Can't Get a PlayStation 5? Meet the Grinch Bots Snapping Up the Holidays' Hottest Gift. (washingtonpost.com) 148
Computer programs that automate online tasks, called bots, have aligned with the coronavirus pandemic and low inventories of hot products to create a perfect storm of holiday disappointment -- or opportunity, depending on your perspective. From a report: On Black Friday, when it launched a deal on the console, Walmart.com says it blocked more than 20 million bot attempts in the sale's first 30 minutes. Target says it's constantly tracking and blocking bots, focusing on high-demand products such as the PS5. One British retailer called Very said it canceled at least 1,000 game console orders after it realized they were placed by bots. Using shopping bots to buy these products is perfectly legal in the United States, despite flustering retailers and stoking annoyance for customers like Coleman. Some bot operators are modern scalpers, in it to make money by forcing Santa to pay market prices. Others are computer-savvy shoppers now turning to bots out of desperation to fill their own gift lists.
Shopping bots aren't new, but their use is growing fast. Deployed by people who buy and resell tickets, high-end sneakers and designer fashion, they're now expanding into other categories where demand outstrips supply -- including grocery delivery slots at the height of the pandemic. Imperva, a cybersecurity firm, says that among its clients, "bad bots" accounted for 24.1 percent of all traffic in 2019 -- up from 20.4 percent in 2018. Bots are only one part of the PS5 crunch -- there have even been daring heists. But stopping the use of bots is easier said than done in an Internet economy that connects so many different interests: companies that want to make highly sought-after products and early adopters who will do anything to get them.
Shopping bots aren't new, but their use is growing fast. Deployed by people who buy and resell tickets, high-end sneakers and designer fashion, they're now expanding into other categories where demand outstrips supply -- including grocery delivery slots at the height of the pandemic. Imperva, a cybersecurity firm, says that among its clients, "bad bots" accounted for 24.1 percent of all traffic in 2019 -- up from 20.4 percent in 2018. Bots are only one part of the PS5 crunch -- there have even been daring heists. But stopping the use of bots is easier said than done in an Internet economy that connects so many different interests: companies that want to make highly sought-after products and early adopters who will do anything to get them.
Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:5, Insightful)
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What am I saying? This is Slashdot, so "all humans are dumb, except for me the poster, who is the smartest best person and everyone stood up and clapped."
Re:Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yea I bet your loads of fun around the holidays.
Re:Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:5, Insightful)
More importantly, I be they don't have bratty kids the rest of the year.
Re:Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:5, Insightful)
More importantly, I be they don't have bratty kids the rest of the year.
You mean the rest of their lives.
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Yea I bet your loads of fun around the holidays.
My seven year old prefers a mouse and keyboard anyway. He gets turns on my gaming rig.
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+1. Kids don't benefit in the slightest from being taught to have zero impulse control and that they automatically whatever they want. Quite the opposite. Those are the kids that are more likely to grow up up to their eyeballs in debt wondering where they went wrong.
Stick that PS5 money in their college fund. They will thank you much later, and you'll thank yourself as well. Nothing beats giving your kids a future where they don't have to support their penniless parents in their old age while simultane
Re:Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:5, Insightful)
+1. Kids don't benefit in the slightest from being taught to have zero impulse control and that they automatically whatever they want. Quite the opposite.
Citation needed.
Success in life is strongly correlated with having rich parents.
The spoiled rich kid failing in life while the scrappy and hardworking poor kid succeeds may make a good story, but real life isn't like that.
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+1. Kids don't benefit in the slightest from being taught to have zero impulse control and that they automatically whatever they want. Quite the opposite.
Citation needed.
Success in life is strongly correlated with having rich parents.
The spoiled rich kid failing in life while the scrappy and hardworking poor kid succeeds may make a good story, but real life isn't like that.
successful rich children also have parents that can invest in better quality education, provide networking opportunities and provide more resources. those rich children won't start out their careers with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and no credit.
news flash more money provides more opportunity.
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People with no impulse control usually end up with nothing.
An obvious counter-example is sitting in the Oval Office.
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he is an example of the adage;
if you owe $1,000.00 you have a problem
if you owe $1,000,000.00 your bank has a problem
if you owe $1,000,000,000.00 your country has a problem
He has nothing but the people giving him the loans didn't seem to understand that. It is the ultimate case of failing upward.
It is, inversely (Score:2)
> Success in life is strongly correlated with having rich parents.
