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Scalpers are the Scum of the Earth and Why Best Buy Sucks

PhatSaqs

Banned
I feel real bad for you my man. Really sucks that you waited that long and walked away empty handed. I know i'd be ready to kill somebody. But let's put the ultimate blame where it belongs here. The scalpers are only taking advantage of a situtaion because there is a situation in the first place....
 

Belfast

Member
Slo said:
Not to be a dick (okay, maybe to be a dick :)), but really what did you expect? I can't fault the scalpers one bit, it's a high demand item and people are willing to work to attain one. Some more than others. People are investing their time to turn a profit, that's capitalism for ya. I'm surprised that retailers aren't jacking up the price themselves, why sell an item for less than the market will support in the first place?

I'm sorry that you didn't get a system, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble but you don't deserve a PS3 more than the guys in front of you just because you're a "true gamer" and your heart is pure. You should have gotten there sooner.

I could not have gotten there any sooner, considering I had class that day. Not to mention that they had SPECIFICALLY told people (me included) that lining up would not happen until at least 24 hours beforehand, so there was no need for me to line-up any sooner. Thankfully, I just decided to ride by Best Buy and see what was up and was surprised to see 40+ people in line already, well before the 24-hour period.
 

Remy

Member
bill0527 said:
Best Buy is the worst because they won't tell people in the line just exactly how many systems they're got to sell. At least my store doesn't. I cannot think of any logical reason as to why this information should be treated like a matter of national security.

It's in Best Buy's interest not to tell anyone. Not telling makes for a longer line. Longer lines means more coverage by media outlets, who are more than happy to frame every shot with the giant Best Buy logo behind them as they cover the people "waiting to buy the latest video game". (That phrase is like a paper cut between the fingers.)

As a general question, to those people arguing along the "there's nothing immoral about making money" lines, do you feel the same way about concert/sports ticket scalpers?
 
Based on what I read, I think the fault lies mainly on Best Buy.

The scalpers have (for the most part) gone through the same shit as the 'true gamers' in order to obtain their console. They plan to use it for different purposes than we do - fair enough - it's a free market, and all.

But Best Buy not only dicked up store policy - that they could not even be bothered to tell the people outside that they were wasting their time when they knew full well the number of units they had signifies that they suck.
 

btrboyev

Member
Well at least those of us who got hosed have an outlet to bitch through...waking up this morning I feel better though, I really didn't need a ps3, in fact there isn't a single game out on it I really wanted, I just wanted the system. I will be more than content with a wii and zelda this weekend. I feel extra bad for you though..I sure as **** didn't wait for 2 days to get turned away.


Ebay is another to blame I think..they should have a policy that prevents this shit from happening at a launch.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
The scalpers have (for the most part) gone through the same shit as the 'true gamers' in order to obtain their console. They plan to use it for different purposes than we do - fair enough - it's a free market, and all.
I suppose it's the fact that, somehow, they were ABLE to line up for DAYS at a time. Those of us with regular jobs who just wanted to own the machine for personal use had absolutely ZERO chance as a result.
 

Seth C

Member
dark10x said:
Yeah, but he is not one of those willing to spend $2000 on a PS3 either. Those people are the problem.

The only difference between Belfast and those people is that they have more money than he does. Both of them want the thing (and it has to be RIGHT NOW!) far more than is reasonable. One of them throws money at it, the other throws time at it. That creates the the market for the scalpers.
 

Gio_CoD

Banned
Remy said:
As a general question, to those people arguing along the "there's nothing immoral about making money" lines, do you feel the same way about concert/sports ticket scalpers?
Yes, I do. If the demand is there, there will always be people willing to sell.

Sports events, concerts, and videogames are all BIG TIME luxury tickets. The only time I get pissed hearing about scalping are the occasional complete scumbags that try to sell bottles of water for 10 dollars after major disasters.
 

Shinobi

Member
Haleon said:
You know what the latest trend in gaming that I hate is? Obnoxious kids acting as if they have some sort of "right" to own a system just because they want to play it.

For one thing, there's nothing immoral about making money. You might feel like you're some sort of saint because you want to play the PS3 rather than profit off of it, but I am struggling to see how that makes you any better than them. When I think about truly unfair things in life, I tend to think about Somalian warlords stealing red cross supplies and selling them back to the people that need them the most. Suburban teenagers not getting a Playstation 3 rings up pretty low on my pity list.

If you really want a PS3, start calling stores and try to get an idea of their general stock delivery dates. Show up at the right store at the right time, and you'll get one.

