Facepalm: If you're scummily going to buy a consumer product, often in bulk, with the intention of reselling it at a huge markup, make sure the item in question is in short supply and high demand. It's a lesson some PS5 Pro resellers have failed to heed, with many being forced to list the item for under its MSRP.
Getting a PlayStation 5 for its suggested retail price was a near impossibility in 2020 and 2021. Scalpers and scalping companies unapologetically bought the consoles in their thousands to sell at massively marked-up prices, making purchasing one at its MSRP from a retailer a near impossibility.
This week saw Sony launch the mid-cycle PlayStation 5 Pro refresh. Featuring 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory, more than 50 games take advantage of the console's new hardware.
These enhancements haven't won over everyone – they're not always immediately noticeable – and the Pro's $699 price raised plenty of eyebrows. It's probably why there hasn't been a huge amount of fanfare around its launch this week, but that didn't stop the scalpers expecting to make a profit on other people's desperation.
What the resellers didn't count on is PS5 Pro demand not outpacing supply. The console is in stock and available from most retailers, including Newegg.
This means that the eBay listings for the console are (mostly) far from the usual comically high prices we see from scalpers. One listing, an auction, is currently at $640. There are a few others with prices only slightly above MSRP, as well as more auctions that are currently under $699.
Despite its general availability, there are still several listings that reach almost $1,000 and higher. The most expensive one I saw was $2,300. That's excluding the limited edition 30th Anniversary Edition Bundles, which one person has listed for a slightly optimistic $10,000.
Scalpers in the UK are probably also regretting their decision to buy a PS5 Pro. The console sells for £700 in the country, but many eBay listings have it on Buy it Now for £680 to £700, with many auctions currently at around £510 to £670.
As noted by VGC, one country where the PS5 Pro is harder to find is Sony's home of Japan. However, there are still reports of it selling on launch day without reservations, and while it's going for $65 to $130 more than MSRP on resale site Mercari, the platform's 10% cut and shipping costs mean resellers are just breaking even or even taking a loss.
However, what is in short supply is the PS5 Pro's external disc drive. It costs $79.99 in the US, but it's difficult to find one cheaper than $130 on eBay.
Something else that's very hard to find right now is AMD's excellent Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The CPU is out of stock almost everywhere, resulting in eBay scalpers charging up to $1,500 for the $480 processor.
Scalpers are struggling to resell the PlayStation 5 Pro because it's in stock at most retailers
