A recent study has shone some light on the extent of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S resale market, with scalpers reportedly making over $28 million in next-gen console profits through eBay.
That’s according to analysis conducted by data engineer Michael Driscoll, who says he wrote a script to scrape all of eBay’s sold listings forPS5andXbox Series X/Sthrough December 1.
The results, which werepublished on Dev, show that over 60,000 next-gen systems were resold through the online marketplace, including 6,863XboxSeries S consoles, 22,932 Xbox Series X consoles, 7,322 PS5 Digital Edition consoles, and 25,642 PS5 consoles.
PlayStation 5 at retail
While Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X have manufacturer’s suggested retail prices of $299 and $499 respectively, their median selling price was $469 for the entry-level model and $865 for the more powerful console, generating over $9 million in profits for scalpers.
PS5 Digital Edition (MSRP $399) had a median selling price of $937, while PS5 (MSRP $499) had a median selling price of $1,021, generating $19 million in profits for resellers.
Another popular online marketplace, StockX, also claimed last week that users hadresold over 60,000 next-gen consolesthrough the site in the month following their launch.
Almost twice as many PS5 consoles had been resold as Xbox Series X/S consoles, according to StockX senior economist Jesse Einhorn.
Xbox Series X/S at retail
It’s been suggested that PS5 and Xbox Series X/S shortages arebeing partly driven by scalper groupsusing software to automatically buy consoles as they come in stock.
One such group, CrepChiefNotify, claims to have obtainedover 5,000 next-gen consolesto resell for profit over the past month.
In a statement issued in November, it defended its actions and claimed that many of its members who were struggling financially could now “put food on the table” thanks to profits made from flipping consoles.
Best Buy will be offering PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consolesfor sale online this Tuesday, December 15.
UK retailers including Argos and Smyths have said they nowdon’t expect to receive any more PS5 stock until 2021, although they’re hopefully of getting more Xbox Series X/S consoles this month.
