Sony’s PlayStation 5 is hard to find.
Sony
Adam is a prolific student and seller of any product in demand such as sneakers, collectable cards and Disney dolls, but Sony’s hard-to-find PlayStation 5 console has been a major focus for the past three months. It sold its highest selling for the digital version of the PS5 in January, which went for £ 720. The suggested retail price is £ 359.
However, in an interview, Adam admitted to me that customers who pay that high mark have baffled him. “Personally, I don’t understand why anyone would pay against it for a console that sits on shelves in a few months but that’s me.
“People are just like children because they can’t get what they want. It’s funny because some of these groups have chat rooms where people post their interactions with angry customers and it’s very funny. ”
Adam refers to culinary organizations, which are private communities that advise paying members on how to make a scalp. It is through these organizations that he will receive advance information on the upcoming PS5 stock depletion, which he says has earned him £ 1500 profit from five sales. Adam also told me that members of his culinary group have received “death threats and horrific, racist, homophobic comments” from customers.
Adam is not the only one who does not understand why people are shouting to pay certain prices. Another vendor I spoke to called Rak, who is also a student making a little extra money, said they are “not sure why people are paying those sums for a console that I believes to be readily available within six months. “Continued:” I don’t understand why people are so angry about scalpers because a lot of people do it in all its forms. “
Rak went on to explain that they bought their PS5 from Amazon but did not answer a question about how many consoles they had sold. Their recording history on eBay showed at least four PlayStation 5 units – both disc and digital – and two Xbox Series X consoles were sold, along with expensive handbags and sneakers on demand.
But PS5 buyers may be fighting back against replacements. Rak said some bidders have won his ropes and canceled the order. “Unfortunately there are a lot of jealous people around and they decided to cancel my order today,” he said.
Another eBay seller called Sean told me that this has happened to him several times. “I have sold the item three times this weekend to unsolicited applicants who have applied above the average price for a PS5 and have not paid. ”
While Sean suspects that these are other scalpers trying to artificially increase the price of the console on eBay, some Redditors I spoke to on sub-PS5 have admitted to doing this. in retaliation, but others praised the action. I also went through 10 auctions that ended up on eBay, clicked on bids, and found three listings with zero feedback candidates winning or competing.
Sean says this will only happen with the PS5. “So these zero bidders have spent my time buying and not paying, which means if I put it back now I will have a 10% eBay final value charge to pay instead of just £ 1 if I sold it over the weekend.
“I legitimately believe there is something fishy going on. I’ve sold other musical instruments and have never received zero feedback, unpaid customers to date. “
Zero-feedback applicants gain control of some PS5 listings on eBay.
Janhoi McGregor
The tide turns
Outside of retaliatory claims on eBay, the resale market seems to be cooling. PS5 resellers may stay on loan while more consoles become available based on data from the StockX high school marketplace.
The website, which is famous for selling sneakers, shared in-depth data with me that shows prices are falling from a peak just after the console’s launch in November.
“PS5 prices peaked during the cyber weekend in November, but in the days that followed, we saw prices move back to their pre-Friday Friday levels. Prices continued to fall over the coming months, and today, PS5 token prices are at their lowest level to date. The average resale price of PS5s on StockX has gone down 20% since November. ”Jesse Einhorn, senior StockX economist, told me by email.
There is also a difference in resale and popularity prices between disc, digital and the new Xbox Series X. Here are some key data points from StockX.
- The PS5 consoles have seen a faster resale price decline than the Xbox consoles, which have fallen between 10% and 15% since November. When they first released them, the PS5 Digital Edition resold for nearly $ 100 more than the Xbox Series X, but today, they resell for nearly the same price (~ $ 670).
- Over the past month (February 8 – March 8) the average resale price of the PS5 on StockX has dropped by $ 70.
- The PlayStation 5 consoles are currently selling at 40-70% above sales. At its peak on Cyber Weekend, the PS5 consoles were selling at 100% – 150% above sales.
- The best-selling PS5 model is the PS5 Blu-Ray edition (US Plug), and StockX has sold over 60,000 units since its launch.
The overall move suggests that resale prices continue to fall, which could be bad news for scalpers whose units have not moved so far, either because of bogus candidates or the too much future supply. Adam tells me he’s not worried about falling resale prices – “I’ll keep selling them until they’re always available because it’s just free money at this stage.” Sean, however, has given up and decided to keep the PS5 unmoved. “I thought I would sell it because of the high prices and I might build it again when the consoles are more readily available. With prices falling, I thought I could keep it up too. ”