This article describes only one facet of the problem which is almost entirely angled at the consumer perspective. There is good reason why some labeled as "scalpers" are frustrated and I believe additional explanation is needed to address why there is a shortage and who the different groups at play are.
A little background about me. I'm a regular consumer (I don't scalp for a living and buy my products through sanctioned means). I work in tech as a software engineer (being educated doesn't exclude me from being regular). I was able to acquire a console. It was challenging, especially at first. I just didn't complain about the 100s of times I failed.
Scalpers I observed or read about fell into one of a few types:
- Commercial scalpers: use commercial bots and paid services for an advantage. These bots cost thousands but can purchase multiples. Takes a fair bit of technical ability. A lot of time and effort but will yield results. It's a full time job until it's all setup, tested and going.
- Consumer scalpers: consumers dedicated to finding a system. Some have technical know how. Some don't. Most use traditional purchase flows but simply beat other consumers because they're more obsessed.
- Informed consumers: only interested in a single system, maybe two (Dads, moms, young and middle aged). They spend the time to figure out how to track the systems and are persistent. Very similar to Consumer Scalpers but just don't care to sell any for profit. Same strategies are employed.
- Manufacturers or their subsidiaries like the extra hype and have participated in questionable practices (https://www.techradar.com/news/msi-subsidiary-gets-caught-selling-rtx-3080-gpus-on-ebay)
Scalper groups like CrepChiefNotify (CCN) :
- Are mostly average consumers that are in a chat room. The benefit of the chat room is hearing how others are grabbing the products and getting good notifications. It's a paid membership.
- The pros in this group have many avenues for leads on products. CCN is only one. Other avenues might include reseller relationships with manufacturers. They often use commercial bots. They also use manual purchasing. They contribute to shortages but are too few in numbers to cause this problem unless there is already a massive supply issue. Furthermore, they can't function at all unless etailers support them
- CCN purposely releases marketing statements claiming thousands of systems but the group itself only wants subscription money and is not getting the systems directly. The marketing is quite misleading and most subscribers find this out rather quickly.
Articles and press follow the formula:
- Scalpers are the problem. Scalpers are evil.
- Bots are buying everything
- Restock information which is old and mostly uninformed
The press is very misleading including marketing from scalper groups. For scalping to remain viable, there needs to be a high demand product, shortages from the manufacturer and etailers create sites that allow bot purchases. Sony IS shorting the market. Many people I talked to were able to gain 20+ systems during pre-order. Easily. No special tools. They could've timed it differently to ensure greater supply as well. Certainly COVID hasn't helped. Working in software I can tell you its very easy to circumvent bots. It's trivial. Use a queue like Sony; ticketing system; local pickup only is a massive deterrent; 2FA or some variant during purchasing; paid memberships like Sam's club, just to name a few... That's it. No more bot purchases. I'll let you speculate why etailers like Newegg, Walmart and Antonline are top choices for bots, yet there is all this press saying they're fighting the good fight. It's an utter lie.
Etrailers that don't cater to bots:
- BestBuy: no bot support the SMS verification
- Target: local pickup is a major deterrent
- Sam's club and Costco because of the paid membership
- You're competing against real people and in most cases people from your area
Scalpers are a symptom of the market created by the manufacturers and etailers. The service the scalpers provide, and should be paid for, is they're willing to stay up late at night, follow monitors and outpace everyone else through persistence. They mark up the system slightly to allow early adopters to go straight to the front of the line without any effort. I think that's worth paying for... A little. Everyone I sold too understood this and were happy to pay a markup (before Christmas 850. After Christmas around stulus 750). These consumer scalpers are individuals like you and me, simply willing to spend the time to compete at the highest level. Most are not cheating the system. Most aren't using bots. The perspective that it's "unfair" is only true for a small subset of the scalpers. It's simply a better story to victimize yourself by conflating everyone that buys, then sells a system as a bot or an evil scalper feeding off hard working citizens. Fact is, you're just losing against real people. Think about this, if bots and scalpers were suddenly gone, only 5M individual households (under the best of circumstances) would have a PS5. That's nothing. Everyone would still being crying but they'd be screaming directly at Sony. Sony expects to make another 18M this year? Is that right? You still think scalpers are the problem?
