If you're going to just completely refuse to engage with the three times you've been reminded in this thread that an economically viable scalper's resales definitionally represent the minimum demand for a product, you're either arguing in bad faith or are too pissed about this to think straight, and I'm just wasting my time. Scalping is obviously an emotional topic for you and it has you so wound up that you're saying stupid shit like this:
>these absolute useless low-lifes that should be unceremoniously kicked back into whatever minimum wage gutter they crawled out of.
If your perception of this situation is that minimum wage "useless low-lifes" should kicked back into the gutter because you have this logically unsound idea that it would be easier to buy a PS5 if scalpers didn't exist, you've lost the plot. Your understanding of the demographic that is doing this is wrong, and even if it wasn't, you have completely uncalled for contempt for a class of people who are trying to do better for themselves (or maybe even just trying to make rent and groceries).
If you're going to leave another comment hollering about rent seeking or how scalpers singlehandedly create this problem, but refuse to even acknowledge that you've already been told:
>The scalpers are selling them to somebody -- that somebody would have just bought at MSRP and you would still have to do what I mentioned above.
>because the scalpers definitionally need somebody to buy everything that they do. The demand isn't erased just because they don't exist.
>The fact that scalpers are still buying consoles means they're still selling them. That means if the scalpers didn't exist consoles would still be sold out, it would just be individuals following twitter accounts to spam refresh for a single console instead of 10.
I'm just going to ignore it, so you can save yourself the typing. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt but it looks a hell of a lot like you don't have interest in a good faith discussion.
> … economically viable scalper's resales definitionally represent the minimum demand for a product
You’re purposefully ignoring that they actively create and exacerbate market inefficiencies by making it difficult for manufacturers and retailers to manage demand effectively, and by inserting themselves as a middleman to extract their rent.
> … completely uncalled for contempt for a class of people who are trying to do better for themselves (or maybe even just trying to make rent and groceries).
How is it uncalled for? They’re useless trash making money by virtue of being willing to take advantage of others, not because they’re contributing anything of any value in any form.
They produce nothing and provide nothing of value.
So yes, kick them — and their enablers — back to the sewer they crawled out of.
And for good measure, prosecute them under the CFAA while they’re there.
>by making it difficult for manufacturers and retailers to manage demand effectively
This doesn't add up.
Every person who buys a PS5 from a scalper for $700-$800 would also buy it for MSRP at $500, unless they are insane. Demand would outstrip supply even in the absence of scalpers, because one PS5 would be bought at MSRP from a retailer for every one that would have otherwise been bought and then sold by a scalper.
The only kink is that because PS5s immediately sell out at a price of $500, people who don't have the time to camp checkouts and/or want the item immediately are shit out of luck. However, they could pay a scalper an extra $200 to do that for them, because that's the value of the time they would lose acquiring the PS5, or the value they would miss out not having the PS5 immediately. In economics parlance, this is a service. You can call it something else if it makes your feel better. Either way, scalper activity cannot oversell the demand for a PS5 beyond not accurately modelling the sales you would lose from customers not wanting to deal with the effects of illiquidity on the market. The only thing scalper activity misrepresents if your MSRP is below what they're charging is the customers who won't buy your product at all if you're constantly sold out. Scalpers do not change forecasts.
>these absolute useless low-lifes that should be unceremoniously kicked back into whatever minimum wage gutter they crawled out of.
If your perception of this situation is that minimum wage "useless low-lifes" should kicked back into the gutter because you have this logically unsound idea that it would be easier to buy a PS5 if scalpers didn't exist, you've lost the plot. Your understanding of the demographic that is doing this is wrong, and even if it wasn't, you have completely uncalled for contempt for a class of people who are trying to do better for themselves (or maybe even just trying to make rent and groceries).
If you're going to leave another comment hollering about rent seeking or how scalpers singlehandedly create this problem, but refuse to even acknowledge that you've already been told:
>The scalpers are selling them to somebody -- that somebody would have just bought at MSRP and you would still have to do what I mentioned above.
>because the scalpers definitionally need somebody to buy everything that they do. The demand isn't erased just because they don't exist.
>The fact that scalpers are still buying consoles means they're still selling them. That means if the scalpers didn't exist consoles would still be sold out, it would just be individuals following twitter accounts to spam refresh for a single console instead of 10.
I'm just going to ignore it, so you can save yourself the typing. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt but it looks a hell of a lot like you don't have interest in a good faith discussion.
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