Monday, July 19th 2021
Scalpers Already "Offering" the Steam Deck for $5,000 on eBay
Valve's Steam Deck announcement took the gaming world by storm last week, as the announcement of a Valve-designed portable gaming console packing an AMD Zen 2 CPU with RDNA2 cores set collective imaginations on fire. However, as is the case for any recent gaming hardware launches, expect the Steam Deck to be hard to come by - demand for a mainstream portable, Switch-like console that promises to enable AAA-gaming on the go is apparently sky-high, despite the fact that some portable devices exploring the same concept have been available for a while now, such as the AYA Neo (which even packs two extra Zen 2 cores) and the Intel-based One XPlayer.
As is the case for any recent hardware launch that garners enough mainstream attention (looking at you, current-gen GPUs and consoles), a lopsided demand-supply ratio is a playground for unscrupulous types looking to make a profit at the expense of other people's impatience. And it sure is happening already - eBay listings for "pre-order confirmed" Steam Deck variants are already being set at €4,324 (roughly $4,989) - though we'd say they're tentatively set at that ludicrous pricing. It seems that the current median asking price sits around the $900 mark for the 512 GB SSD-equipped variant. Tentative or not, this just goes to show that the new normal is for launched products to be actively gauged for scalping practices - more now than ever before.
Source:
eBay
As is the case for any recent hardware launch that garners enough mainstream attention (looking at you, current-gen GPUs and consoles), a lopsided demand-supply ratio is a playground for unscrupulous types looking to make a profit at the expense of other people's impatience. And it sure is happening already - eBay listings for "pre-order confirmed" Steam Deck variants are already being set at €4,324 (roughly $4,989) - though we'd say they're tentatively set at that ludicrous pricing. It seems that the current median asking price sits around the $900 mark for the 512 GB SSD-equipped variant. Tentative or not, this just goes to show that the new normal is for launched products to be actively gauged for scalping practices - more now than ever before.
32 Comments on Scalpers Already "Offering" the Steam Deck for $5,000 on eBay
please be sensible and don't pay that ridiculous price just because it's new and sought after product.
Scalpers never stop being greedy and I hate them for it. They hurt other people with there greedy Ness and prevent people who would actually use one, to get one. By being the corse of or at least a helping factor to price skyrocket up.
Scalpers sucks, period:nutkick:
I'm the green one and yellow is a dirty greedy scalper.
This smells like a ToS violation, but eBay's "Presale" listing practice is incredibly vague and likely not useful here for removing these listings.
Best practice if you want a Steam Deck is just purchase the reservation still. You may be fairly far back in line but you won't be 2.5-10x the cost of the device to maybe-sorta-have-a-chance your eBay gamble gets you a device.
Also the wording on some of these listings...
So if dudeman doesn't get the thing, you get bent. 6-12 months after you buy one of these "pre-orders" you're stuffed if they don't deliver.
They're way above MSRP and clearly scalpers.
Which means if you see this:
You can fairly report that listing under Listing Practices > Inappropriate Seller Terms > Presale, as the delivery window on the listing is not correctly adjusted for the wait period before the item will be ready to ship to the buyer (a wait period exceeding 30 days regardless). This also means the buyer is protected by the Money Back Guarantee policy when the item obviously doesn't arrive before 30 days after purchase, as the devices will still not even be released yet. So that's comforting.
Report away friends!Ah we hit enter at almost the exact same time!
Any and all silicon supply is constrained for at least a year longer, so scalpers will continue to exploit that situation.
A lot of cool tech has been released recently, I know. But please guys, do not feed the scalpers. Buy the Steam Deck at or reasonably near its MSRP only.
Perfect example:
You think those chicks texting someone for instructions are PC enthusiasts?
I may purchase one in a year or may wait for the updated model with a Zen 3 apu eventually.
Anyway, only a retard and their money will soon be parted.
Hopefully steam will see the dungstorm coming and prepare accordingly.