The PS5 has only been out in Australia for one day and already scalpers are doing their thing, selling it for insane amounts of money.
Lots of Aussies have been able to get their hands on the next-gen console (you’re welcome if you used our handy guide) but many have, of course, been left envious. The demand for the PS5 is going to far outstrip supply and it looks set to be very limited until 2021.
As per Kotaku, as soon as people started picking up the PS5, auction sites such as eBay naturally started being filled with the product. Scalpers knew there was incredible demand and racked up the prices. With great power comes great responsibility.
The prices will astound you but probably won’t surprise you. Some are going for $2000, $2500, $5000, all way over double the standard retail price of $749. One even sold for $15,100.
It’s particularly hilarious considering that currently there are barely any next-gen games! With Christmas nearing though, folk often get desperate.
There is a clear winner (loser?) however. One console went for a massive $50,100. That could buy a house in the 1950’s.
The same thing occurred in the U.S., with a search on eBay for Playstation 5 returning a remarkable 5,929 results. Doing the same for Sony’s next-gen rival, Xbox Series X, returned 4,550 results.
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The above figures are for listings where the seller claims to have the item in hand, but the most expensive search results for PS5 and Xbox Series X were actually for users who had confirmed pre-orders rather than the physical goods. Not all of the truly crazy listings ended up selling it must be noted, with some being resisted or just ending.
The rise of scalpers has been a source of frustration for consumer tech for several years now but the issue remains that there are people with both the means and the desire to meet the absurd prices. Until a solution to deal with online bots can be found, exorbitant prices and reselling are only going to continue and increase in the tech world.
Check out the ‘Sony PS5 Unboxing’:
