Scalping has become common currency over the years for each product whose demand greatly exceeds supply. In this period of shortage of semiconductors, the PS5 and Xbox Series are obviously affected by this morally reprehensible practice. Some do not hesitate to push vice to the maximum, like the British Jack Bayliss.
Scalping is a process that we would like to see disappear, and yet this certainly legal but morally questionable practice has the wind in its sails. Particularly since the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. With the global semiconductor shortage raging for over a year now, Sony and Microsoft are having great difficulty manufacturing their new consoles.
As a result, reseller stocks are replenished in dribs and drabs. And unsurprisingly, scalpers are jumping on it (usually with bots) to buy them at the standard price before reselling them at gold prices on Ebay or other sites. This is why we end up with Xbox Series X displayed at more than 1000 € on Amazon for example. After the launch of the two machines, scalpers earned no less than 24 million euros in just two weeks.
Also read: PS5, Xbox Series X – a law wants to prohibit speculators from using bots to raid stocks
Jack Bayliss, the ultimate scalper specializing in PS5 and Xbox Series X
If manufacturers begin to implement scalping parades, like Sony with the Playstation Direct site, the phenomenon is not ready to stop. Especially with initiatives like that of Jack Bayliss. Indeed, this British created Aftermarker Arbitrage, a subscription service dedicated to scalpers.
The principle is simple: against a subscription billed at €36 per month, subscribers are notified as soon as the PS5 and Xbox Series X are back in stock on different e-commerce sites. No longer remains for scalpers to pounce on them and then resell them at double or even triple the initial price.
With 1500 subscribers currently on the counter, Jack Bayliss therefore benefits a rather comfortable income of €64,830 per month! Unsurprisingly, his case attracted the attention of the British press, in particular the SkyNews TV channel which landed an interview: “For me, owning the PS5 or Xbox isn’t a necessity, it’s a luxury, okay? If you can afford to spend £450, spending the extra £100 should be pretty marginal, if you have the cash ready to invest in it. Yes, some families are going to have to pay £100 more, but what you don’t think are our members: they have 30 consoles, they make £100 on each. And they earn a good month’s salary in a few days”. Poor little scalpers.
Source: sky news
