PlayStation 5 scalpers have made over US$34 million in sales via eBay resulting in profits of over US$19 million according to research carried out by a data engineer. The Digital Edition of the PS5 has been particularly exploited in regard to scalping, with the console being sold at over 350% of its MSRP at various points during the research period.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/PlayStation-5-scalpers-made-more-than-US-19-million-profit-on-the-console-via-eBay-with-the-PS5-Digital-Edition-reaching-over-350-MSRP.509397.0.html
This only happens because people are desperate and stupid enough to pay the exorbitant prices demanded by the scalpers. If people just wouldn't buy from them, they'd be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars of product and would stop buying them, as well as make them think twice about doing it with future products, and then people could buy at the normal price. But people have to have things now, and are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for them, and as a result fuel the scalping issue by making it profitable.
Quote from: vertigo on December 15, 2020, 01:27:38
This only happens because people are desperate and stupid enough to pay the exorbitant prices demanded by the scalpers. If people just wouldn't buy from them, they'd be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars of product and would stop buying them, as well as make them think twice about doing it with future products, and then people could buy at the normal price. But people have to have things now, and are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for them, and as a result fuel the scalping issue by making it profitable.
Exactly. I don't understand the notion of buying things at MSRP(there are almost always ways to buy below that, if something is price fixed, I avoid) much less over them unless it's a truly rare item for gift giving or collecting or otherwise.