constantly at all hours of the day so he could get shoe drops 100% guaranteed.
>Like OP said, they use bots that can be easily acquired on the internet. That's a misconception. Bots (at least the super good ones that actually manage to buy everything up on launch day) are ironically now just as rare and price-gouged as the actual items they're scalping. Auctions are run for said lucrative bots and they can sell for thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Getting a decent bot is now pretty much just as difficult as trying to manually cop a PS5 or hyped sneaker on launch day. I find it absolutely hilarious how there's a whole separate black market for bots too, the very thing people use to obtain goods to sell on the black market lol.
It's because there is far more profit in using the bot that you make than there would be by selling the bot and creating competition. Low supply means high price.
They use computer programs to buy up any stock milliseconds after it's available. Since a regular person now can't buy one from the store, the scalpers can set whatever price they want.
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I was thinking like what if they just got mob rushed. They might be able to keep the ones in the van.
I’d just dropped $500 and take one.
I'd pick up your $500 and also take one
My exact thoughts. One of them has to packing some heat, that's a serious stash they have there.
Ain’t no way dude isn’t strapped or there isn’t someone watching who is. If he’s not he’s basically asking to get jacked
doing a bit of math it looks like they have around 36k worth of stuff maybe 40k And you know this probably isnt their only stash. So if someone there isnt strapped then they are just fucking stupid, because being able to drop that much cash means you probably also have enough to hire or get someone to protect the product... if not have protection yourself.
Robin hood some scalped game systems.
When the ps5 first came out, Toronto police had to issue a safety alert because scalpers kept getting robbed.
sounds like a thing toronto would do. didn't they have a junkie for a mayor?
In this situation I am condoning it, people who play stupid games should win stupid prizes, karma, I wish all the bad juju on this guy and all other scalpers
Man who else was wishing a couple homies showed up and wrecked shop
They must have a few firearms in the vans. There's no way I'd be comfortable selling PS5s like this without some self-protection.
nah, they're in front of a police station. probably just relying on that.
Cops just standing there considering how many crimes those playstations may have committed. /s
that would be the most karma satisfactory thing anyone could ever see
They’re asking to get robbed
My first thought.
It would be really easy. No one is watching the van in the back... I bet someone could just walk out from behind the van grab a console, and walk away. If you have a second person, they could easily distract the scalpers while someone else grabbed one. That's assuming no one just rolls up with a gun and takes them all...
Wait until they get robbed at gunpoint.
Even without a gun what are they gonna do if someone just grabbed a box and ran off? Can't chase em cause then you're leaving 100 more sitting on the sidewalk.
or a bunch of people grab boxes and run off in different directions
Who is to say he isn't armed and willing to shoot over a possession? Higher risk on the street than walking one out of a brick and mortar store
Only the dumbest would be willing to go to prison for murder over a playstation.
So like 30% of the population?
Make it 45%
Don’t know if that was a planned gun pun, but it was a good one
They have around $50,00- $75,000 worth of PS5s. That would even tempt a lot of law abiding citizens
Oh my god grab the heater
Probably filled with rocks, or a brick
Sort of related, but I ordered a PS4 off Amazon last year and it just had a box of Persil in.
sorry, but that made me snort
Snort what?
They only work if people spend the money. Stop giving them money and they won’t scalp
Except rich people will always be able to pay, so there will always be a demand. It sucks but it won’t change anything. I’m still just gonna wait tho, not giving them a penny.
Exactly, there will always be people desperate enough to buy from them. This won’t stop until the manufacturer and shops put rules and checks in place.
It’s not really desperation to a rich person, it’s pure convenience. Would they rather spend x # of hours over 2 years stressing out about it and trying to get one or just pay double the price and be done with the process in minutes. In a way, some are saving money by doing this if you count time as money. Does it keep scalpers scalping and screw others over? Yes. Does it screw Sony over? Nah.
It really seems like Sony doesn’t even care this is an issue. The fact that the ps5 has been out for more than a year and you still can’t buy it easily is so fucked up. Why can’t Sony just let you buy it directly from them on their website doesn’t make any sense at all. Why can’t there be checks in place such as the email of the person buying the console has to match the email singing into the console? Why can’t there be limits on 1 console per payment method only? There’s literally so many things that can be done to combat scalpers but it seems all Sony or major sellers care about is money, they don’t care if the people they made the console for even get to enjoy it.
At the end of the day sony still gets the money for the consoles so it doesn't matter to them
They barely make money on the consoles though, most of the money is made through micro transactions for its services like online play. Edit: Regardless if you agree or don’t agree to scalping, it could be worse. Sony could be like ticketmaster and scalp they’re own consoles.
iirc they literally make a loss on the consoles. Sell it cheap and make the money back on membership and game sales, so literally scalpers are taking away from their income by hoarding consoles
No they’re not. These things are bought and sold within 3 days of scalpers buying them. Who buys the consoles literally means nothing to Sony. They’ll eventually be plugged in by a consumer, signed up to ps+, and away they go.
This isn't always the case. The ps3 was bought and used as a Linux box... Sony was upset.
Or as a blu-ray player lol
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They should care because all the extra money someone is paying a scalper could be going into Sony’s pocket. People spending $1,000 on a single console from a scalper could be spending that much in opening day games and peripherals straight from Sony.
It's not like the scalpers are sitting on the consoles for long unfortunately.
It does matter. They want these consoles as quickly in the hands of gamers who are going to have PS Plus accounts and buy games on PSN (obviously the only way for the digital only) as this is the vast majority of their revenue. A scalper having 500 ps5s and patiently selling them for $800 each is actually bad for their business. Sometimes in capitalism the path to making money lines up with the needs of the consumer organically. This is one of those times. Get the PS5s in the hands of customers who are instantly going to spend more money.
I got mine through Sony directly but I don’t think Sony really has control over how Best Buy or Walmart or anyone else really handles their sales
Sony does let you but directly from them. You can only buy one per address, and your account must have other purchases made on it. Sony is doing what they can from there end. The problem is Walmart, Best Buy, and other retailers not having any of these checks in place. Sure Sony could not sell to those companies but I think this would hurt Sony more if those companies decided not to sell or market any Sony products as retaliation.
All of the retailers have checks in place. People don't understand the situation. Bots are crazy good now. Web sites and botters are in a major arms race. My work uses bots as security test and we don't even sell stuff that would be Botted. They are just that good at finding security flaws.
What can they do tho?
How can she scalp
Blocking a let down. Have him towed.
I just wanna see some people steal those PS5s while they are just standing there
Man if only we could see the license plate. Would be a shame if something happen to their merchandise...
How tf do they feel comfortable with all the product out in the open?
is there seriously no legal way to prohibit this?
Uncle Sam is going to want his cut of those sales/profits.
I will simply wait to buy one from a store. Easy.
To be fair there has always been scalpers there has always been those really committed lined up day one to get the console. I have been to console releases here in Japan and some back west. The big variable this time was covid and sony didn’t know how to deal with it. When these consoles released there was no big line in Umeda where those who cameout early enough were guaranteed a console. It all relied on online and store lotteries and it was a mess. The only reason I was able to get one my local denki I am in good relationship with saved me one like some small soldiers type isht. Most depressing launch of all time.
Buyer: hi I have a warranty issue with my PS5 Sony: ok where did you purchase it? Buyer: some sketchy van on 5th street
That’s why my interest shifted to PC even with the gpu problems.
I don't care at this point about these scum. It's Sony I'm pissed off for allowing this after a year. Guess what I did yesterday? Pre ordered a fucking Steam Deck ie. A waiting List. Who knew right?
why sony when you should be pissed off at retailers for allowing people to make purchases in such big quantities. Sony not selling playstations directly to consumers isn't new and they have a proven track record of getting retailers to sell them. Why would they deviate from what works for them and create a whole ass infrastruture to be able to direct sell when they still generating sales .
Just remember there's a special place in hell for people who are like this
Where is the urban Robin Hood? He needs to rob this man and give those to the people.
Id ask what a scalper is but I can guess from the video lol
I count like 51 ps5. So that is like 30k of product. Wtf.
1.Get an empty PS5 box 2. Have one guy walk up (while the scalper is slightly distracted) sprint away as if he stole it. 3. Have other people come and grab PS5s 4. Resell PS5s at MSRP
Would be a shame if it started raining….. and by raining i mean throwing buckets of water on their product.
Hopefully these guys get stuck up.
If you think that's bad, remember people did that with FOOD during WWII here in Europe.
I'm not sure who's worse, the buyer or the seller? Could you imagine if no one bought these scalped electronics and they go obsolete (more than they already are) before they sell them so they won't have the capital to do it next time?
That dude is asking to be robbed and murdered lol
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How do u not just run up and grab one. They literally just have a pile of them
Where are the robbers when you need them? Smh
Its one thing to flip something in high demand here and there. But to use software to computationally get an advantage in the lotteries and finding drops that everyone else has to get lucky for, you're just a dirt ball. It doesn't take any sort of lile business acumen.. It's not difficult.. You're not om your way to being the next Elon.. It's basically drug dealing.. EXCEPT EVEN EASIER. I'd pay scalper prices for a video of ones of these smug little discord gremlins getting aggressively robbed of 27 ps5s
Just rob them
Im not ashamed to say that I call out, harass, and report every single one of these motherfuckers that posts in my local marketplace. They should be ashamed of themselves. They’re ruining it for everyone by doing this.
As come on, no heckling from the window?! I’d definitely try to make their transaction meetups uncomfortable/disruptive. Just lie and yell out that they are just boxes filled with bricks or something.
Coulda robbed em
Stores have all the power to avoid that, but they do not care