Not long after pre-orders went live for the Xbox Series X|S in September, scalpers began listing their own orders online for around double the retail price in certain regions.
The same crowd is now reportedly back at it again - and this time it wants to pocket even more cash.
According to VGC, a quick search on eBay reveals a large number of Xbox Series X (and PlayStation 5, for that matter) are being sold for close to $1,000 USD on average, and there are quite literally thousands of listings already.
"Xbox Series X returned 4,550 results, ranging in price from almost $650 including shipping to $5,000."
Phil Spencer yesterday said the Xbox Series X|S launch was the largest one in Xbox history, so clearly there is demand for this new system.
In the same tweet, he also noted how Microsoft was working with retail to resupply as quickly as possible.
So if you did miss out on a unit in the first shipment, whatever you do, don't encourage these other practices, as there are more systems on the way.
Were you able to secure an Xbox Series X|S on launch? Tell us down below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 29
You cant blame the scalpers anymore, companies like MS, Sony and even Nintendo know these people do this yet they refuse to do anything about it.
It pisses me off even more when someone like who wants the system but can't get one due to them being sold out everywhere but yet these people seem to have no problem getting them.
Can't they introduce some sort of authentication that you are a real person, not a bot? This would at least make life harder for scalpers.
In the UK series x is sold out but there are still some available through scalpers.
Which I hope is meaning the general public are not buying them and waiting for new shop stock.
I really hope so and the arse hole scalpers get stuck with them and make no profit.
I actually text a scalper for a series x through the site email saying I wanted to buy one, they got all excited and after a good few texts I said.
No thank you I already have one. Just to wind the arse hole up.
By the way my series x from Game UK is out for delivery, due to me this morning.
I can’t wait, I’m like a puppy at the door waiting for it’s owner to come home 😂😂😂
Who is paying these prices??
I'm enjoying the new consoles but the Xbox Series in particular really isn't worth the cost for upgrade at the moment. It's a massive luxury item at the moment
Saw someone on Facebook getting lots of abuse for trying to flog a series X for £600. Rightly so. Quite a few series s around £350 mark popping up as well.
@Tasuki Yes, you can blame the scalpers. Other than delaying releases until they've got 10m consoles stockpiled, I'm not sure what you expect Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo to do about it. On their own sites, they only allow one order per customer. They can't control what happens on retailer sites.
eBay and Facebook Marketplace are the ones that need to get busy, especially with preorders. On launch day, one guy bought a Series X at Currys/PCW online, listed it on eBay 10 minutes later for £200 more than retail, and it sold 5 minutes after that. The only picture on the listing was a screenshot of the receipt on his phone. eBay are allowing people to pay £600-£2,000 for items that the seller does not own. You'd think that would be a huge, huge fraud risk that they would like to deal with but...
There is not really much you can do about it.
Even in the 80 and 90 pre social media etc.
It was done at Christmas with the latest toys like cabbage patch dolls etc, but just via the phone and local pubs and at work etc face to face.
Humans have been dodgy dealing since the time began and always will do, I’m afraid.
@roe
I guess it depends. I have never owned an Xbox so it's all new to me and definitely worth it. I keep taking off my headset when I play just to hear the silence... As for the price, I think it's fair. Especially the Playstation crowd should be thankful for it because they'd have to pay $600 for the PS5 otherwise 😉
Scalpers are the worst..
Anyone paying anything over retail is just getting ripped off. Why pay all that when in a few months prices will probably drop anyway
The sad thing is, people actually pay these people.
What makes it even worse is that, due to COVID, there were no "in-person" purchases of consoles. Online was the only place to go on launch day - and without some kind of "I'm a real person" authorization required to Add to your Cart, bots were free to bog down websites so regular people had a harder time getting orders (if at all).
I understand that having to verify yourself as a person takes the simplicity out of online shopping; but, I think it's a necessary evil to keep people honest in these cases.
Another helpful thing is, much like buying theater tickets or concert tickets online, if you have it in your cart, that item is locked to you for a certain amount of time to checkout - much like taking an item off the shelf in-person and putting it in your cart (only with a time limit). If time expires, you lose it and it's back in-stock for someone else to try.
I don't like scalpers myself and never buy from them, but you have to admit at least they give those who can't find a system an option. It's an extremely expensive option but an option all the same. I blame MS and Sony for never having enough consoles at launch knowing they will sell fast and disappoint ppl. I give them a pass this year cause Covid 19 made it even harder than usual to secure a console with less ppl in the factories and more ppl at home buying up games and consoles cause stuck at home.
Frickin terrible. I'm no stranger to buying things on the cheap then flipping them to make so profit but never to this extent. I'm helping my mom sell some things online and the amount of X/PS5 listings for hundreds over retail is absurd. One guy had 10 ps5s and 8 X's he was selling for $1000 each smh!!
My nephew is uber-keen for one, but luckily not old enough for a credit card!
Saw one on Ebay for 5k earlier today, absolutely insane. Happily I received mine this week.
Ugh! Scalpers, the "gift" that keeps on giving, albeit nobody in his or her right mind should want to have anything to do with it.
