JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Sold out, out of stock, and unavailable. That’s the message from every major retailer if you’re looking for the brand new PlayStation 5.
Even as store shelves have been stripped clean of the next generation gaming console, resellers are putting the PlayStation 5 up for sale on sites like eBay, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace where they fetch hundreds of dollars more than face value.
Some lifelong gamers, like Erick Koblick, aren’t willing to fork over that kind of money. So they’ll wait as long as it takes to snag a PS5 for a reasonable price.
“At this point, it seems like I’ve been looking for one for years, but it’s been months,” Koblick said, adding that he’ll continue waiting for the next few months until they become more widely available. “It’s a way of life.”
For those who are willing to shell out extra dough for the gaming console now, there’s still risk involved.
“We see people scammed like this every year with this kind of thing,” said Tom Stephens, president of the Better Business Bureau in Northeast Florida.
Stephens said while the hot item might change every year, the scam remains the same: resellers will pretend they have a device to sell and buyers use an app or gift card to pay them, only to find out it doesn’t exist.
“It’s a scammer’s Christmas,” Stephens said.
He doesn’t recommend buying a big-ticket item like the PlayStation 5 from a reseller unless you can meet them in person for the transaction. And even then, it’s still a risky business.
If you do plan on meeting up with a reseller, make sure to do in a public place. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office offers multiple locations that the agency considers “safe transaction zones.”
However, if you can hold out a little longer, Stephens said you’ll save money and your sanity if you buy it directly from a reputable source.