You might be surprised to learn that having rich parents is INVERSELY correlated with building wealth. That seems to be because people try to live the lifestyle they grew up, owning the kinda of cars their 50 year old parents had - on the income of a twenty-something.
In a study of 10,000 millionaires:
Most had parents who were NOT millionaires.
97% did not inherit a million dollars.
80% has parents who were middle class or lower.
Inheritance
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You might try empathizing with parents that, during the holiday season, have to explain to their kids that some people are assholes for hoarding popular gifts to make a buck.
'Sorry son it is too expensive right now and there is a limited supply and am iI am unable to afford to buy you one at this time. Maybe i will get you one in a few months when the price drops."
there done.
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the vast majority of PS5 players won't buy it this year so it's not a big deal if someone's kids don't get it
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Better yet, wait till June 2021, and buy one used on Craigslist from one of the many girlfriends of PS5 owners who want to get rid of it because "He is spending more time with that thing than me!"
nah get it from the pawn shop they will have tested an made sure it turns on, craigslist you meet up at a starbucks somewhere get home to find out you bought a bricked unit.
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Yeah it's not like there is some major event coming up largely geared towards children who have no concept of any of this. I guess you don't have any kids, or can't even come close to empathizing with a parent.
Do as some Asians (e.g. Filipinos, Chinese) do and give them money in a red envelope.
Last I heard, children like money.
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This isnt "Tickle me Elmo" thought its game console geared at children who are old enough to have concepts like "they are sold out" explained to them.
Yes if we were talking about 4 year olds or something there is the 'magic' of Christmas morning that you want to create for them.
On the other hand your middle school-er or older that is getting a PS5, really probably should be happy with getting a new title so the have "something to open and play with for winter break" and promise you'll buy them a PS5 in mont
Re:Don't pay more than MSRP for a commodity item (Score:4)
Will he be a bit disappointed.. maybe. Will he get over it, yep.
I have little empathy for the parents who cannot say 'no' to their kids.
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Which is why one manages expectations.
Because consider this - the PS5 retails for $500. Scalpers are selling it for $1500-2000. I know parents are harried and such, but I don't know many rich enough that they will willingly hand over $2000 just to have the box under the tree, when the next day prices will plummet because the rush and demand will fall.
Especially since scalpers have low morals anyways, with scams that involve taking the money and running, to shipping bricks, to shipping stolen consoles which
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Yeah it's not like there is some major event coming up largely geared towards children who have no concept of any of this. I guess you don't have any kids, or can't even come close to empathizing with a parent.
What am I saying? This is Slashdot, so "all humans are dumb, except for me the poster, who is the smartest best person and everyone stood up and clapped."
Yes I am a parent of two sons I am also frugal, and can get them other gifts they. I didn't always get what exactly wanted most for Xmas as a child but always got something that i liked and was satisfied. A parent that spoil there children with everything they ever ask for end up with offal children.
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I raised one, and taught her not to fall for this kind of bullshit. If you do, you've got nobody to blame but yourself, and you're setting the example for your kid that this is acceptable. IMO it's poor parenting to give into it.
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So you were born a fully grown adult? Who also birth or created offspring who where fully grown adults?
Kids in general, don't think about luxury items like adults do. Being the first kid with the new Toy, gives them their 15 minutes of fame. Where all the other kids are envious of them for not having one. This stuff is actually very important to them as it helps them identify their place amongst their peers.
Now I am not saying spoiling your kid, is good for them, but for them, the PS5 is often more impor
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So you were born a fully grown adult? Who also birth or created offspring who where fully grown adults?
Kids in general, don't think about luxury items like adults do. Being the first kid with the new Toy, gives them their 15 minutes of fame. Where all the other kids are envious of them for not having one. This stuff is actually very important to them as it helps them identify their place amongst their peers.
Now I am not saying spoiling your kid, is good for them, but for them, the PS5 is often more important to them than the actual entertainment value of it, because the other kids want one too.
Christmas time, is often a good period of time, for the parent to give in and give the child something they want without going too far. After 2020 I am sure parents want to give something a little bigger if they can.
Me I don't have kids, If I wanted a gaming console, I am like, yep, Ill wait say until March or June. However in kid time, that is forever.
yes because we need to teach our children that they need to keep up with the jones even if they can't afford it while there young so the can grow up to have no notions of delayed gratification or understand that they don't always get to be the most popular or have the status symbol so that can be debt ridden consumers they whole life.