Word. It's amusing seeing all the whining about scalping, as if it's some brand new phenomenon. It could be the second oldest profession in the free world. And the scalpers wouldn't have much business if Sony wasn't ****ing up with their supply numbers, and gamers and the media wasn't hyping PS3 up to be the second coming of Jesus. I don't blame the scalpers at all for taking advantage of such a bunch of stupid ****ing idiots willing to pay three or four times the list price...good on 'em I say.

There's also the fact that more PS3's will be available over the next few months, and it's going to be the same shitty price with the same shitty lineup. The idea that anyone needs to own this thing now instead of waiting even a couple of months is just absurd, particularly when you admitted it's for yourself anyway.

The only person I feel sorry for is the girl, since she was buying it for someone else. Anyone else who got screwed just cause they wanted to be among the first to rush onto some net forum and scream HEY DOODZ I GOT PSTREE LOLZ and missed out can frankly get bent. The whining is simply pathetic...everyone knew what the deal was gonna be. You snooze, you lose.
 
dark10x said:
I suppose it's the fact that, somehow, they were ABLE to line up for DAYS at a time. Those of us with regular jobs who just wanted to own the machine for personal use had absolutely ZERO chance as a result.

No, you made a choice too, whether consciously or not.

You chose that staying at your job and not pissing off your boss was more important to you than obtaining a PS3. I think that's a perfectly good choice.

The other guy, who might not have to choose between having a job and getting a PS3, obviously decided that a PS3 was highest on his priority list of things to do. That is also his choice.
 
Remy said:
As a general question, to those people arguing along the "there's nothing immoral about making money" lines, do you feel the same way about concert/sports ticket scalpers?

I was going to stay quiet, but I had to answer this question posed.

That is completely different as the event is usually only a one day thing. It's not like they can restock having Z concert singer in the coming months. I also feel if it weren't for places like Ticketmaster that charge really stupid ass fees the prices for things like that would be a bit less, but that's another subject entirely.
 

SickBoy

Member
bill0527 said:
Retailers need better strategies to deal with these launch fiascos.

There's no reason that people should stand out in the cold/wind/rain/snow for days and come away empty handed.

Best Buy is the worst because they won't tell people in the line just exactly how many systems they're got to sell. At least my store doesn't. I cannot think of any logical reason as to why this information should be treated like a matter of national security.

I'm all for a lottery system when it comes to launch units. At least gamers would then have a chance. At first glance, a lottery system may not seem fair, but do you think the way its set up now, seems fair?

edit: what i mean by 'fair' is that they system, as its set up now does not get these systems in the hands of gamers. The deck is heavily stacked in favor of the scalper. Some type of system needs to be set up so that more of these launch systems get into the hands of actual gamers.

I agree with this and what dark10x said (although the only people I think the deck is stacked in favour of are those who have enough free time to camp outside a store for 24+ hours)
 

Angelcurio

Gold Member
It really sucks, they should have at least said how many consoles they were getting so the remaining people could go home.
 

Joe Molotov

Member
Soybean said:
If it makes you feel any better, eBayers will get hosed. I'm tracking auctions and the amount of fake bidding is insane.

One of them's up to $9 Million. :lol

Edit: $99 Million. :lol
 

Zalasta

Member
Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you, and someone really should give that girl the Best Girlfriend award, whoever she is with, he is one lucky guy =)
 

Shinobi

Member
kojacker said:
imho scalpers are dirt, and any "gamer" who defends them on a gaming site is worse than dirt.

:lol :lol :lol Can't wait till you're old enough to enter the real world...
 
kojacker said:
imho scalpers are dirt, and any "gamer" who defends them on a gaming site is worse than dirt.
Yo, h4rdc0r3 for LYFE amirite?

I was secretly hoping this launch's cockblock would be from A/V geeks looking for a cheap Blu-Ray player.
 

kojacker

Member
Shinobi said:
:lol :lol :lol Can't wait till you're old enough to enter the real world...
OMG it burnz.

Why does everyone that disagrees with me always mention the real world!!!!!!!!!!??!?!?!?!?!?!??
 
Good job Sony for wasting 80,000 units on a pointless Japanese "launch", and I use the word launch generously there. Those units could have come to North America and at least prevented some of these kinds of stories.
 

Gio_CoD

Banned
kojacker said:
OMG it burnz.

Why does everyone that disagrees with me always mention the real world!!!!!!!!!!??!?!?!?!?!?!??
Well, in this particular case it's probably because you think scalpers are "dirt" and then put "gamer" in quotes.
 

Shinobi

Member
kojacker said:
OMG it burnz.

Why does everyone that disagrees with me always mention the real world!!!!!!!!!!??!?!?!?!?!?!??

To be honest that was the first post of yours I've ever read. :lol But maybe you should take it as a hint...
 
