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[Gamer79]

No it's econ 101. It's literally an example of a supply and demand curve. There's numerous videos going over what happens when demand outstrips supply.(IE there's more people wanting a good at a given price than there is a supply of said good.) The market adjusts and the price goes up. I mean complaining about it not being available at the MSRP is basically saying you've never seen what a price ceiling does when said ceiling is below market price.

Painted how you want but your basis economic 101 isn't valid here.

*There are literally groups of paid Scalpers who go to retail shops and camp out all night before any hot item. They have AI Bots that go and sweep the web the minute an item becomes available. They are doing it and a very shitty and unfair way in my viewpoint.

*I am not arguing a limited supply/demand drives up prices. My issue is these parasite groups inflate the problem and make it far worse. It's like me going to the store and buying every single gallon of milk and there is no way for you to get it fairly, Now you have to pay me the crazy inflated price if you want milk for your cheerios.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Potential scalper ps5 during covid

 

[simpatico]

Watches and EDC items yes. Electronics, no.

 

[dave_d]

Painted how you want but your basis economic 101 isn't valid here.

*There are literally groups of paid Scalpers who go to retail shops and camp out all night before any hot item. They have AI Bots that go and sweep the web the minute an item becomes available. They are doing it and a very shitty and unfair way in my viewpoint.

*I am not arguing a limited supply/demand drives up prices. My issue is these parasite groups inflate the problem and make it far worse. It's like me going to the store and buying every single gallon of milk and there is no way for you to get it fairly, Now you have to pay me the crazy inflated price if you want milk for your cheerios.

No it's still valid. Your problem is that your view doesn't explain why scalpers don't scalp literally everything. (Like intel CPUs for example.) Why don't the scalpers try on everything. The answer is pretty basic they can only scalp something if supply is low enough and there are people willing to pay the price. (IE demand outstrips supply) If you have that case there are people willing to pay the premium to get the item and you will see the prices go up either through scalpers or through retailers. (Which is exactly what we see.) Hell if demand is low enough scalpers could literally buy the entire supply and not sell any because nobody is willing to pay inflated prices.(I'm sure nobody tried to scalp for example Suicide Squad kills the justice league because the demand wasn't there.) ) One of the most basic concepts to learn from econ 101 is simply this Price is subjective, not objective. (Different people are willing to pay more or less for an item depending on how badly they want it.) If we have a situation like this where there were more people that wanted a 5090 at $2000 than there were available we'd see price increase until we either hit equilibirum or enough 5090s were manufactured to meet demand. (And no scalpers can't just buy them because they wouldn't be able to sell them.) Anyway here's a video on econ 101 of shortages

 

[FoxMcChief]

Never.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

No, I want them to die. ALL OF THEM.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Yes! but only because itwas to my benefit.

I got two PS5 controllers for way below retail price (they were probably force bundled with the PS5s they sold).

 

[Celcius]

I'd rather not have a thing than pay a scalper

 

[{insert code here}]

Once for a Dodgers game. Guy had a whole stack of tickets outside the gate so we all went to go grab a couple drinks at a bar. Came back around the 3rd or 4th inning and my guy still had his stack so we gave him 40 for 4 tickets which was a fraction of what he wanted for a single ticket. So, we kinda scalped him.

 

[Minsc]

The issue is they swipe up all the little supply and become the new middle man. It's not economics 101 it's common sense 101.

Maybe to some extent, but I think in this scenario, you can't blame scalpers too much:

Demand: 50 Million+
Supply: 1 Million
Scalpers: ~20,000

Sure the numbers probably are totally off, but my point is that a small number of scalpers can provide to the seriously undersupplied product to people who don't want to spend weeks and weeks at 2am refreshing pages and signing up for discord groups or whatever to get notifications at their phone with the web browser already on the page to click and their card already saved and yadda yadda yadda only to find out it's already out of stock, and then the next notification occurs during work and the following one at sleep again and so forth. Or you can just pay $100 and click a button on StockX and get your product without that nonsense.

 

[Durin]

Nope, and fuck em all.

They've already made buying new GPUs or collector's items a pain in the last decade.

It's a dumb system to feed into.

 

[nemiroff]

Never. Which is funny because it's not even a strong principle. Maybe it's because I hate shitty people.

 

[kiphalfton]

Nope, and fuck em all.

They've already made buying new GPUs or collector's items a pain in the last decade.

It's a dumb system to feed into.

Scalpers are part of the problem, but the bigger problem are "businesses" snatching up GPUs (for mining, AI, etc.).

I guess you could argue they are one and the same in certain cases.

At the end of the day the retailer selling the item is to blame, as it isn't like they can't implement a better system (but why would they when the point is to sell the item).

 

[Durin]

Scalpers are part of the problem, but the bigger problem are "businesses" snatching up GPUs (for mining, AI, etc.).

Oh for sure, scalpers are definitely not the only thing to blame, but they're just an annoying part of the problem, and it's sad seeing people even buy from them to support higher pricing on already expensive stuff.