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Counter point: if you can afford the newest shiniest thing why not pay the rate you want? Not everyone is poor and the world is a reflection of that. Scalpers exist to correct a supply and demand imbalance, these imbalances always favour those with more resources (i.e. the rich).
You're effectively saying: Hey rich people, please pretend your poor! It won't work.
UK already proposed laws about this (Score:3)
Eventually, this may become so obnoxious and prevalent that people will demand lawmakers "do something". This is how highly specific new laws are born.
I'm sort of ambivalent about that eventuality. Scalpers are really nothing but market-based leeches, and I have no sympathy if their efforts were blocked. They contribute nothing and suck away money from those willing to pay extra for their goods. But I'm also not really a fan of unneeded, populist laws to deal with short term issues. There are often unintended consequence, so we should be *really* sure we want to try to legislate a solution first.
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It'd be nice if we could organize folks interested in high-demand items and get them to agree to not pay over retail for them. Make it cost the scalpers money for no return. Fuck 'em.
The real problem is the rampant consumerism that convinces folks they HAVE to have it NOW! I get that people are impatient, but I don't get spending two to four times retail for an item just because you'd rather not wait for market saturation.
No laws needed, just tighter warranty terms... (Score:2)
I know of some items (industrial machine components) where when you purchase the item from an authorized retailer, at the time of sale they link the purchaser's ID info to the warranty.
The warranty is not transferable to any subsequent owners, even if the box is unopened or it is shipped directly to a third-party buyer.
The result is that the resale market for new 'scalper' parts is pretty
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Nah the UK will do nothing. They will propose a law that is so specific as to be completely irrelevant. It's pointless and distracting busy work hoping to get people to ignore the fact that they fucked up Brexit royally and everyone is about to be screwed.
There's a lot of feel good laws the UK has proposed recently.
Simple solution (Score:5, Insightful)
People need to simply refuse to pay the exorbitant prices being charged by the lowlife num-nuts who are buying these things up and reselling them. Hit them in the wallet enough times, and they'll stop.
But unless the demand is eliminated, these twits will always find a way around. It's like the so-called "war on drugs" - trying to solve the problem by hitting the supply side is doomed to fail.
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People need to simply refuse to pay the exorbitant prices being charged by the lowlife num-nuts who are buying these things up and reselling them. Hit them in the wallet enough times, and they'll stop.
But unless the demand is eliminated, these twits will always find a way around. It's like the so-called "war on drugs" - trying to solve the problem by hitting the supply side is doomed to fail.
Sony just needs to sell "early access prerealease" units 2 months early and charge a premium for them. Sure its the real release but the people willing to pay 2-4 time the cost to a scalper will instead pay it to Sony the rest of the market will wait for the regular release and pay sticker price.
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People need to simply refuse to pay the exorbitant prices
Translation: Rich well of people need to pretend to be poor so the poor people can get a fair go.
Value is based on what people are willing to pay. Those exorbitant prices are literally what the devices are valued at due to their short supply. Basic supply and demand rules apply, scalpers exist to make money.
When has the idea of rich people not making use of their wealth to favour the poor ever been a viable suggestion in all of human history?
Like drugs, blame the lusers (Score:2)
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ticket bots need to go maybe now is the time law (Score:2)
ticket bots need to go maybe now is the time to make laws.
So the 50% concerts does not sell out in 30sec with tickets now selling at face + $100's
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The solution to concert tickets isn't banning bots, it's making bots unprofitable.
The *easiest* solution is just for performers to offer more show dates, even if it means the final night's performance isn't a complete sell-out. Supply exceeds demand.
A more complicated solution is to sell the tickets in a reverse auction. The first day they go on sale for $2000 per ticket. Each day the price drops inversely proportional to demand. The same people buying scalped tickets at inflated prices will just buy th
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I don't understand why performers just don't do more shows.
Probably because tours are physically and mentally taxing as it is. There's only so many shows they can do. You seem to assume they are limited only by time. Meanwhile, the successful older acts have more money than they know how to spend...
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an ticket lottery can work for events as well.
In related news ... PS5 vs. Space Force (Score:2)
A Space Force member reportedly skipped class to get a PS5 but got demoted instead [theverge.com]:
The Space Force, it seems, is not sympathetic to the mission that seems to have captured many across the US: getting a PS5. One of its members has reportedly been reprimanded and demoted for being 30 minutes late to physical training because he was trying to get one of the consoles, according to a post on the Air Force Facebook page.
