It has been a long-running problem that scalpers would buy out tickets to events and sell them at a much higher rate. In recent years though, another community has become plagued by scalpers: gamers.
Imagine this: A brand new item you’ve been wanting to buy has been out of stock for weeks. The seller announces that it will be back in stock later that day. Full of excitement, you log on to the online store and wait on the item’s page for something to change. You refresh the page over and over again, leading up to the restock time. Yet, nothing ever changes.
Unbeknownst to you, somewhere else in the world, a scalper just bought out half the stock. Later that week, you’ll look on eBay or another online store and see where the aforementioned scalper is selling the item you wanted for an absurd increase in price. And the worst part? Some buyers are desperate enough to pay those increased prices.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a scalper is “someone who buys things, such as theater tickets, at the usual prices and then sells them, when they are difficult to get, at much higher prices.”
Some of the most sought-after items for gamers recently, depending on platform preference, have been the latest generation of consoles from PlayStation and Xbox, as well as the newest graphic cards for PCs. Buyers spend hours at a time waiting for these items to go in stock, only to be thwarted by a scalper buying out as many as they can.
The reason scalpers do this is that they know they will profit. If they are the only one who is selling, they know buyers have no choice but to pay their price if they want the item. This has seen consoles that normally sell for around a few hundred dollars going for over a thousand.
This extortion of the gaming community has sparked anger from many.
Leroy Woods, a graduate counseling and development major, has been a PlayStation player for years but recently transitioned to PC gaming because of scalpers. Due to the PS5 never being in stock, Woods had to get a PC to play the latest games at the quality level for which they were made.
“Scalpers are not good for any community as they limit the community resources,” Woods said.
Whereas other buyers are simply looking to enjoy the games these systems and parts give them access to, Woods sees scalpers as just looking for a “side hustle” to earn them quick and extra money.
Artie Edwards, a junior digital information design major, shares Woods’ views on scalpers. Edwards wanted to buy a 3070 series graphics card for his PC but could not find one at the normal price due to scalpers. He agreed that scalpers were not good for the community of gamers.
“They are hurting the consumers who will actually use the products for what they were intended for and not just sell them,” he said.
At this point in time, it seems as if there are no ways to stop scalpers. While many people cry out for some sort of “anti-scalper” system to be put in place, it might feel like these requests are falling on deaf ears.
After all, whether it is a scalper or regular consumer, the companies are still selling their products.
However, companies and stores alike are trying to take measures to ensure products are not falling into the hands of scalpers.
According to GamesIndustry, shops have begun announcing less when items will come back into stock, taking away the opportunity for scalpers to prepare. Many sellers have started checking addresses, emails and card numbers to ensure buyers only receive one of whichever item they are purchasing.
One thing many members of the gaming community have suggested, Edwards said, is simply making more stock.
Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it once was due to the many hardships placed on the work industry as a whole by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hope throughout the community is that, as things slowly creep back to the normal we knew before the pandemic, stock will rise, and scalpers will have less leverage for their inflated prices.
