Buying a PS5 from FB Marketplace - Pitfalls?

[biron_w]

There is no point in paying any extra for one as there really aren't any games justifying the extra money. I'd just wait till you can get one normally.
Failing that sign up to some stock alert channels on Discord. I did and got one.

 

[theone8181]

Just nope - wait, you'll get one.
You'll be told about scalpers - it's headline, it's a nice and easy thing to blame if you fail to secure one. But considering we're at about 13m PS5's in the wild and the scalp rate is 10% - 15% (Maximum) - at the very least, 11m have sold at RRP.

It is all about being signed up to the right alerts - The "HotStock" app being my personal favourite.
Around a month ago I managed to secure two in a week - brother-in-law and first cousins (parents) were extremely thankful as you can imagine. That was doing nothing more than tapping an alert as soon as it popped up.
In that same time I could have had two more.
I still have the app on my phone - out of interest more than anything, last week I could have had one more.

There will be some disappointed people between now and Christmas, but they are literally making as many of them as they can (there are more PS5's available right now than there were PS4's at the same time post launch - is an interesting point on just how many of these things they are making).

It's incredible that their production must be massive to produce so many with brexit/ corona/microchip issues. I wonder if the biggest reason for increase is plant capacity or is it just designed better?

 

[Changesx]

You’re better off going into Argos when they have them back in stock and speaking to the manager and seeing if they will sell you one. Either that or slip into game and see if you can preorder one.

A lot of parents are going to fall into the trap of paying extra and being scalped like last year. If you’re really that kind of person…. Then your best bet is to buy one asap before the prices skyrocket again and people become desperate. Just saying.

I don’t agree with scalpers, but I’m laying down all the facts. That is what’s going to happen sadly…

 

[SexyGreyFox]

You’re better off going into Argos when they have them back in stock

I caught ARGOS stock within 15 minutes of them going online and a few minutes later they were sold out when I told a friend.

 

[Changesx]

I caught ARGOS stock within 15 minutes of them going online and a few minutes later they were sold out when I told a friend.

I guess it depends on location. My location was up for an hour or so according to my friend

 

[Joxeon]

You'll find the PS5s in bundle deals like with extra controller or game and headset tend to hang around a lot longer as the scalpers just want the base console to maximise their return so if your willing to pay £550 to a scalper then it should be no problem getting a bundle for a similar price from a retailer and your lad will have a console with warranty and couple of extra presents under the tree.

 

[woofercooker]

Amazon said 1 in stock this morning, when i added to backet it kept saying basket empty, showed 1 in stock for around 15 mins but could not add to basket, ffs, my heart was racing like crazy adrenalin was pumping, been on a massive downer all say since lol!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Amazon said 1 in stock this morning, when i added to backet it kept saying basket empty, showed 1 in stock for around 15 mins but could not add to basket, ffs, my heart was racing like crazy adrenalin was pumping, been on a massive downer all say since lol!

I had that with 12 in stock, kept trying and within seconds it said none.

 

[Changesx]

Amazon dropped so hopefully other retailers follow suit and drop more. Game are pretty frequent but they love to sell their silly hats and t shirts into the mix

 

[Beanicles]

Thanks everyone for your replies, due to the aforementioned lack of time I've managed to miss all of my notifications!

I appreciate all of your input, genuinely. To provide a bit of additional background to my situation I work 60+ hours a week running my small business and my wife is currently unable to drive for medical reasons. I'm therefore picking up the slack for getting my two children to clubs, sporting events, before and after school care as well as taking my wife to and from work. This isn't a request for sympathy you understand - I have a great life and family just pointing out that I'm not being lazy when I say I haven't got time to visit Game, check stock alerts, pop into Argos etc.

So based on all of your advice I've resolved to do the following - I'll install the Hot Stock app and monitor it for the next 3 weeks. Equally I'll try and call into Game this weekend and speak with a manager to see if that can possible bear fruit. If at the end of this I've been unsuccessful I'll swallow my pride and pay the extra to one of these unscrupulous scalpers. Thank you to the person who mentioned buying from FB marketplace. You've reassured me that these people are just grifters and not actually scammers or criminals (well, not all!)

I know that this is an extravagant gift for my son, but as a deluded parent I feel he's worth it and I over-compensate for my own childhood where my parents (whilst wonderful) couldn't afford to get me nice things.

Anyway, thanks again everyone - as previously mentioned I genuinely appreciate it.