According to the letter, the unnamed airman texted his superior officer that he was going to be 30 minutes late to his fitness improvement program as he had been driving around to multiple Targets (the store) trying to buy a PS5. The airman then added “Yolo, PS5 > letters of discipline,” according to the letter of discipline.
Perhaps his senior officer didn’t appreciate the flippancy. Perhaps showing up late was somewhat of a habit for the airman, which the second part of the letter seems to imply. Whatever it was, the move earned the airman a demotion from E-4 Senior Airman to E-3 Airman First Class.
The post includes a redacted screenshot of the letter of reprimand.
what might be fun (Score:2)
It seems like there's an opportunity here. Overbuild, create enough units for the initial surge and sales through the next 18 months or so, and THEN release the product. Bots pick up the first shipment, and then find they're in competition with the second, unadvertised legitimate shipment. And for the manufacturer, $profit$.
Eventually the scalpers have to sell for lower prices just to recoup costs. Bonus if the manufacturer includes unique features in the second or third shipment that weren't in the fir
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Ya, lets invest possibly millions to ramp up production early so it can sit idle for the rest of the 5+ year production run. Makes perfect sense. You really think these companies don't have the people in China working on the lines 24/7?
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Well, the alternate solution is for customers to not buy from scalpers, but I don't see that happening.
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As long as a product is not discontinued, it should be illegal to sell for above MSRP, problem solved.
I see what you mean, but black markets are usually illegal already.
How? (Score:2)
Scalping should be illegal (Score:2)
They should pass laws that shut down the practice of scalping (whether it be GPUs, game consoles, LEGO sets, concert tickets, sneakers or anything else). Make it fair for everyone by stopping people from buying up all the stock and creating the artificial shortage.
You could always... (Score:2)
You could always just buy your kid a $10 Roblox card and call it good enough. They should already have a device like an iPad or laptop that plays all the Roblox games that their friends are playing. I gave Sony $300 for my Android phone in 2018 and $1300 for my Android TV in 2019. You'd think that those devices have good enough GPUs to play games and can be connected to game controllers... Why would I pay $500 more to buy an external GPU without its own display? My kids have laptops with RTX 2060 GPUs (the
just an idea (Score:2)
The most demoralizing comment from the article (Score:2)
Brack sold all of his PS5s on eBay. “I don’t think they mind, to be honest,” he said.
Just blows my mind on how people are.
Xbox? (Score:2)
No new Xbox for them, eh? ;)
Re:Free market in action (Score:4)
I am probably missing something here, but this problem seems easily enough solved with something like:
PS5s on sale now! Limit one per customer at this price. Offer not available to new customers.
Make your retail system enforce those validation rules at the time of sale, and you are done. Bots thwarted.
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I am probably missing something here, but this problem seems easily enough solved with something like:
PS5s on sale now! Limit one per customer at this price. Offer not available to new customers.
Make your retail system enforce those validation rules at the time of sale, and you are done. Bots thwarted.
Then the bot makers will just create thousands of accounts that buy a pencil 2 weeks before the console release to get themselves certified as customers.
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Hm, that makes it a lottery.
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Sony themselves did that ahead of the launch although obviously that's just one retailer and supplies couldn't meet demands so there was still lots of unhappy customers (I registered but didn't get selected).
With that said, I actually feel Sony is handling their sales through the Playstation Direct channel pretty well. They require a Playstation account and limit one console per order (possibly per account, I'm not sure). They use some sort of queueing software ("Queue-It") and tell you if they sell out o
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Hm, that makes it a lottery.
Which is stupid. They should make it an auction.
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Hm, that makes it a lottery.
Which is stupid. They should make it an auction.
or allow preordering with enough of a window in advance to allow them to manufacture enough of them to meet demand...
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Manufacturing bandwidth can't be scaled up and down for free, so they want to make enough units to cover the first 18 months in the first 18 month, then maybe ramp down after the second Holiday season.
To meet all demand they'd either have to delay release by many months to stock pile/release when slow (Similar to Nintendo with the Switch, but they weren't timing their release with a competitor allowing them to not lose ground releasing in March) or invest big for a short run factory.
