I give up, just don't scam me too much!
October 14, 2021 11:38 AM Subscribe
After a year of trying to buy a PS5 for my extremely patient and deserving kid through normal channels, I've decided to just give up and buy one from a scalper. How do I minimize my odds of getting scammed in this situation?
I'm one of those Luddites who strictly uses Amazon to shop online and feels out of my depth on sites like EBay. I don't even have a Twitter, much less one I can check several times per day to look for notifications about restocks that will be gone in 15 minutes. I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to pay for a PS5 from a scalper and receive a bunch of waffle maker parts or a napkin with "PS5" written on it in crayon or something like that.
What can I do to protect myself and actually get a working PS5 on the secondary market? Where should I even look for one?
I'm one of those Luddites who strictly uses Amazon to shop online and feels out of my depth on sites like EBay. I don't even have a Twitter, much less one I can check several times per day to look for notifications about restocks that will be gone in 15 minutes. I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to pay for a PS5 from a scalper and receive a bunch of waffle maker parts or a napkin with "PS5" written on it in crayon or something like that.
What can I do to protect myself and actually get a working PS5 on the secondary market? Where should I even look for one?
If you want to avoid the scalper route, what worked for me was paying for the $15/year GameStop Pro membership. You get early (Pro-only) access to PS5s (and other stuff). Notifications are through e-mail.
Pay-to-play sucks, but I got nowhere even with Twitter notifications and being very online.
posted by minsies at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Pay-to-play sucks, but I got nowhere even with Twitter notifications and being very online.
posted by minsies at 12:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
(apologies if this was one of the channels you already tried.)
posted by minsies at 12:03 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by minsies at 12:03 PM on October 14, 2021
What worked for me last week was this site that alerts you when it's in stock. If you follow their Discord notification guide, you will actually see them in stock assuming you have the Discord app on your phone.
The problem I discovered is that, well, GameStop wants you to be a member of their GameStop Pro membership and Best Buy is locking theirs behind some kind of Best Buy Prime system. So that's sort of a hard stop for like half of the major online retailers. You still run into seeing them in stock on Amazon, but being incapable of actually checking out with it because Amazon's backend sucks for high demand items. Harumph.
But yeah, I'm still sort of surprised nobody is just letting you drop the $500 for some indeterminate future shipment. Just put a hold on my credit card or something. I dunno, a reverse layaway or something. I'm an adult, you're a multinational corporation, can't we come to some kind of agreement?
THAT SAID, if I were trying to avoid getting scammed, I'd limit myself to local in-person transactions like craigslist or facebook marketplace. I don't think there's a lot of actual scamming happening on eBay, I gather they've cracked down on sellers screwing around like that, but I don't blame you for being nervous.
posted by Kyol at 12:26 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
The problem I discovered is that, well, GameStop wants you to be a member of their GameStop Pro membership and Best Buy is locking theirs behind some kind of Best Buy Prime system. So that's sort of a hard stop for like half of the major online retailers. You still run into seeing them in stock on Amazon, but being incapable of actually checking out with it because Amazon's backend sucks for high demand items. Harumph.
But yeah, I'm still sort of surprised nobody is just letting you drop the $500 for some indeterminate future shipment. Just put a hold on my credit card or something. I dunno, a reverse layaway or something. I'm an adult, you're a multinational corporation, can't we come to some kind of agreement?
THAT SAID, if I were trying to avoid getting scammed, I'd limit myself to local in-person transactions like craigslist or facebook marketplace. I don't think there's a lot of actual scamming happening on eBay, I gather they've cracked down on sellers screwing around like that, but I don't blame you for being nervous.
posted by Kyol at 12:26 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
Nthing the "GameStop Pro" route. Also, are you aware that Sony's just opened up their sign-up queue to give customers a chance to buy direct from them?
posted by hanov3r at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by hanov3r at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2021
You've probably seen these (sign up with Sony, Target restock, etc), but in case you haven't
posted by trig at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by trig at 12:58 PM on October 14, 2021
My husband just got a PS5 yesterday (well, ordered it anyway) by signing up with Sony and getting an email with a time to go on the website and order. He was afraid he was going to lose the race but he got his order in in about 10 minutes. I understand that going the eBay route can be very expensive.
posted by ceejaytee at 2:18 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by ceejaytee at 2:18 PM on October 14, 2021
Matt Swider on Twitter is what worked for me. He gives notifications for all the major sellers, and also does XBox and graphics cards. I got mine from Gamestop after a few weeks of following him.
posted by Gneisskate at 3:04 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Gneisskate at 3:04 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I found mine using the Reddit PS5restock group (is that what they call them?) and catching a drop on Target.com. They knew when a lot of places would be getting stock and then updating when it went live. I had to get up at 4am but it worked.
I just dropped in there again and apparently the Hot Stock app is the thing right now.
If you have a Costco membership, you can try to see if they have any. They restock at 8am PT (or were in the past) and only members can see if they're in stock.
posted by fiercekitten at 6:49 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I just dropped in there again and apparently the Hot Stock app is the thing right now.
If you have a Costco membership, you can try to see if they have any. They restock at 8am PT (or were in the past) and only members can see if they're in stock.
posted by fiercekitten at 6:49 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
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