Jeff-DSA said:
Blame Sony.

This console shouldn't be launching right now. There's not nearly enough to go around.


That doesn't matter, if they have 6 million by March, they'll have 6 million by March, doesn't matter if they launch today or March.

Unfortunately people will make a fair bit of money from selling them on Ebay, there's nothing anyone can do, just wait till they're readily available.
 

kojacker

Member
Haleon said:
Well, in this particular case it's probably because you think scalpers are "dirt" and then put "gamer" in quotes.
Ah. Well, you sure taught me. *waves at Haleon through telescope*

To be honest that was the first post of yours I've ever read. But maybe you should take it as a hint...
So not only are you hating on me now, but you're dissing my past work!
 

LevelNth

Banned
I wholly agree with you Belfast, and I truly feel sorry for you. I was lucky enough to snag a 20GB, but I'd say, easily, 65% of the people in front of me had every intention of hitting up eBay as soon as they got home. It was quite the topic of conversation between me and 4 other guys all night, as we were keeping them.

Scalpers suck, people suck for being greed hogs and hocking 'em, and other people suck for being lame ass lazy rich bitches for paying retarded prices.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Jeff-DSA said:
Blame Sony.

This console shouldn't be launching right now. There's not nearly enough to go around.
really. this is EXACTLY the case. Sony should have delayed the launch. Many will then say "You just would see the same thing when they launch later" but the fact is that delaying it to say march means they could have launched with at least double or triple the units. the supply/demand ratio would have dropped and if you could even weed out 5% of the scalpers because the systems wouldn't fetch as much on ebay, that is 5% more systems that you could sell to legitimate fans. at minimum.

many of the gamers who got their PS3s today will probably deride this and say "too bad, suck it up", but really that is nothing but being a sore winner. the other guy didn't try as hard as me, didn't want it as bad as me. I had to deal through this why should someone else have it easier. Such an attitude serves nothing but selfishness, and if that's how you want to look at it, well.. more power to you. But the fact still remains that Sony caused this entire situation by rushing to market with WAY to few units, just to get the marketing, free press, and mindshare so as not to lose any of that to their competitors. do they care that tens of thousands of people wasted away days of their lives, that people were mugged or shot, or that their product is being turned around and sold for a minimum of 3 times its value?

of course not, they got their message out. We're sony and everyone wants our system.

what really sucks is that in 6 months all of this will be forgotten. Sure it means that this really isn't as big of a deal as even I would make it out to be, but it sucks because as others have pointed out, when we get to the next console launch the MISTAKES of this launch will be forgotten also. And then we will be in it all over again.. only maybe even worse.
 
Shinobi said:
Word. It's amusing seeing all the whining about scalping, as if it's some brand new phenomenon. It could be the second oldest profession in the free world. And the scalpers wouldn't have much business if Sony wasn't ****ing up with their supply numbers, and gamers and the media wasn't hyping PS3 up to be the second coming of Jesus. I don't blame the scalpers at all for taking advantage of such a bunch of stupid ****ing idiots willing to pay three or four times the list price...good on 'em I say.

There's also the fact that more PS3's will be available over the next few months, and it's going to be the same shitty price with the same shitty lineup. The idea that anyone needs to own this thing now instead of waiting even a couple of months is just absurd, particularly when you admitted it's for yourself anyway.

The only person I feel sorry for is the girl, since she was buying it for someone else. Anyone else who got screwed just cause they wanted to be among the first to rush onto some net forum and scream HEY DOODZ I GOT PSTREE LOLZ and missed out can frankly get bent. The whining is simply pathetic...everyone knew what the deal was gonna be. You snooze, you lose.

Post of the day.

*kneels before Shinobi*
 

Shinobi

Member
kojacker said:
So not only are you hating on me now, but you're dissing my past work!

:lol Actually based on the last two responses you're just fine in my book. :lol Couldn't disagree more on the scalper thing though...far as I'm concerned they were the only intelligent people in the PS3 lineups.

It's hard for me to blame Sony either...PS2 and 360 all got ridiculous news coverage due to their limited supply and their pre-Christmas launch dates. It's incalculable amount of free advertising for PS3, and Sony would be a fool not to want it. Of course there are other ways this limited launch could backfire on them (I bet more 360's then usual are sold this weekend), but that's a discussion for another time.
 

Slo

Member
Belfast said:
I could not have gotten there any sooner, considering I had class that day. Not to mention that they had SPECIFICALLY told people (me included) that lining up would not happen until at least 24 hours beforehand, so there was no need for me to line-up any sooner. Thankfully, I just decided to ride by Best Buy and see what was up and was surprised to see 40+ people in line already, well before the 24-hour period.