W
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Maybe that can be detected? Non-unique credit card numbers, non-unique mailing addresses. I remember reading about some kind of product review scam involving fake reviewers using the mailing addresses of random customers, and buying something, so people had these unordered surprise packages with low-value items arriving at their doorstep. Though clever, the scam was detected. That is my main point, is that these attempts at foiling the restrictions can be detected due to the high numbers involved.
Of cou
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Maybe that can be detected? Non-unique credit card numbers, non-unique mailing addresses.
You can spin up new credit card numbers all day long with companies like privacy.com. As for addresses, it's easy to get around. Multiple places to ship to, multiple variants of the address (123 w main st, 123 west main st, 123 w main street, 123 wst main st, etc..) As long as the city/state/zip is correct and the delivery service can figure out the address, it will get to you. It's really down to just how much effort the retailers want to put into it. And by effort I mean money.
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An alternative would be to first offer a bunch of consoles at (as an example) $700/piece then when the bots have grabbed them you offer the large volume at $350/piece. Just don't leak that there are more coming a week later but say that there's a shortage. Then the scalpers will stand there with a huge bunch of unsellable units.
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not how it works. the bots continually scan for inventory and buy as soon as it's in stock. and they don't even process the page loading
retailers wouldn't normally care but it's more bandwidth wasted along with database locks and all the other IT headaches that come with it. and the scalpers don't buy any games so the retailers lose money since the consoles are sold for a loss
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...and the scalpers don't buy any games so the retailers lose money since the consoles are sold for a loss
Consoles are sometimes (not always) sold at a loss to the manufacturer. They aren't really ever sold at a loss to retail or they wouldn't carry them.
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...and the scalpers don't buy any games so the retailers lose money since the consoles are sold for a loss
Consoles are sometimes (not always) sold at a loss to the manufacturer. They aren't really ever sold at a loss to retail or they wouldn't carry them.
then charge more at release because they know this will happen it screw the scalpers and the diehards that would pay that price to the scalper will just pay the manufacture the higher amount. and the people willing to wait for the reduced price will pay less just like they will now
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Then all that remains is to only allow one purchase per credit card.
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Re: Free market in action (Score:2)
Easy temporary DRM fix... (Score:2)
Re: Free market in action (Score:2)
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free market is making a better product and selling it. this isn't
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I don't see any issue with this.
These bots act many times faster than humans, and as it is, have an unfair advantage - combine that with groups of people using lots of bots, and you have these groups effectively DDoSing retailer sites, and for what, but to get their sales ahead of humans?
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I don't see any issue with this.
These bots act many times faster than humans, and as it is, have an unfair advantage - combine that with groups of people using lots of bots, and you have these groups effectively DDoSing retailer sites, and for what, but to get their sales ahead of humans?
In another industry this is simply called High Frequency Trading
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That's another place where there exists a good argument that automated systems are distorting the market.
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I don't see any issue with this.
These bots act many times faster than humans, and as it is, have an unfair advantage - combine that with groups of people using lots of bots, and you have these groups effectively DDoSing retailer sites, and for what, but to get their sales ahead of humans?
then rate limit request from ip adressess and blacklist ps5 sales to ip address's known to belong to vpn's and cloud providers
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You could also just realize that being the "first" to own something isn't worth the extra fee and hassle. Personally I wouldn't buy a console that is less than a year old anyway. Not until I know there are games I want to play on it, and that the manufacture isn't going to impose some limits or say "I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further." Even if they sold the conso
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This type of action distorts free market, by artificially manipulating the Supply and Demand of an item.
First it buys a bunch of units, thus lowering its supply, then because the seller see a lot of units being sold, they assume there is a high demand.
This is why Free Market economics doesn't work. Once people see how to manipulate it, it is taken for granted and abused.
Especially with a tough year like 2020, parents who could afford giving their child a big gift this year, will probably do so. Even if it
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Well, if all you can deal with is immediate gratification, then well...you pay more apparently.
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Sony loses because they want the consoles in the hands of people who will then turn around and buy games. Scalpers do not buy games, and every dollar they squeeze out of buyers is one less dollar that might have been spent on other things that enrich Sony and the customers. They are a private equivalent of hitting Sony with some kind of heavy duty tariff, with both the producer and consumer losing.
they will still end up in the hands of consumers just at a higher price. it not like they will just sit in a warehouse somewhere collecting dust that wouldn't be profitable and therefore unsustainable. This is just price arbitrage, and is a problem of Sony's own making because they aren't charging what the market will bare and are trying to sell units below cost as a loss leader.
