A report has revealed that the PS5 resale market remains as predatory as ever, and even trade-in retailers are getting in on it, with a UK-based operation offering PlayStation 5 consoles at an exorbitant cost of over $1000 USD. One of the biggest talking points about this generation of consoles has sadly had little to do with their technological innovations or launch titles - fans remain upset and disappointed that they're unable to even purchase a console at all, with restocks failing to supply enough devices and resellers continuing to exploit this scarcity for profit.
While each region has been struggling with PS5 restock issues (and Xbox Series X/S as well), the UK in particular has been having what appears to be an abnormal number of problems. PS5 pre-orders went about as smoothly in that region as they did everywhere else, which means it was a hectic, unorganized process for many, but once shipments were due to go out, fans suddenly began getting items that weren't PS5s at all. That, coupled with the fact that at least one Amazon employee has been fired since the launch date for stealing a customer's console, has dramatically impacted consumer confidence in the PS5 release.
A report from Eurogamer highlighted just how grim the PS5 resale market has really gotten, as UK-based trade-in retailer CEX is now marking up PlayStation 5 consoles to £815 - roughly $1095 USD at time of writing. That's nearly double what some people pre-ordered PS5 consoles for, and consumers have taken notice, as the report also pulls quotes from some reviews expressing outrage over the resale process. Unfortunately, that's not likely to change anything, given how in-demand the consoles are and how willing people are to overpay for the devices in order to have them for the holiday season. This is especially true of a retailer like CEX, which is able to offer some guarantees about warranty and quality that online trading and reselling marketplaces are not.
The current-gen console launch has illustrated how little protection there is for consumers when it comes to pre-order practices and securing stock that's limited at launch. The reports of a scalper group purchasing thousands of PS5s with the sole intent of profiting off of them justifiably made many people angry, but they were able to do so with ease thanks to bots and some planning. Until better measures are put into place, that's going to continue for any high-demand launch of a limited product, including consoles.
Those who aren't willing to pay the appalling PS5 resale price from some retail locations will just need to wait until next year for more widespread restocks. It's unfortunate, but at least those fans aren't missing out on anything truly special yet - Demon's Souls is great, but beyond that, most launch titles for both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are largely unimpressive or games that are available elsewhere. Still, people who want consoles and can afford them at the price they're intended to be sold at are getting punished for simply being unlucky enough to miss out on minute-long windows of pre-orders, and that seems grossly unfair to exploit so thoroughly.
Source: Eurogamer