If you're going to blame the scalper, be specific that you're directing your frustration at the cheaters. Also realize they're a very small piece of what's really going on.
I knew nothing about scalping end of November. I was able to purchase 8 systems just by manually clicking. I wrote my own bot which didn't cheat and only worked for 1 etailer which netted another 7 systems. I gave most away at retail and only sold others to make up for the late nights and time writing the bot, however, I'm still lumped in with the cheaters by the misinformed masses. This same entitled population is simply losing to regular people that want it more than they do.
Your article is either uninformed or just writing a perspective that will get the most page views possible. Again, scalpers exist because of how manufacturers and etailers are distributing product. Don't blame the symptom of the issue, blame the ecosystem that yields the undesirable outcome.
While I agree that the current consumer landscape--and Capitalism in general--has caused much of these issues, everything else in your post is either a lie or a misguided.
I'm a toy collector, but I've seen the same issue in Video Game Collectibles and other Collectibles as well. Scalpers don't 'run the price up a few dollars' as you seemed to think in your post; most scalped items are no less than three times the MSRP of the item. The coveted Netflix Soundwave--in which both Hasbro and Walmart take blame in poorly marketing it, so you are right in that much--has an MSRP of $39.99 goes, at the lowest, for $120.00. If you're as poor with Math as with Reasoning, that's about three times the MSRP. That's at the lowest, mind you.
'Most scalpers refuse to use bots.' (This is paraphrased, not direct quote, like the last one.) Again, false. Every Scalper Youtube video or Reddit I've seen has Scalpers discussing their almost total reliance on Bots to do all the work.
And that's the
real problem for most of us. If these jerkoffs were actually
really dedicated merchandisers running out stock on their own steam and money, that--as in literally scalping--would be fine. They're not, however. They have special advantages and special tools unavailable--despite your woefully errant claims to the contrary--to the 'Average Joe.' Or Jane, if we're being PC here.
You mentioned Consumer Scalpers and separated them from Informed Consumers. While I believe there are Informed Consumers, there is no such thing--in my mind--as a Consumer Scalper. I would have been more convinced if you had actually demonstrated how you acquired this knowledge other than your claim of, 'Well, I looked around and it seemed to me that...' Regardless, per my point above, if
all Scalpers were
actually Consumer Scalpers, no one would be complaining because everyone else would still have the same chance dependent on how much effort they were willing to invest to claim the same item. You mentioned CCN as proof, which was a mistake; any experienced web user can see that CCN is a purely profit-driven platform that is also possibly a scam--fake 5-Star Reviews and fake claims of being Featured in This or That Media. Care to try again? (A quick google search for example, on CCN--full name spelled out--and Forbes yields nothing. In fact, Google's first suggested results for CCN include 'Scam' and other such keywords, which should be a red hot tipoff.) This already proves you are either lying or misguided.
You end the article with some good advice on trying to avoid Scalpers, but even that has flaws. Membership sites like Sam's Club deal more in bulk consumer goods and is not the place you go to buy exclusive retail items. The Walmart Netflix Soundwave is a good example; I doubt--though I admit ignorance if you can--you will be able to pick one up from Walmart's extension shopping center, Sam's Club. Other things you mention, such a s Local Pickup, is deeply flawed as well, as you have to actually be able to purchase the item online before using Local Pickup.
There are other things you claim that--simply put--don't fly with reality. "Many people I talked to were able to gain 20+ systems during pre-order. Easily." Can we have names and contact info for these people, please? You see, this is the problem with Anecdotal 'evidence.' BTW, I personally know four large humanoid turtles that have Ninja skills. Jus' sayin'...
Finally, one thing you say reeks of lying over being misguided; "Working in software I can tell you its very easy to circumvent bots." This simply isn't true, and I'm surprised you would dare post this on a forum where Techies hang out. Bots are regarded as a critical security issue in Net Security. You don't need an IT degree to know that much. I seriously can't believe you would try to make that claim. I mean, other people here are more tech savvy than I am, they can call me out if I'm wrong, but that's just what little I know about Cyber Security.
So yeah, your reply doesn't create much confidence in your knowledge of scalping in general, or your IT expertise. Or maybe it's your credibility that's the issue here...
Edit Notes: (Why doesn't the forum have that feature again? LOL) Jumped in before reading the rules; cleaned up post after reading the rules.