Scalpers charge the most people are willing to pay and pocket the difference. If Sony were to be charging this the amount the mar
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I thought the scalper's MO was to re-sell the units for profit. i.e., Selling to people that really, really, want to use them.
I mean, if the marks weren't interested in using them, then why are they willing to pay the sucker's price?
I don't see the point if the scalpers are just going to sit on a pile of PS5 units collecting dust.
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This type of action distorts free market
Nope. The market distortion is caused by Walmart underpricing the products.
If Walmart raises the price to the market-clearing level, there would be no profit for scalpers and they would disappear.
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You are standing in line to buy the new widget2000. Just as you get to the register, someone shoves you aside and buys the last 10. Then they offer to sell one to you for only double what they paid for it.
Sound good?
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You are standing in line to buy the new widget2000. Just as you get to the register, someone shoves you aside and buys the last 10. Then they offer to sell one to you for only double what they paid for it.
Sound good?
nope so i would not buy it. no one put a gun to your head and demand that you have a ps5 wait until the market is more rational. and buy a ps5 once the is more in inventory. i can afford to NOT spend money on a luxury item longer than scalper can keep buying and holding inventory.
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Of course the retailer won't be all that thrilled when the scalper returns them all.
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Of course the retailer won't be all that thrilled when the scalper returns them all.
then the retailer need to deduct a restocking fee per-unit and only allow returning of X number of unit per customer. if the scalper doesn't want to float the risk thats on them.
Re:Hold a charity auction (Score:5, Interesting)
If the manufactures really cared about this issue the fix is easy leave the snipers bag holding once in while. Not every time make it random so they never know.
All you got to do is hold a couple weeks worth of inventory back and start with the MSRP about $25 higher than your really intend to sell them out. Go to market. Your legit customers won't be that angry about $25. You could even offer people who send in the registration card and receipt for purchase at the higher price a $25 rebate or gift card or something after the gambit ends.
Let the scalpers do what they do. Once they are sitting on a pile of units, release the second wave of inventory and drop the MSRP so they can't even hope to sell what they have at cost.
Do this with a few major titles, or console version releases every few years so nobody knows when its coming and that would pretty much put an end to the scalping.
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I would imagine the scalpers would return the units for a full refund. This would be a big loss in shipping and handling for the genuine retailers. During the higher price window the scalpers are still able to make a profit.
Personally I don't care, since I don't watch advertising I am less enticed to get the marketed things right now. I will probably upgrade to a PS5 in a year or so once launch titles cost half the price or less with all the downloadable content.
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You only have to hold the inventory back for one replenishment cycle for the retailers (so they don't know and don't leak it). After all the scalpers grab the units in the first seconds they are for sale. So you drop the inventory and the price probably within days.
You are right about the returns problem though. I don't know how you solve that. Unless you can get the retailers to make an exception and state sales of $HOT_ITEM will be assessed a restocking fee or something.
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You only have to hold the inventory back for one replenishment cycle for the retailers (so they don't know and don't leak it). After all the scalpers grab the units in the first seconds they are for sale. So you drop the inventory and the price probably within days.
You are right about the returns problem though. I don't know how you solve that. Unless you can get the retailers to make an exception and state sales of $HOT_ITEM will be assessed a restocking fee or something.
a 30 dollar restock fee, so it more than the rebate to really sting them
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Let's just follow your thought experiment to it's logical conclusion, using the current PS5 release as an example. The scalpers buy approximately a million units at $425 and $525 (ps5 digital and disc versions). A week later the manufacturer releases another million units of each at $399 and $499. Those units immediately sell out as well. The scalpers sell both sets of products at $900-1000 dollar.
Where's the benefit?
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I guess the question is how deep in are the scalpers pockets. I usually see sellers on ebay or sellers I suspect are the same person because they are the same shipping region listing 5 and 10 units between them.
That isnt a huge amount of money in the game but I also suspect these guys are not exactly flush. I mean I possess all the technical skills required to program up a bot but I have better thinks to do with my time engage in a failure prone enterprise (oops my script did not work when I needed it too)
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release the second wave
Right your plan failed right there. If there was enough inventory to cover this gap in supply and demand scalping wouldn't be a viable option in the first place. The reality of your plan is the second wave will be gobbled up and you're right back to square one. Especially since the company lied to consumers about the price and as such scalpers will have successfully moved units at a higher price regardless.
What you have achieved though is bad press of a product with a higher price suddenly discounted and a