I'm sorry that you didn't get a system. Wasting your time sucks, being disappointed is understandable.

I just don't understand why people are bitter that non-gamers are investing 48+ hours of their time for a $500+ profit. That's just life. I wouldn't invest my time that way. Hell, that's barely $10/hour. I wouldn't work for that rate, and I probably wouldn't even accept that rate to watch YOU work. For some people it must be worth it though.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
Shinobi said:
far as I'm concerned they were the only intelligent people in the PS3 lineups.

I met the most intelligent scalpers... Pentagon City Best Buy. The Best Buy is indoors in a mini-mall type environment. They were able to line up/camp indoors. Public restrooms right there along with vending machines.
 

Dave Long

Banned
I was thinking today about who might be paying 2, 3, 4, 10000 for a PS3 and it occurred to me it's probably all your favorite sports personalities along with regular old rich people. I mean, football players, basketball players... they're heavy gamers. They certainly aren't going to wait in line.

So when you sell your PS3 on eBay, don't be surprised when it's Allen Iverson who wins the bid.
 
V

Vennt

Unconfirmed Member
Hey everyone, get civility with other posters back on the table or get the ban treatment, ok?
 

I3rand0

Member
Belfast said:
I could not have gotten there any sooner, considering I had class that day. Not to mention that they had SPECIFICALLY told people (me included) that lining up would not happen until at least 24 hours beforehand, so there was no need for me to line-up any sooner. Thankfully, I just decided to ride by Best Buy and see what was up and was surprised to see 40+ people in line already, well before the 24-hour period.
You really should report this to their corporate headquarters since they did violate corporate policy by allowing people to line up before 12:01 am Thursday. I used to work at the store myself, the management there is beyond incompetent.
 

rs7k

Member
Belfast said:
Victimless crime? I think not.

You're just bitter you didn't get a PS3, lol. Anyways, crime? It's just a game system. 25,000 kids die every day in Africa because of hunger. Come on now.

P.S. I'll sell you my PS3 for $1500 :lol :lol
plz dont ban me
 

kammy

Banned
Why wait in line for 2 days?

If you can do that then you can wait 2 weeks-2 months and get it for a reasonable price. There were 34 PS3 and you were No39... WHY DID YOU STAY???/
 
rs7k said:
You're just bitter you didn't get a PS3, lol. Anyways, crime? It's just a game system. 25,000 kids die every day in Africa because of hunger. Come on now.

P.S. I'll sell you my PS3 for $1500 :lol :lol
plz dont ban me

rs7k
not that smart
 

Fantasmo

Member
My friend just walked into a Best Buy this morning and one of the guys slipped and mentioned that 2 were still in the store.

He talked for about 15 minutes and got them to sell to him. He's keeping it.
 

kammy

Banned
fortified_concept said:
I blame ebay. They should freeze all those ****ERS accounts to teach them a lesson. This is a sad story and I feel really bad for the Korean girl.


so did i until i read the boyfriend part. lazy bastard should wait out himself instead of putting his gf in danger of gamer rape.

Plus if the real gamers hated the scalpers that much, they should stop beiong PUSSIES and get HARDCORE on their asses anf go vigilante and gang up on them.

we need some que wars.
 

kojacker

Member
Shinobi said:
:lol Actually based on the last two responses you're just fine in my book. :lol Couldn't disagree more on the scalper thing though...far as I'm concerned they were the only intelligent people in the PS3 lineups.
:lol

Hmmm, I don't know it just doesn't feel right to me. However, I am the type of person who watches The Apprentice and despairs.
 
hadareud said:
do you think they will?


I don't know, the point was if they delay the launch they'd only have the same amount of units over the same amount of time, the only problem now is people making massive profits off rich guys on ebay (if you'd call that a problem).
 

Snah

Banned
The other guy, who might not have to choose between having a job and getting a PS3, obviously decided that a PS3 was highest on his priority list of things to do. That is also his choice.

Just because something is "legal", in this regard, does not make it right.

And if you're willing to wait out multiple days and have no interest in the system, then you obviously don't have a real job.

A few hundred dollars in profit is not worth waiting out for two days, i'd make a hell of a lot more money if I did it per hour at my job.

These launches are just getting ridiculous, and this is a very bad trend. Retailers haven't learned a damn thing from the previous years.
 

SuperPac

Member
Snah said:
Just because something is "legal", in this regard, does not make it right.

And if you're willing to wait out multiple days and have no interest in the system, then you obviously don't have a real job.

A lot of the folks I talked with out in the line took vacation days or called in sick.
 
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