I honestly don't mind people buying a second copy of something to earn a bit of extra pocket money, or pre-ordering from two outlets, just to be sure they can get their hands on something, and then re-selling the second item in case they do manage to secure two pre-orders, but making THAT kind of money off of the backs of honest and genuinely interested people that already have to squeeze every cent out of their wallet to pay for it, is WAY beyond disgusting and despicable behavior.
Unfortunately, there'll always be poor saps who'll fall for these scams, so I'm afraid scalpers are here to stay, because it's simply a case of supply and demand.
@SuperKMx @Bruvas How can you blame.the scalpers fully. If the companies would send a good amount of items to a reatiler this wouldn't happen as much. I went to 6 Gamestops the other and the most any of them had was 6 Series Xs, 6!! Now go back to the days of say the PS one launch or SNES when stores had pallets of systems on launch day. And I know people are going to say it's due to COVID but this has happened before COVID even happened take for example the Switch or NES Mini.
I had no problem getting a PS4 on launch day walked into a store after work so it was hours after launch and got one.
So it's just as much as the companies fault for enabling these scalpers to do so by keeping supplies low.
@Bruvas No I didn't say ease up on them, yes they are scumbags but they are not entirely at fault. As I said if companies would supply adequate supplies then it wouldn't happen as much. I mean shipping 6 units to a GameStop on launch day, you might as not even bother.
@Tasuki No offense and sorry to butt in here, but that does in no way whatsoever justify or excuse them. That basically makes it sound like "they do it because they can and/or are enabled by <enter other "guilty" party>".
Just because you can throw bricks through people's windows, doesn't mean you should...
Besides, often times, they also do it when there is more than enough supply of something, so it's actually all the same to them. As I already mentioned in my previous comment, they simply act upon the age old supply and demand principle.
Albeit the highly nefarious kind...
So, yes, we can and SHOULD fully blame the scalpers.
@ThanosReXXX I take no offense so no worries. I understand that they shouldn't and that again they go by Supply and Demand but who created the supply? The manufacturers like MS, Sony, Nintendo. Which enable these scalpers. As I stated before I had no problem getting a PS4 on launch day. I fact all of my past consoles I bought on launch day I didn't have problems. A few of them I showed up with lines a mile long and still got a console, this one though I show up and there's five people in a line and everything is sold out, rediculous.
The only thing I can say is if the business like Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, etc did get let's say 500 for each store but are hanging onto them for Black Friday but still that's not the scalpers fault that's the stores for creating that demand.
@Deadcow
Exactly! If EBay stops this, there wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.
@roe
Lol. Says you?
Obviously, the XSX is in very high demand. These scalpers are just praying on that. No need to come in here & knock the XSX because YOU believe it’s not worth an upgrade.
I could actually say the same about PS5. Or the Switch, in general. But I am not on Push Square or Nintendo Life knocking the console.
@gollumb82
Exactly!
@Tasuki
To back to your point, a simple solution is to launch the console when you know you have enough units manufactured to meet demand. I have stated that, myself, in another article.
The problem with that is we wouldn’t get the new consoles until 2021. And that would be fine with me. But most people don’t have that patience & Microsoft & Sony don’t want to wait that long because of......$$$$.
Scalpers are scum. I think we both agree on that. But if you take away the reason for them being scalpers, then they wouldn’t be there in the first place.
@KelticDevil obviously says me. It was my post =
I'm just saying I find it pretty baffling that anyone is paying upwards of £800 for the Series X now. I'm not knocking the console, I've got one and am enjoying it
Nope, it's entirely on the companies. They could have for instance done a preorder window, allowed anyone a single preorder, and then queued these people up. Then once they knew number of preorders, and number of produceable stock, handled logistics and messaged people as to about when they would receive theirs.
If everyone knew they would eventually get one, and when, it would deflate scalpers.
The other aspect is, not releasing it around Christmas, its not like they are going to make so many consoles these two months to actually have an increase of sales vs. releasing in February.
All Christmas does is drive up hype, and get more news out about sold out stock and desperate Christmas shoppers.
Not that I would condone violence, but I'm surprised given our current climate, that scalpers haven't had some stronger criticism, given that shipping a unit out reveals where they sleep.
IMO, the actual effective thing people could do, is organize boycotts of the launch itself if companies continue this, if you organize well enough one could have completely hosed their launches and numbers, which would have made them take notice. (Imagine if PS5 and Xbox Series X|S all sat on store shelves)
@Tasuki I do understand your point, but your reply simply brings me back to my "just because you can throw bricks through windows" comment, because just because there's opportunity to take advantage of whatever kind of situation, doesn't mean you have to act upon it, especially if it's hurting other, FAR more deserving people than you.
Far as I'm concerned, it's just common human decency. It's YOUR decision to scalp, and the guilt should NOT be transferred onto other parties because they enabled your nefarious schemes. No matter what, you shouldn't be partaking in nefarious schemes in the first place, period.
EDIT:
But, having said that, I also do think that there's something that platforms like eBay should do, to prevent individuals like these from advertising their maliciously acquired goods, but they too probably make too much money off of it to bother with that.
I love that you still have to pay shipping. Stay sleezy, scalpers.
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