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Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S owners. Did you pay retail or the scalpers? How did you get it?

Did you pay retail or pay the scalpers?

  • I paid Retail

    Votes: 346 83.8%
  • I paid Scalpers

    Votes: 22 5.3%
  • I am still hunting

    Votes: 25 6.1%
  • Not currently interested

    Votes: 20 4.8%

  • Total voters
    413
Retail.

Preordered at shop2 around the end of summer, then sat back.

got a ‘do you want a ps5’ email nearly 2 weeks after launch. Turned up about 2 weeks before Xmas. Good job there Santa 🎅

job done

say no to scalpers (if you can)
 
I was lucky enough to be able to get a preorder for a Series X through Best Buy about a month before launch.

I happened to see someone on Reddit give a tip about a restock and I was able to just barely capitalize on it.

Originally I wasn’t going to pull my hair out trying to get one, but like I said I got lucky enough to see that tip.
 

Vindicator

Member
Was lurking the some thread on Reeee the next day after reveal, someone posted Mediamarkt had preorders available, placed one immediately and got it on launch day.
 

anthony2690

Banned
There is a lot less scalping going on than people realise, I think it was mentioned its less than 2% of consoles, there is just really high demand. (this applies to UK atleast). But I can imagine it's roughly the same worldwide.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Pre-ordered last fall, got it recently. Would never be desperate enough to pay 2x the price or whatever, and I also hate scalpers and would never support them.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Bought a LG CX due to Bo_Hazem Bo_Hazem which has XSX attached to the purchase with no extra cost, receive it on 10th of December 2020, so slightly after launch. From different country also (Poland)...

Same. Surprised Sony didn't do a similar promo, they'd get rid of 2020 TV models and the consoles would actually go the the gamers rather than scalpels.
 

DelireMan7

Member
Was kind of interested at launch by the PS5 but didn't make any effort to get one.

Now I am not interested. I will get one when it's easy to get one in shops, no time to lose "hunting". I can wait months/years without problem, anyway I stopped playing games on release and I have plenty of games to play/replay.
 

Azurro

Banned
Got it at launch. Was lucky that I checked the biggest online store here immediately after the showing in September and it was available for pre-order. Fuck the scalpers. :)
 

saintjules

Member
PS5 - I didn't fall for the "will go on sale tomorrow" message. Stayed up that night and scored two preorders because we wanted two consoles. My daughter scored one too but we cancelled it.

XBSX - Same thing, staying aware of when preorders started and putting in the "F5" work. Multiple tabs open and scored one when preorders went live.

RTX3080 - Not even F'n close to day one. No amount of "F5" was getting me one. Followed discord alerts and patience finally paid off. Picked it up from BB last week and installed it and a new PSU yesterday.

edit- I'm done with this gen purchases while supplies are limited even if Nintendo releases a new Switch or the others get a revision. I'm going to shift more of my gaming toward PC/PS anyway.

Godspeed.
 

HoofHearted

Member
How? You aren't the first person to say they did this but i don't see a sign up for shit on that direct.playstation.com . No sign up, just "out of stock", i got no emails from sony, and its bullcrap as I have been a psn subscriber since day fing 1. My screename doesn't even have numbers as i was that early into the psn. Have a playstation credit card and ps plus, they never sent me shit.

Kinda peeved, I had no issues pre-ordering a ps4 , gamestop took my money months in advance and I walked in and out on day 1 in 30 minutes. This time no such offers. This time I was there for the stupid online pre-order the morning of and it was sold out right away, apparently they started the night before , assholes. How do you sell out of pre-orders, take them all and put people in mfing queues. ..wtf... Tried launch day, and 12 other days since, multiple times in a day always to have asshole scalper bots steal shit from my cart. If you have something in your cart it should be locked to you for at least 10 minutes for checkout or don't put it in the cart at all.

Yeah i am pissed. My ps4 is overheating and i can't play any of those games. My ps3 has broken wifi/bluetooth, and that's on it's last leg. Ironically my ps2 is working fine.
Tired of and jealous of all you people who have the console. I have more than enough loot but I am not going to pay some scalper money, f them. F them to hell!!!!

