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Thousands of consoles from the UK went to a single organized group.
It’s always difficult to secure a new console at launch, but this time it has seemed particularly difficult for the PlayStation 5 in demand, which remains out of stock in the UK almost everywhere.
But while limited availability and high demand are nothing new, a Business Insider report has revealed the scale and organization of the scalping present, which saw thousands of consoles bought by organized groups.
A ring of resellers claimed to have worked together to accumulate nearly 2,500 PS5s when the console went on sale in the UK last week, in addition to “just under 1,000” PS5 pre-orders placed in September.
Now they will all be resold for profit.
Sony hasn’t said how many PS5 consoles it made available to buy at the UK launch, but with a single group capable of sourcing nearly 3,500 consoles, it will clearly have had some impact.
The report details how this group warned in advance where the consoles would go on sale and used bots to get ahead of consumers. These bots allow for automatic verification of countless retailers, while other bot scripts allow the user to make purchases faster than any human being.
The group charges a subscription “from £ 29.99 to £ 399.99” so that its members can join in the fun of scalping and make a profit for themselves.
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In the face of all of this, thousands of people working together to stockpile new consoles as a business operation, it’s no wonder people looking for a console have run into trouble.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, there are almost 4,000 UK listings for PS5 consoles on eBay. The prices are usually double what you would pay in advance.
This level of organization for new product launches is not new – the group in question started life in the sneaker resale market, but it’s the first time we’ve heard of such an approach being placed on the launch of a new console. It’s hard to know what can be done to further deter this in the future, although it will likely require retailers to introduce stricter anti-scalping measures to do so. And while this would greatly benefit the consumer, there is less incentive from a retailer’s point of view when all of their stock is sold in any way.
Last week, we reported on how even securing a PS5 wasn’t enough for the dozens of people affected by launch day delivery scams. PS5 customers found themselves receiving boxes of toys, cat food, or just nothing, while some couriers simply took the consoles away.
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