Playstation 5s sell out within moments of becoming available. This still holds true nearly a year and a half after the initial launch back in November 2020. Scalpers managed to snag a large quantity of them and attempt to resell them at double value. This raises the question of how to get a PS5 at retail price.
The Xbox Series X has also suffered from similar availability issues ever since its release. At least the Xbox Series S suffers a bit less so.
The 5-year-old Nintendo Switch has been a challenge to obtain off and on for quite some time, too. There are even rumors of a version 2 in the works, despite the recent release of the OLED version and the fact that the existing version is still in high demand.
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Why Are These Consoles So Hard to Obtain?
There are three primary reasons. The aforementioned scalpers, the global chip shortage—and I don’t mean the tasty kind—and the COVID-19 pandemic. Though, in a sense, the chip shortage is technically umbrellaed underneath the pandemic.
As long as the demand exceeds the supply, scalpers will keep snatching up what they can to flip for profit.
While the chip shortage is still in effect, it’s unlikely for the available supply to pass that threshold. Unfortunately, the chip shortage is projected to continue into 2023, but quite possibly into 2024.
The pandemic is heavily to blame, twice over. The first reason is due to the time lost when semiconductor factories in Taiwan had to stop for lockdown. The second reason is because of the greatly increased demand for devices that require those very chips.
The surge of work-from-home and remote learning necessitated a lot of equipment: PCs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and webcams. Also, any home appliances that were put off while people didn’t spend as much time at home.
Once the more practical needs were covered, entertainment paraphernalia spiked, too. This led to massively unprecedented sales of gaming consoles, TVs, graphics cards, and such.
A prime example was the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch on March 20th, 2020. A mere 9 days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
Within the first 11 days after release, 11.77 million copies were sold. By the end of that fiscal year, there were a total of 35.9 million copies sold. That’s more than every other version of Animal Crossing combined.
Also read: Make the Most of Black Friday with a Proxy!
So, What About Getting Myself a PS5?
Let’s get back to the question of ‘how to get a PS5 at retail price?’ My suggestions are all alternatives to coughing up the outrageous amounts of money that scalpers are asking for. Unfortunately, luck is a component for all of them.
The most successful version is to go to physical retailers regularly and check if anything is in stock. After all, the bots that scalpers are using can’t get the box out of your hands.
This is actually how I got my Nintendo Switch and Collectors Edition of Zelda: Breath of the Wild way back in April 2017. Pressing F for the person who preordered the CE and never picked it up, so it got put on the shelf.
Another option that is still pretty luck-based; you sign up for the purchase queue from PlayStation Direct. You need to be very, very patient, though.
Next up is attempting to buy online once you know a retailer has done a restock. Sometimes it is announced in advance, but not always.
The reliable way to do this is to chase an alert once a web scraper bot has detected a site with some in stock. Just make sure to create your accounts in advance for any sites you’ll potentially buy from. To get a PS5 at retail price, every moment counts from the nanosecond that the alert goes out.
Restock Alerts?
There are Twitter handles, like @CameronRitz and @MattSwider, that will make announcements, as well as some Discord servers.
However, public alerts like that are, well, public. You’ll be finding out at the same time as countless other people who have alert notifications set up. One way to secure an advantage is to run a perpetual Web Scraper With Proxies.
That way, if your bot catches something separate from the public notice, you can squeeze in before the masses start slamming that poor retailer’s site, greatly increasing your chances of success.
I’ll be making a follow-up article that will go over making a web scraper a bit more in-depth. But if, in the meantime, you’re eager to get started, check out these Five Tips for Outsmarting Anti-Scraping Techniques as well as these Free Libraries to Build Your Own Web Scraper.
While we’re on the subject of bots…
Drumroll, please, for the last option…
Break Out the Shopping Bots!
Scalpers are running some pretty sophisticated bots and potentially have several years of experience. This is particularly the case when they have experience copping sneakers or running Shopify Bots.
If you aren’t already confident in your coding abilities, a simple scraper is do-able. However, making a shopping bot that can go up against scalpers would be a huge undertaking.
But, as long as you have at least a little understanding of Python, you can try using Hari Nagarajan’s open-source shopping bot, Fairgame. He made it with the motto, “If everyone is botting, then no one is botting,” as a way of pushing back against scalpers.
He eventually stopped personally developing it, but there are still active updates made by the community that regularly get implemented. Since it’s been out for a while, it’s pretty fleshed out and well optimized.
Also read: Proxies for Shopify Bots
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Does the PS5 have adaptive triggers?
Yes, the PS5 absolutely has adaptive triggers, and they’re one of the standout features of the DualSense controller. The adaptive triggers can adjust resistance levels based on what’s happening in the game, giving you a highly immersive feel. For example, if you’re drawing a bow in a game, you’ll feel the tension increase as if you’re actually pulling back on a real bowstring. This feature really shines in games like Final Fantasy XVI, where you get to feel different actions with various trigger responses.
The PS5 also packs in some other awesome tech, like AI-driven upscaling for better graphics quality and a Blu-ray disc drive for physical games and movies. So if you’re looking for that next level of realism, the PS5’s adaptive triggers add a new layer to gameplay that’s hard to beat!
Q2. Is Gran Turismo PS5 worth it?
If you’re into realistic racing and detailed car mechanics, Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 is definitely worth it. It takes full advantage of the PS5’s power, with incredibly fast load times that get you right into the action. The visuals are stunning, giving you photorealistic tracks and car details that truly make you feel like you’re at the racetrack. Plus, the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback add a new layer of immersion, making each turn, bump, and acceleration feel lifelike.
What’s great about Gran Turismo 7 is its learning-based gameplay—it’s designed to guide you through a progression, so even if you’re not a pro, you’ll pick up skills as you play. The driving physics are top-notch, and while it’s more simulation-focused than something like Horizon Forbidden West, the attention to detail is really rewarding. It’s made for fans of realistic racing, so if that’s your style, you’ll love it.
Q3. Does the PS5 come with games?
The PS5 doesn’t come preloaded with any full games out of the box, but it does have Astro’s Playroom pre-installed, which is a fun platformer designed to show off the PS5’s DualSense controller features like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. It’s a nice bonus, especially for getting familiar with the console’s capabilities.
For full games, you’ll need to buy them separately. If you go for the PlayStation Plus subscription, it does offer a library of popular PS4 games that you can play on the PS5, and sometimes you get monthly free games for both PS4 and PS5, which is a great way to build a collection. No official PlayStation 5 Pro or PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution tech has been released yet, but future versions of the console may come with new enhancements or bundled content.
Also read: Web Scraping With Proxies
Conclusion
There is one thing to keep in mind, though. If you’re going to be running a scraper or shopping bot; you should use a proxy so you don’t get your IP address banned before you even get anywhere.
For a web scraper that gives restock notifications, your best bet is to use Rotating Residential Proxies.
For a shopping bot that needs to handle a persistent account login to make the purchase, you’ll need something with a persistent IP duration. This would be either paying for static IPs equal to the number of accounts and devices you’ll be using to attempt to shop with, or using appropriately configured Sticky Rotating Sessions.
A great economic choice for a project like this is KocerRoxy. Their quick and reliable service will protect your IP address from being banned at only $5 per GB for their Residential IPs. This is a small price to pay to increase your odds of success while stubbornly pushing back against scalpers.
Now that you know how to get a PS5 at retail price, good luck! For a guide on how to start writing your own availability tracker in Python with BeautifulSoup, check out DIY PS5 Availability Tracker. Feel free to leave a comment below if you manage to luck out and snag one!
