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recursive | karma 9788 | avg karma 2.06 · 2022-05-27 15:58:27

The service is making them available. You have to pay a premium for this service. If it wasn't for scalpers, then you (probably) just wouldn't get one, unless you're waiting in line for the store to open.

teakettle42 | karma 2068 | avg karma 3.87 · 2022-05-27 16:05:40

Using bots to monopolize the supply and maximize their own profits is rent-seeking by an economic leech, not a service.

recursive | karma 9788 | avg karma 2.06 · 2022-05-27 16:09:51

Supposedly, all rational agents in a capitalist system try to maximize their own profits. If consoles were priced correctly, they wouldn't be able to make any profit by doing this. They'd just have a warehouse full of new consoles and not enough buyers. The fact that it's even profitable means they'll continue to do it. I think there are really only two possible solutions to this from the supplier side. 1. Increase production. 2. Increase MSRP.

Trying to regulate away this problem will just lead to more "innovative" scalpers.

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teakettle42 | karma 2068 | avg karma 3.87 · 2022-05-27 16:20:56

2. Take control of your retail channels to make scalping difficult-to-impossible.

3. Lobby to extend existing ticket scalping laws to cover this, too.

4. Lobby to enforce the CFAA against bot-using scalpers. The risk of felony jail time is a strong motivator to find a less parasitic enterprise.

…

There are a lot of options that would put a dent in the problem.

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sorry_outta_gas | karma 93 | avg karma 0.56 · 2022-05-27 16:39:21

If if the ps5 went to $650 or $700 without tax it would entirely kill sony's gaming business

if anything microsoft's plan of offering two sku's lowering the price has been more effective

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recursive | karma 9788 | avg karma 2.06 · 2022-05-27 17:43:18

> If if the ps5 went to $650 or $700 without tax it would entirely kill sony's gaming business

How's that? If that's what people are already actually buying them for, then people can already afford them.

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colinmhayes | karma 5802 | avg karma 1.83 · 2022-05-27 20:50:58

That's what people are paying though. They can always lower prices when they stop selling out.

staticman2 | karma 1521 | avg karma 1.31 · 2022-05-27 21:07:56

"Supposedly, all rational agents in a capitalist system try to maximize their own profits."

Supposedly, the world is more complicated than some stuff you picked up from Econ 101.

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