eBay is actively enabling scalping

[orangecat]

I got a message from eBay today and it would appear as if they are actively enabling scalping on their website.

 

[TetraSky]

"max 3 sales".

 

They are saving about 10% off the final value of the item they sold. If they sell it at $1000, that's $100 more in their pocket. Further encouraging people to sell their new console if they manage to snag one, instead of using it.

 

But yeah, just the fact they are advertising it specifically for consoles and not "everything" else, goes to show they are indeed enabling console scalpers here, for at least their first 3 sales.

[Rocketdog2112]

4 hours ago, TetraSky said:

"max 3 sales".

 

They are saving about 10% off the final value of the item they sold. If they sell it at $1000, that's $100 more in their pocket. Further encouraging people to sell their new console if they manage to snag one, instead of using it.

 

But yeah, just the fact they are advertising it specifically for consoles and not "everything" else, goes to show they are indeed enabling console scalpers here, for at least their first 3 sales.

And most scalpers have multiple eBay accounts.

[Lord Vile]

They're literally not making any money and are just using the newest consoles out right now. 

 

The places selling the consoles are allowing scalping. How about listing preorders that you have to fill out a form that gets manually checked and pay a deposit to get a console rather than just allowing bots to take them all at launch? 

[YellowJersey]

3 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

They're literally not making any money and are just using the newest consoles out right now. 

 

The places selling the consoles are allowing scalping. How about listing preorders that you have to fill out a form that gets manually checked and pay a deposit to get a console rather than just allowing bots to take them all at launch? 

I'm curious as to how the whole bots thing works; I honestly have no idea. You think they'd have some kind of "select all the pictures with crosswalks" thing on by default. I'd also figure something like the credit card name/address has to match the delivery name/address and only one console per name/address combination. You'd think these would be the minimum requirements to prevent bots and scalpers from buying them all up.

 While I have no shortage of contempt for scalpers, I also wave my walking stick in fury at the people who buy from scalpers. Why? IMHO, you're an idiot if you buy from scalpers and you're a part of the problem. This "must have it as soon as possible regardless of cost" mentality completely bewilders me. I'd like to get a PS5, but I'm more than happy waiting until I actually buy one. I cannot fathom why anyone simply cannot wait and would rather pay the ridiculous scalper prices.

[Lord Vile]

1 hour ago, YellowJersey said:

I'm curious as to how the whole bots thing works; I honestly have no idea. You think they'd have some kind of "select all the pictures with crosswalks" thing on by default. I'd also figure something like the credit card name/address has to match the delivery name/address and only one console per name/address combination. You'd think these would be the minimum requirements to prevent bots and scalpers from buying them all up.

Bots have come a long way since the 90's...

1 hour ago, YellowJersey said:

While I have no shortage of contempt for scalpers, I also wave my walking stick in fury at the people who buy from scalpers. Why? IMHO, you're an idiot if you buy from scalpers and you're a part of the problem. This "must have it as soon as possible regardless of cost" mentality completely bewilders me. I'd like to get a PS5, but I'm more than happy waiting until I actually buy one. I cannot fathom why anyone simply cannot wait and would rather pay the ridiculous scalper prices.

They have the money to do so? If you can happily pay 2x MSRP and not feel it the only thing stopping you is principle which they clearly don't care about.

[YellowJersey]

19 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

 

They have the money to do so? If you can happily pay 2x MSRP and not feel it the only thing stopping you is principle which they clearly don't care about.

People are weird. It's not even just principle, it's just a waste of money.

[Moonzy]

5 minutes ago, YellowJersey said:

People are weird. It's not even just principle, it's just a waste of money.

you could argue everything is a waste of money, to begin with

 

value is different to each individual

[SpaceGhostC2C]

This is good for those concerned about lack of availability. It gives an incentive to put the consoles on the market, and even accept lower prices given by the amount saved on fees. They're basically subsidizing supply.

This is as far as eBay can go to help with the supply issue, and they're putting their wallet (their fees) on the line. The rest is up to the manufacturers.

[YellowJersey]

2 hours ago, Moonzy said:

you could argue everything is a waste of money, to begin with

 

value is different to each individual

 

[YellowJersey]

One more for good measure

[Lord Vile]

4 hours ago, Moonzy said:

you could argue everything is a waste of money, to begin with

 

value is different to each individual

money is just a human construct tbf.