After the market launch, the prices of the new PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles skyrocketed on eBay and the like. It was and is big business for the so-called scalpers.
In the past few weeks, we have reported several times about the so-called scalpers, which are often automatically linked to ordering systems and ensure faster sales. The products purchased in bulk are sold on eBay and the like with a considerable surcharge. Of course, this only works for products where demand exceeds supply, which is currently the case with the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad talked about the resellers in a tweet. Two insights came to light, on the one hand, reselling the consoles for the scalpers is a million-dollar business. And on the other hand, the proportion of consoles that regular buyers miss is rather manageable.
According to Ahmad, around 33,000 PS5 consoles had been sold on eBay by early December. The average price was $1,021 for the disk version and $937 for the digital edition.
The new Xbox consoles also hit it. According to Ahmad, around 30,000 Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S devices changed hands on eBay by December 1, 2020. The average price was $865 for the more potent model and $469 for the stripped-down console.
While the number of eBay sales is nearly the same, the PS5 brings more profit to resellers. According to Ahmad, the high-priced sale of the PS5 consoles brought the scalpers around $19 million in profit. The markup on the Xbox consoles resulted in a profit of around $10 million.
33K PS5's were sold on Ebay through Dec 1.
The disc PS5 had a median price of $1,021. Digital at $937. Scalpers earned around $19m in profit.
30K Xbox's were sold on Ebay through Dec 1.
Series X median price was $865. Series S was $469.
Scalpers earned around $10m in profit. https://t.co/T9tHZNPgZQ— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 14, 2020
Tomshardware came up with even higher numbers in an article: $35 million in profits should be in the case of the PS5 and almost $24 million in the case of the Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Official sales figures for the new consoles have not yet been revealed. However, they should be somewhere in the seven-digit range. That means scalpers are of course a certain problem.
Ultimately, the market regulates the price. If no buyer were willing to pay the excessive prices for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the amounts would settle at a significantly lower level. In the case of the new consoles, the situation is very likely to ease during the first half of 2021. At the same time, there are considerations to make future pre-sales and market launches more transparent.