Walmart blocked 20 million PS5 scalper bots in 30 minutes

All Walmart needs to do is stop selling them online. Or at a minimum stop shipping them. Require the customer to pick them up at the store. Just like Micro Center does. One per customer.

But what does Walmart do?? Just the opposite, they require you to buy them online which just makes it easier for the bots. They don't even put them on their shelves. Walmart doesn't give 2 shits about legit customers. The fact is they sell every console they get almost immediately because they are online only. That is all they care about. This article is just PR BS.
 
All EBAY needs to do is stop allowing scalped consoles to be sold at more than 5% above retail.

That would destroy the entire scalper network because they’d find themselves with no way to sell the units and be forced to refund them.

eBay’s infrastructure serves to secure, protect and insure transactions.

Scalpers don’t want to use Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist because it’s too unsafe for them.
That's not the reason. They want to sell to the widest audience to get the price jacked up. eBay sells to everywhere, probably even Antarctica.
 
Oh and what do people think they are going to do if something doesn't work and they are looking for warranty if they got it off Ebay/Craigslist? The manufacturer most likely accept a receipt from there as proof of purchase.

Like to see a "bought it in the wrong place" warranty theory tested. Pretty sure that's a losing proposition for a NEW consumer product.
Scalpers RELOCATE products and become a merchant, the rejection for it pretends to be "as if" buyers have a choice...we sort of do, and its one step. Just be first.

It's easy to hate scalpers because they're fast and prices are high.

As long as people buy products at inflated prices *price gouging* is an extension of the market function. This is a self-terminating and temporary situation, manufactures could take the margin themselves, but why should they alienate their own customers?
Rn I don't really believe this is only a pack of Joe's and Jane's trying to make bill money, retailers are not angels.
 
Like to see a "bought it in the wrong place" warranty theory tested. Pretty sure that's a losing proposition for a NEW consumer product.
Scalpers RELOCATE products and become a merchant, the rejection for it pretends to be "as if" buyers have a choice...we sort of do, and its one step. Just be first.

It's easy to hate scalpers because they're fast and prices are high.

As long as people buy products at inflated prices *price gouging* is an extension of the market function. This is a self-terminating and temporary situation, manufactures could take the margin themselves, but why should they alienate their own customers?
Rn I don't really believe this is only a pack of Joe's and Jane's trying to make bill money, retailers are not angels.

Well I run a little IT business and it has cropped up for me. I buy a power supply from Amazon or NewEgg and then use it to build a computer and then the same PSU craps out in the 2nd year of its life. The customer has not filled out the warranty card or registered the warranty. They want me to do it and it is a good thing I did do it for them. During the warranty registration I could only click on authorized resellers like: Amazon, NewEgg etc..if my customer was trying to do that from their end their receipt would show a reseller who is not "Authorized". Which I guess is me. =(

With new products like a PS5/Xbox the manufacturer might go by the manufacturer's date on the outside of the console to verify it is inside warranty, but that might still become a problem if say someone bought the console to resell and didn't actually resell it for a month or two. The new owner is missing some warranty without the original receipt, that manufacturers date is going to be sooner then the real receipt. Even further...some products don't allow the warranty to transfer to a new owner.
 
Was looking on eBay to see the going price, lol. One guy had a picture of 5 Xboxes stacked and was selling them for 1000 bucks each. On another part of the page, it said he has sold 68 of them. He also had high ratings and reviews saying they liked his fast shipping, and timely responses. For 1000 bucks, I'd drive it to your house, lol. If they keep buying them, it'll never stop. Thank that mom and dad who thinks they have to make up for this year to their kids, lol.
 
Maybe with the PS5 they could have offered them for preorder to people with PSN accounts at least one year old initially - one maximum each. Not only would that stop scalpers, it would also be some kind of loyalty bonus? Maybe even - the older your PSN, the more priority you get?
 
All Walmart needs to do is stop selling them online. Or at a minimum stop shipping them. Require the customer to pick them up at the store. Just like Micro Center does. One per customer.

But what does Walmart do?? Just the opposite, they require you to buy them online which just makes it easier for the bots. They don't even put them on their shelves. Walmart doesn't give 2 shits about legit customers. The fact is they sell every console they get almost immediately because they are online only. That is all they care about. This article is just PR BS.

They don't have to stop selling online. I'd say all companies have to do is limit sales to 2 units per registered customer, and 2 units per shipping address. I'm pretty sure pro scalpers could find workarounds for this, but I think it would disencourage the practice enough.
 
Simple solution anyone with a verified registered account on xbox live or playstation should simply be allowed to make a 50% NON refundable deposit on a console 3-4 months before release date with the balance due 1 week before release date. This will ensure a good unit for each gamer on release day. There will be no demand for resale.
 
Why are people wanting price controls, what about free market principals?
I agree why are you wanting price control. If I wanted to give you $1k for a $500 product but ebay said you could only collect $550 just a 10% mark up you would be livid.
 
You want price control Convince people to stop paying stupid price for console and be patient for more releases from the retailers. If no one purchased the resellers items the price would drop very quick to 10-15% mark ups. That is not the case demand is there and not fading until Feb or April
 
I agree why are you wanting price control. If I wanted to give you $1k for a $500 product but ebay said you could only collect $550 just a 10% mark up you would be livid.

Can you explain why I would be hawking stuff through a site that limits my payout?
I wouldn't be livid. I wouldn't be their customer either, my world does not orbit Ebay.
 
I don't think Ebay cares about scalpers with any product. They take a cut regardless of the selling price and if it sells for more, even better for them.
eBay doesn't even care if the product being sold is genuine or counterfeit. They get their cut either way. When contacted regarding a seller selling counterfeit SanDisk memory cards their response was 'when SanDisk contact us and request the seller shut down then we'll act...'
AND they care even less when foreign sellers sell modified gas welding goggles with an electronic auto darkening lens fitted and market them as suitable for MIG, TIG and ARC welding goggles. They really don't care about the poor sod who buys them, welds for a couple of hours and finds his face comes off with the goggles.
 
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