The PS5 is Still Available for a Scalper’s Price of $25,000
With PS5 launch stock selling out almost immediately, scalpers are out in force to capitalize on the hype for Sony's next-gen console.
An employee at an electronics store in Kawasaki, Japan, prepares the new Sony PlayStation 5 gaming console for a customer. Elsewhere, the world over, the console remains high on demand but low on supply. | Source: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
- Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S launched earlier this week.
- With limited launch day stock selling out almost immediately, scalpers are listing the new consoles at eye-watering sites such as eBay.
- Prices for the PS5 rise to $25,000, while the Xbox Series X is available for up to $20,000.
After the minimal online-only launch day stock of Sony’s brand new PS5 sold out in a matter of minutes, scalpers are once again out in force on auction sites such as eBay.
Unlike September’s deluge of listings boasting confirmed pre-orders, this time around, these opportunistic money grabbers come armed with in-the-flesh snaps of freshly-delivered packaged consoles. It’s photographic evidence of the fruit of their labor, which saw them sweep up vast amounts of launch day units when Sony launched pre-orders with little to no warning.
With launch hype catapulting appetite for the new console to stratospheric levels, the scalpers have wasted no time capitalizing on the demand.
eBay Awash With PS5 Listings
Unsurprisingly, the offered prices surpass the PS5’s retail price many times over. Over on eBay US, where there are over 5000 listings, the PS5 goes for up to $25,000 for a ‘Buy It Now’ listing that includes the Standard disc version.
Prices trail off to a comparatively tame $900 for the most affordable option. In general, though, prices sit in the $1000 to $2000 range, still up to four times the advertised retail price.
We also spotted what must be a troll listing asking for an eye-watering $210,600. eBay notes that 35 potential buyers are ‘watching’ the listing, presumable out of sheer curiosity to see if a PS5 actually sells at close to a quarter of a million dollars. The description reads:
“You Buy my ridiculous insane outrageous price PS5 that everybody can get for $500 Now – SHIPS ASAP! You know your little Timmy is going to want this for Christmas… And I am here to deliver!….. But for a small fee… Condition might be New. Ships FREE on a sick mule with a broken leg and 1 eye first class.”
As for Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X, the situation is much the same, with listings topping out at $20,000, once again as a ‘Buy It Now’ option.
In this day and age of sophisticated IT and ubiquitous online shopping, you’d expect Microsoft and Sony to have measures in place to limit scalping.
Then again, such a show of demand for the new consoles certainly benefits the platform holders eager to secure a successful launch. FOMO and the fear of resorting to auction sites will have certainly driven would-be owners to wipe out stocks almost immediately.