-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
PS5 scalping ring has no regrets, draws huge backlash
- Thread starter Michele
- Start date
Unknown Soldier
Member
I mean no one is stopping someone from robbing the scalpers at gunpoint and returning the PS5's to the stores to be sold to people at MSRP.
No jury would vote to convict, even if one of the scalpers somehow got shot during the robbery.
No jury would vote to convict, even if one of the scalpers somehow got shot during the robbery.
TheDrunkenMerchant
Member
Legally? 100%, they can do whatever. Free country, free market.
Morally? I can't believe they can sleep at night knowing they're ruining so many people's fun.
Personally? I hope people don't buy them so it'll stop, but people will continue to buy them, so it will continue to happen.
Morally? I can't believe they can sleep at night knowing they're ruining so many people's fun.
Personally? I hope people don't buy them so it'll stop, but people will continue to buy them, so it will continue to happen.
Bernd Lauert
Banned
If I could scalp 3500 PS5s and get away with it, I'd totally do it. That's like a million dollars of profit lmao.
kiphalfton
Member
Armed robbery and return fraud. Yeah real nice.
Last edited:
BluRayHiDef
Banned
He's living the dream. His YouTube career has enabled him to move to California, near Hollywood, to pursue a career in voice acting. Also, he is now big enough to receive highly-anticipated products before their releases; he received both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 before they were released. His grifting is doing him wonders.
Investor9872
Member
Now be honest. If any of you have the money, and the expertise, to scalp 3,500 PS5 to sell at a $500 profit each, equalling $1.75 million, you all would do it, too.
kingpotato
Ask me about my Stream Deck
Manufactures AND retailers would charge the markup if they thought they could get away with it, but those prices are specifically for people who can afford to literately waste their money.
I doubt any manufacturer OR retailer ever was pleased and if there was a way to effectively stop this without costing a ton of effort, they probably would, but as others have pointed out, nothing illegal is going on.
Bro don't be too bitter, there's not much to play on them at the moment.
FunkMiller
Member
Bingo.
None of us should bother being angry at the scalpers. Reserve your rage for Sony and the retailers.
TaylorSwiftFan
Member
It’s all on the retailers. How hard is it to add a captcha to a checkout screen?
Cert.in.Death
Member
Their money is as green as yours. Scalping is a risky business and the window of opportunity is small.
Sony could always steer orders away from them, but combatting it is fruitless because it simply empowers any owner to enter the market more readily (stomp out one cockroach, another scurries our in its place). Scalping will happen, it’s inevitable and a natural byproduct of a shortage in a capitalist world.
Sony could always steer orders away from them, but combatting it is fruitless because it simply empowers any owner to enter the market more readily (stomp out one cockroach, another scurries our in its place). Scalping will happen, it’s inevitable and a natural byproduct of a shortage in a capitalist world.
Raonak
Banned
what exactly do you expect sony to do?
verify that each and every retailer they ship to has proper anti-bot tools?
or don't give any to retailers and just have them accessible on the sony website only?
Considering this is a global product launching in a lot of countries, both options are straight up impractical.
all they can really do is just manufacture more and hope that supply outstrips demand.
Scalpers/greed are the root cause of the problem, and we should rightfully be mad at them, even thought it doesn't really change anything.
Last edited:
the_master
Member
Some busineses are indeed illegal. And scalpers dont provide any benefit to society. So they should be illegalized
PleaseDontBanMe
Banned
they have no regrets
and i have no ps5
fascinating
and i have no ps5
fascinating
Last edited:
-Arcadia-
Banned
Sure. You go first, Robin Hood. We’re all right behind you.
ManofOne
Plus Member
Better Online Ticket Sales Act was mean to curb this for tickets, there was talk about extending it to other products. The only reason it really bad this time around is b/c of COVID.
hybrid_birth
Member
nush
Member
Scalpers of the euro PS3 found out the hard way. There was enough supply the console was already expensive so the same level of profits was already potentially lower. 100's of Ebay auctions going unsold or just under retail price.
yong is fine the quartening is a ass
Cockles & Whelks
Banned
There's always someone more scummier.
Venom Snake
Member
No. In my country, "unregistered sales" means numerous financial penalties, so high that there is no question of any profit.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
They are greedy assholes, but it is what it is. Maybe if people weren't stupid enough to buy a PS5 for $1500 from these lowlifes it wouldn't be as interesting for them.
Entroyp
Member
Yup, I gave up on getting one at around the 1 year mark. It was nasty. That’s the only Nintendo console I never owned.
Justin9mm
Member
It's a shitty practice and they are shitty people but it's not really their fault.
They are just taking advantage of a situation which is pretty much the definition of capitalism!
It's people like Sony and Microsoft not giving a fuck about the fairness for their consumer and it's the retail sector also not giving a fuck how and who they are sold to.
They are just taking advantage of a situation which is pretty much the definition of capitalism!
It's people like Sony and Microsoft not giving a fuck about the fairness for their consumer and it's the retail sector also not giving a fuck how and who they are sold to.
Ten_Fold
Member
It’s crazy because the only reason I probably got one was because I ordered through Sony an they put a captcha. Seems the other retailers don’t care.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
I made a bigger return of investment this year holding stocks such as Tesla and Cloudflare this year. Scalping goods for profits is definitely not the most optimal investment.
supernova8
Banned
There's always someone more scummier.
Actually they might be onto something. If you imagine a load of people group together, make thousands of dummy accounts and post the same "photo of PS5" all for different silly prices, the real PS5 scalper listings might get drowned out.
The scalpers might try to report the listings, but then the group could just set up a discord or something and highlight real listings to report so that eBay or whoever it is is also flooded with report flags and they don't know which ones are real or not.
In an ideal world they would just temporarily stop all PS5 listings but yeah eBay doesn't really give a shit they just want their cut of the revenue.
InDaGulag
Member
Nobody is a bigger grifter than The Quatering. Dude's so lazy he pissed on his basement floor during a livestream.
Hawking Radiation
Member
Its the retailers man.
If they introduce some sort of system to prevent bots rapidly placing orders then it would go a long way to curbing this fucking shit.
Hawking Radiation
Member
That's like trying to sell a Ford with a Ferrari badge on it. No one wants that.
ReBurn
Gold Member
A jury would absolutely convict someone if they stole someone else's legally purchased property and tried to return it to a retailer. That's both theft and fraud.
Edgelord79
Gold Member
namekuseijin
Banned
fuck them and fuck people who buy from them
fuck flatties too for that matter
fuck flatties too for that matter
_Justinian_
Gold Member
I'm only disappointed that I didn't think to do this first. I could have made quite a profit.