I'm hoping Nintendo produces enough Switch 2s that it makes it pointless to scalp.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Nah fuck these people, I will never pay above Msrp on any product.

Same. I went into a dealership to buy a vehicle for the wife a few years back. It was for a Telluride. Was going to pay cash for it and just walk out the door. Model was picked out and ready to go. They then told me that due to demand they wanted 5k more than MRSP. I would have 100% paid mrsp plus their fees because the wife wanted one but 5k more was a hard stop. I just got up, walked out, went down the street and bought her a Traverse (her second choice) for less money.

Never pay over MRSP

 

[Shift!]

My Nintendo Switch was about 500 dollars.

And a lot of my computer parts were marked up about 200% in price during 2021.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Never and don't plan to ever support one.

 

[Bieren]

Concert tickets, a few times. Quick option when you need that extra at the door. But not since everything has gone all digital. Anything else, nah.

 

[dreamcastluvr]

I'm no fan of scalpers, and I usually have enough self-discipline to wait for hype to die down and prices to drop, but there have been two times that I paid scalper prices-

PS4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition for around $700. I didn't feel too burned since I financed the purchase by selling my regular black PS4 Pro and a brand new PS4 Slim I had won at work.

PS5 disc drive for $125. I had the chance to get the PS5 Pro with a 25% discount, so needed the disc drive. Still came out ahead all things considered despite the $45 price gouge.

 

[Unknown?]

Yes, this is why I currently have no hair.

 

[Three]

Usually I'm smart enough to get ahead of the scalpers. Got a PS5 at launch and an RTX 5090 no problem. The only time I was half tempted was on a charging stand believe it or not. Patiently waited 3 months for stock.

 

[Topher]

No, this is why I currently still have a wife

 

[poppabk]

No but I did scalp a couple of Wii's back in the day.

 

[DinoD]

Never and never scalped anything. No FOMO here. I respect every single dollar I earn.

 

[Games Bookstore]

Yep, I really wanted a PS3 at/near launch, ended buying one from a hong kong ebay seller for what ended up being the same price as what they sold them for locally months later.

The only downside was I couldn't purchase any bluray or DVD movies locally as they wouldn't work with region locking

 

[Felessan]

The issue is they swipe up all the little supply and become the new middle man. It's not economics 101 it's common sense 101.

And they should as per econ 101
In proper market economy when supply outstrips demands - price should go up until demand (and willingness to buy diminishes with price) meet supply at new price point and market balances. In the world of MSRP scalpers do this job.
It works both ways - when supply meet demand, scalpers first to lose, because fair point price is MSRP and scalpers left with their stock unwanted.

 

[Danjin44]

No, I dont trust them at all.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

I might have bought a ticket for a music show from a scalper once.

 

[a'la mode]

Yeah, I've bought at least one top tier Nvidia GPU in the past few years. Got combo scalped by both Nvidia and the retailer!

 

[nikos]

I don't believe so. I'm usually the one selling.

 

[nkarafo]

Fortunately, i'm not rich enough so that prevent me to do so even if i can't help myself.

 

[xrnzaaas]

No. The only time I paid a bit more than I should was when I was buying PS5. All electronics stores were charging extra and offering the hardware only in bundles. Couldn't get around that other than waiting who knows how many months until the situation stabilizes itself.

 

[Robb]

Nah, I can wait.

 

[Randall365]

When I visited the Grand Canyon I bought some arrows and a fridge magnet.

 

[Spukc]

I normally buy two copies of rare items and flip one.. so i actually pay less

 

[Kamina]

No, i don’t give money to pests and leeches.

 

[rabbity-thing]

Just once. PS5 Spiderman faceplates. Paid a little under double msrp.

It was to make up for not getting the spidey ps4. I had just gotten the God of War model and there was no way I was about to buy another ps4 for a spiderman version.

Not my proudest moment, but I don't regret it. My PS5 looks slick.

 

[nowhat]

I have not. I may have, however, scalped a purchaser.

 

[notseqi]

I have everything I need and can always use or do something else.

This will hold until I absolutely want something and can't get it the usual way, whenever that might be.

 

[zokie]

if its regarding out of print games like Godzilla PS4 selling $400USD on amazon , the answer is nope

i rather play games that i own physically or digitally or wait for a remaster collection if it happens
and i am more into digital purchases this days , cheaper and convenient for me

 

[DelireMan7]

No. I either buy on official store or second hand (at lower price)

 

[DragonNCM]

Cinema ticket when was 12 years old.....Empire strikes back....

 

[RJMacready73]

Unfortunately yes, the PS5 stock situation was an absolute shambles, I was signed up for twitter alerts, set alarms to wake up in the middle of the night to catch I coming shipments going live etc etc and could never get one, now I wasnt paying silly money for it, but lo and behold some dude around the corner from me posted up on the local nextdoor app that he had a spare for sale and was only looking £100 over asking price so I contacted him right away, he still had it and bought it, he was a young lad that ended up accidentally buying 2 so I didn't mind him making a ton for himself and I finally got my hands on the elusive PS5, was another year or so before my friends where able to pick one up