[ad_1]
You can still get a PlayStation 5 for Christmas, but be prepared to spend over $ 1000.
Listings for the next-gen gaming console started appearing on Trade Me on Thursday, the day the first products were shipped to New Zealand customers. Some sellers on the auction website were asking for more than 200% above the recommended retail price (RRP).
Sony
The new PlayStation 5 shipped on Thursday to New Zealand customers who had secured a pre-order in September.
That has led to several reports of scalping, with potential buyers saying the inflated prices were unfair.
But Trade Me told that there was nothing wrong with the listings and that the inflated prices were “just market forces at work”.
READ MORE:
* Playstation 5 or Xbox Series S&X? How to make your big decision
* Why Spider-Man has his sticky fingers all over the Playstation 5
* The adventures you have and the characters you meet when selling your unwanted stuff on Facebook Marketplace
* Sony’s new PlayStation 5 will be released on November 12
* PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S: What We Know About Next Gen Consoles
Pre-orders for the PS5 sold out within hours of it being available from New Zealand retailers in mid-September. A second assignment, to be delivered on December 15, was briefly available from The Warehouse, JB Hi-Fi, Mighty Ape, and via Vodafone on Thursday, but it also sold out very quickly.
It has been speculated that Covid-19 has led to a smaller unit stock on the market than is typical for a new product launch. PlayStation’s parent company Sony declined to answer questions about the number of consoles available in New Zealand.
In any case, some savvy consumers hoped to cash in on their early purchase.
Screenshot
PlayStation 5 consoles were featured in Trade Me on November 12, the day the product was launched in New Zealand.
Those who secured a PS5 in pre-sale paid $ 649.95 for the digital version, or $ 819.95 for the standard.
But most Trade Me listings had a starting point or auction reserve of more than $ 1000, and a seller was advertising a “buy now” price of $ 2900 for a standard console.
Multiple questions submitted about that listing, which has a starting auction price of $ 1999, accused the seller of being a “reseller” and defrauding consumers, and some users said they had reported the seller to Trade Me.
Supplied
Lisa Kerr, Trade Me’s chief trust and safety officer, says inflated prices are “market forces at work.”
Lisa Kerr, director of trust and security at Trade Me, said she knew that sellers were listing PS5s at prices well above RRP.
“We understand that this behavior is not to everyone’s liking. But at the end of the day, these are exchanges between a willing buyer and a willing seller, and prices are simply market forces at work, ”he said.
Trade Me would only list if the seller couldn’t prove they had the item in their possession.
At the time of this writing, few offers had been made on the listings, although it was unclear how many PS5s had been sold with the buy now feature.
It was a similar story on Facebook Marketplace, where several units went up for sale at prices between $ 1,200 and $ 1,600.
A standard version was marked as sold for $ 1,700, more than double what the seller paid.
On the PlayStation NZ Facebook page, many gamers were bitter about missing out when others may have bought multiple consoles to make money.
“I bet people have reserved like five PS5s just to sell them [for] more than a thousand when all the stores were sold out ”, reads a comment. “So damn selfish.”
Another suggested that Sony should change the PS5 tagline from “The game has no limits” to “The game has some limits … in stock.”