Been doubling down playing PC and switch. May just buy a backup switch if they don't announce the pro soon (just in case it breaks, i have too many games invested to have what happened to my ps4 )
Check the order sub channels under the Xbox and PlayStation servers on Discord. There are also YouTube channels dedicated that essentially piggyback on the Discord channels.

If all that you’re doing is signing up for PS Direct and hoping to get notified to turn around and order in time - you will never get one. You have to do the work.

Drops last all of 10-20 minutes. I’ve scored one right at the drop, and then another another 10-15 minutes later.

You have to figure out when the drops will occur and be ready to buy. Many times the drops don’t happen (people will post there’s one but there isn’t). You will also fail MULTIPLE times - but eventually you’ll score one. It’s absolutely a grind and will take a good bit of time that you’ll need to invest sitting at a computer waiting for a drop.

IMHO - PS direct is the most annoying as it’s some weird lottery system. I’ve been at numerous drops there the second they open up the queue but was never able to get one (all the while others would show up 10 minutes later and score one on discord).

Walmart was surprisingly the easiest to get the console as it was the most predictable. If you didn’t get it within 10-15 minutes you simply tried next drop - no lottery - just sign in before the drop and click / refresh until I scored. They also implemented various changes to minimize bots and scalpers (you can’t order more than one per CC/household).
 
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I got mine from Sam's Club, somehow mere seconds before a tweet went live that notified people that Sam's Club had them, instantly gone after that tweet.
 

makaveli60

Member
I only preordered a ps5 the next day after the September 2020 Sony event. Little did I know then how difficult it will be to get one. I preordered in two different stores just in case and was calmly waiting as the official info was that the preorders were valid after this date only. Yet, this somehow got ignored and closing to launch the stores told buyers that the pre-preorders will get the consoles first, meaning that they start with the people that preordered the soonest (so even before the official preorders started), which obviously meant I was fucked. Then a day before launch day, I got info that my cable/phone provider will have a couple available on launch day in the morning. I was on holiday that day (preparing for such events :D) so I tried getting one for hours, but for the surprise of no one, the website was under a crazy stress. I reached the last step of the order process numerous times but it always failed. Later it was revealed that they only had like 10 consoles and they were sold in a minute, it was just the website was struggling, and it showed them still available to buy. I was reading a thread where a user shared info that a larger store also put up a couple of consoles for order. I checked it, they only had the digital edition in stock, the disc edition said “expected delivery in 1 month). I was sure I wanted a disc edition but I was hesitating, as this 1 month thing and that you had to pay for it immediately (while you don’t even know when you will get it) weren’t too promising. In the end I gave in, as I felt this was my only chance to get one and as this is like one of the largest store franchises I trusted that there won’t be problems. I think I mignt have been one of the last ones who were able to order, as when I was done with the process, it wasn’t available anymore (neither the disc nor the digital edition). It was a good decision in the end, as I got it in less than two weeks and have been enjoying it since. Bring on the nextgen games!

ps. if I had waited for the original store I preordered in first, I would have got the console in the end of February (they called if I still wanted it)
 

_BC_

Member
got the twitter alerts and kept trying .. totally shocked when my best buy order went through (back at the end of march) ... but very happy with the end results
 

Haggard

Banned
Retailer.
Got 4 units from MediaMarkt, Otto and Amazon drops.
I have a few info bots I follow on twitter. Not too hard to get one this way.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
This was my PS5 launch party pic:

I68HBiW.gif


My PS5 came directly from Sony staff order and the others from retail. I was finally able to make 2 friends happy with a PS5.
 
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Paid retail for both ones I bought.

I did have a pre-order, but cancelled just before release. On release day, I really wanted one so I used the Curry's glitch to get one - but people said they got their's cancelled, so I managed to get a Very one too.

Curry's honoured my order (although delivery was December) and Very also honoured theirs. Both arrived - sold one to my wife's friend as she couldn't get one for her son for Xmas.
 
I don't trust half of the online shops around to make good on their promises much less some random person on eBay. I got both consoles retail at release - just leisurely purchased when the first load of stock was released and had no issue. If I hadn't found them retail I would have just waited.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Another data point that will show that scalping is on a small, not very significant, fraction of the total market that gets elevated to a level above supply << demand by people who just want to point fingers at scapegoats.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I have fear to get from scalpers... like not getting the product at all so it was never a option.

I got via Retail very easy just preordered it.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Another data point that will show that scalping is on a small, not very significant, fraction of the total market that gets elevated to a level above supply << demand by people who just want to point fingers at scapegoats.
Plus I have no ideia how people can’t buy the console due scalpers... every week seem to have a new batch on retailers.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Another data point that will show that scalping is on a small, not very significant, fraction of the total market that gets elevated to a level above supply << demand by people who just want to point fingers at scapegoats.

Plus I have no ideia how people can’t buy the console due scalpers... every week seem to have a new batch on retailers.
The scalper thing is blown out of proportion for other reasons, lol.

Every time stock drops happen in the UK, some PS5 games usually get a healthy bump. Scalpers must also be scalping the games too....including digital.
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
Bought a LG CX due to Bo_Hazem Bo_Hazem which has XSX attached to the purchase with no extra cost, receive it on 10th of December 2020, so slightly after launch. From different country also (Poland)...

Glad you used that offer smartly! I got mine in the 21st of November 2020 (PS5) and it was comfortably easy compared to other countries as it's been handled differently here. You pay full price upfront, register your name and cellphone number in store. Scalpers didn't like it here. :messenger_winking_tongue:
 

The Alien

Banned
Secured a Series X on (a very stressful) first day of pre-order. Was able to add 1 to the cart off Microsoft's website and never hit refresh. 15 minutes later when the traffic died down, i was able to complete the transaction.

I really wanted the new XBox....but no way i was paying a scalper. I would have waited and kept trying.
 
Paid retail, email invite from Sony directly to pre-order.

I am skeptical it was completely random because I am a heavy spender and trophy whore and can’t fathom one or the other wasn’t factored into their decision-making algorithm.

BTW, the ordering process by Sony was superb, no issues whatsoever.
 

CeeJay

Member
I spent about 30 minutes securing two pre-orders which both came through. Sorry to say that I added to the scalping problem and sold the other one on for significant gain. I look at it that my Series X cost me £150
 
Does purchasing a hastily put together bundle at retail count as scalped? Quite sure the bundle I got wouldn't have existed if not for the low stock :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

TheMan

Member
After initially telling myself I wouldn’t get a ps5 until it had built up a compelling library, I caved to fomo and managed to preorder one on the first day preorders were available.

series s- searched unsuccessfully for a series x starting in March but I managed to find a series s last month. Since I already have a pc and ps5, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to settle for the weaker version. So far so good, I’m enjoying console gamepass a lot.
 

Ballistic

Member
I have 3. All were secured through retail over 3 different drops. One preorder through sams club, one through ps direct, and a 3rd through Walmart. I was shocked when I actually made it to checkout with Walmart though. Had one denied order through Target due to credit company thinking it was out of state fraud.

if you want a system you just have to monitor Twitter. Alert sites, or whoever is alerting about drops. I had a couple Twitter guys that I followed that were spot on most of the time. Being prepared means having multiple browsers open and ready to go, being logged into the site before the melt down, and having credit card info saved or using some pay service.
 

CeeJay

Member
This was my PS5 launch party pic:

I68HBiW.gif


My PS5 came directly from Sony staff order and the others from retail. I was finally able to make 2 friends happy with a PS5.
Love that photo with the cables coming up behind the table waiting to be fed some fresh console deliciousness :D
 
Smashed the place order button on the anticipated preorder date. I did that for abour 1.5 hours, as necessary on 4 retailers. I expected mistakes would happen in the preorder window, so I was online in threads tracking the situation around go live and major showcase type things.

I got 2 xboxs and could have had a few PS5, but I wasn't planning on scalping. I had a bad year of no consoles, so I felt bad for people...but they were just scalpers. I should have bought and resold at retail if I cared.
 

scalman

Member
i dont think its even possible to buy it at retail price... here its like 800 euros for digital i think and then up to 1000 and more for disc version with one or couple games maybe. just too much .
 
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