Xbox and playstation console scalpers - why is eBay allowing scumbags to exploit kids toys

[proservau]

Dear eBay

If I recall correctly many years ago when scalpers tried to take advantage of consumers during iphone shortages you put a ban on those scalper listings or presale listings? there are now hundreds of scalpers selling thousands of consoles way over RRP most who are not legitimately acquiring them, as they obviously have contacts in the supply chain and snatching them up before legitimate customers get a chance to buy them.

So my question is eBay - why are you letting filthy rotten scalpers exploit children's toys on eBay??!!!

A message to all the people scalping consoles: in the rankings list of scum out there, you are somewhere between thieves and pedo's, scalping kits toys puts you in the bucket of lowlife scum of the Earth! 

[proservau]

PS Lots of people are getting very angry about this, it has been going on for too long, and it will eventually get into the main stream media and eBay cannot hide the fact it is facilitating scumbag scalpers and profiting from the exploitation of children toys, that will not be a very nice headline. 

[sandypebbles]

eBay do not read here

This is a member to member forum

Lovely of you to accuse the members here of the behaviour that you do

eBay is for people over 18, why are people allowing their kids to use it in the first place?

And how about a thank you to the parents knowingly buying at over inflated scalper prices instead of saying no to a child's demand/tantrum to be granted a toy at any cost, if people did not buy, guess what, these 'scalpers' would soon look pretty jolly stupid 

I hope the media also point out the people allowing their children to use ebay (in which case what other over 18's websites are they allowing their child to use where there really are pedos)

And that the adults are facilitating these scalpers and teaching their child to do the same?

[p9games]

1. Games consoles are not 'kids' toys.  They are used widely by teens, adults and kids.  They are as ubiquitous as most other consumer electronic items

2. Chip shortages and supply chain constraints are real.  A product's price will increase as the equilibrium between supply and demand is found.  Ebay as a market place facilitates this.  It's how markets work.  If a person decides to take a risk to source product and sell it at the MARKET DETERMINED equilibrium that that's entirely their prerogative

3. RRP is irrelevant.  The market decides the price.  Savvy sellers will adjust prices to maximise profits and sell at the market price.  When there is a glut in supply that means selling below RRP.  If there are shortages you might be able to sell above RRP.  RRP is an artificial construct.  Manufacturers don't determine price the market does.  

4. Attacking sellers as filthy scalpers is unnecessary 

If you're selling playstations and have no supply then get out there and hussle for it.  You're being outcompeted by hungrier sellers and that's on you. 

[jellybirddesigns]

If people pay over the odds, then that's their problem.

Sellers are allowed to make profits - after all, that's the point, right?

There is no law saying that a seller must limit how much profit they allowed to make on ANYTHING they are selling, whether it be a PS5, or an office chair. Ebay is literally a free market.

You have no idea of how sellers are getting hold of these items, and you're making a lot of assumptions with zero evidence.

You say that they are being snapped up before legitimate customers get hold of them. Well, anyone who buys something on Ebay IS a legitimate customer. They simply paid more for the same thing, that's all.

By the way - with the current supply chain issues - did you know that many second hand cars are now selling for more than they were at their original price? When there's a shortage and a subsequent pent up demand, prices will always rise. Look at real estate. Same thing. People are paying higher prices for anything they are desperate to get.

[proservau]

1. Games consoles are 'kids' toys.  Many toys are used by both adults and kids, that doesn't change the fact it's a kids toy. I bet you all hate ticket scalpers, you can actually go to jail  now in W.A. for scalping concert or footy tickets, but kids toys scalping you are all OK with it?? I stand by my words, what these people are doing is scummy and lower than a snakes belly and eBay is facilitating it.

2. "Chip shortages and supply chain constraints are real". Well eBay chose to protect adults from scalpers when there was iphone shortage, but they wont protect a kids toy?

3. When people rort supply chains to up-sell on a black market, thats cronyism, not fair trade capitalism. How many people who've sold multiple consoles legitimately acquired them considering there is a max limit of one console on preorders and most xbox retailers wont even take preorders? now that this blackmarket is here,  its just going to snowball, why would staff at any retail store sell to a genuine customer at RRP, when they can shift it on the side and make $300-500 extra on the black market listings on eBay.

4. Sellers exploiting kids should be called out, puzzles me how so many people can defend this disgusting sham, as I mentioned I bet you all hate ticket scalpers, but scalping kids toys you are all ok with it, total double standard if I ever seen it.

[proservau]

Replace the work console with "grand final footy ticket" in your post and then see if it still sounds OK with you? then try to do what all these scalpers are doing with consoles with a grand final footy ticket, in W.A. new laws for ticket scalping means you can now go to jail and $500K fine, why the double standard?

[imastawka]

But the subject is not footy tickets.

A seller on ebay can ask whatever they want for an item.

You, nor anyone else, can dictate what they sell an item for.

If someone wants to buy something that's overpriced, then that's up to them to do their due diligence before buying.

[jellybirddesigns]

@proserve - can you imagine if people thought YOUR items were heavily overpriced because they see the same things in other shops for cheaper.

I don't know what you pay for your stock, but maybe, for example, you pay $300 for one of your cruise control kits that you then pass on for $869 (or whatever). That would be a huge profit, not so? And yet, nobody has the right to tell you what you can price an item for.

Either buyers will purchase, or they won't. Same with the Playstations.