 

[Changesx]

Ke

Thanks everyone for your replies, due to the aforementioned lack of time I've managed to miss all of my notifications!

I appreciate all of your input, genuinely. To provide a bit of additional background to my situation I work 60+ hours a week running my small business and my wife is currently unable to drive for medical reasons. I'm therefore picking up the slack for getting my two children to clubs, sporting events, before and after school care as well as taking my wife to and from work. This isn't a request for sympathy you understand - I have a great life and family just pointing out that I'm not being lazy when I say I haven't got time to visit Game, check stock alerts, pop into Argos etc.

So based on all of your advice I've resolved to do the following - I'll install the Hot Stock app and monitor it for the next 3 weeks. Equally I'll try and call into Game this weekend and speak with a manager to see if that can possible bear fruit. If at the end of this I've been unsuccessful I'll swallow my pride and pay the extra to one of these unscrupulous scalpers. Thank you to the person who mentioned buying from FB marketplace. You've reassured me that these people are just grifters and not actually scammers or criminals (well, not all!)

I know that this is an extravagant gift for my son, but as a deluded parent I feel he's worth it and I over-compensate for my own childhood where my parents (whilst wonderful) couldn't afford to get me nice things.

Anyway, thanks again everyone - as previously mentioned I genuinely appreciate it.

I wouldn’t say you’re a deluded parent. I’m sure your son will be very happy

There are Twitter groups which report stock drops. It might be worth signing up to those aswell as some places may alert quicker than others. If you’re a few minutes late then you’re too late to the party, so I would say get onto the twitter alert pages too!

Keep us updated!

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Thanks everyone for your replies, due to the aforementioned lack of time I've managed to miss all of my notifications!

I appreciate all of your input, genuinely. To provide a bit of additional background to my situation I work 60+ hours a week running my small business and my wife is currently unable to drive for medical reasons. I'm therefore picking up the slack for getting my two children to clubs, sporting events, before and after school care as well as taking my wife to and from work. This isn't a request for sympathy you understand - I have a great life and family just pointing out that I'm not being lazy when I say I haven't got time to visit Game, check stock alerts, pop into Argos etc.

So based on all of your advice I've resolved to do the following - I'll install the Hot Stock app and monitor it for the next 3 weeks. Equally I'll try and call into Game this weekend and speak with a manager to see if that can possible bear fruit. If at the end of this I've been unsuccessful I'll swallow my pride and pay the extra to one of these unscrupulous scalpers. Thank you to the person who mentioned buying from FB marketplace. You've reassured me that these people are just grifters and not actually scammers or criminals (well, not all!)

I know that this is an extravagant gift for my son, but as a deluded parent I feel he's worth it and I over-compensate for my own childhood where my parents (whilst wonderful) couldn't afford to get me nice things.

Anyway, thanks again everyone - as previously mentioned I genuinely appreciate it.

Completely off topic but you come across as wonderful person and parent. I hope you find a PS5

 

[DanF]

I managed to buy one a couple of days ago from Amazon. Was using https://partalert.net/join-discord and there's been maybe 20 alerts for different PS5 models to Amazon in the last couple of days

Just a tip if buying from Amazon, their API will get hammered when the alerts go out. Just keep loading the page, then adding to basket and trying to purchase. If it fails click back and try again. Keep doing it for like 5+ minutes and it should eventually work

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Just keep loading the page, then adding to basket and trying to purchase. If it fails click back and try again. Keep doing it for like 5+ minutes and it should eventually work

He hasn't got time

 

[Beanicles]

Hi everyone.

Thank you for all of the supportive messages and information. Just providing a bit of feedback as to where I'm up to - I figure that's the very least I can do when so many people have offered their assistance!

So I have installed the HotStock app and configured it to send alerts at all times. Thus far there have been maybe 20 alerts, and I would estimate that I've been in a position to follow up around half of them either immediately or within the first 2 minutes. Invariably either the site is down (most common for John Lewis) or the site has sold out by the time it has loaded in my browser (Asda, Amazon, Smyths). I haven't given up though, and will stick with my three week plan as detailed above.

I didn't get chance to call into Game at the weekend, unfortunately - there simply wasn't time - but I'm hopeful of being able to this weekend.

I like the idea of using Discord but I get the impression (maybe wrong) that I'd either have to have it closely monitored or simply be lucky with when I checked in. My work means that I travel around quite a lot and don't get too long sat in front of my laptop or phone.

Still hopeful of getting one through the official channels!