Scalpers Already "Offering" the Steam Deck for $5,000 on eBay

[Raevenlord]

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.



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[Chomiq]

At new preorders are already getting "Q1 2022" delivery dates.

 

[Hyderz]

doesn't bother me, ive got a desktop and laptop to run steam games. i might pick one up at a much later date if valve continues to make them.
please be sensible and don't pay that ridiculous price just because it's new and sought after product.

 

[Tomgang]

Those greedy bastards are at it again. This time will not effect me. But have been effected by scalpers on the gpu market and others by the console marked for example ps5.

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
I'm the green one and yellow is a dirty greedy scalper.

 

[Fouquin]

How could any of these people know their pre-order is confirmed? Valve did not sell any pre-orders. They sold you a reservation ticket to access the ordering queue when devices are shipping. It could be cancelled at any time, or you could be left out of the first draw on inventory, or you could miss the order window and the reservation lapses.

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.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

all these listings on eBay, Amazon and other sites are just JPG images being google searched, not even the actual product box or the unit being shown. Literal scams from scalpers who don't even have them in their garage or temporary storage houses that they rent.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Why doesn't ebay ban these users and remove such listings?

They're way above MSRP and clearly scalpers.

 

[Fouquin]

all these listings on eBay, Amazon and other sites are just JPG images being google searched, not even the actual product box or the unit being shown. Literal scams from scalpers who don't even have them in their garage or temporary storage houses that they rent.

It's pretty hard to have the item when only prototypes exist, and production has barely just begun.

 

[kayjay010101]

all these listings on eBay, Amazon and other sites are just JPG images being google searched, not even the actual product box or the unit being shown. Literal scams from scalpers who don't even have them in their garage or temporary storage houses that they rent.

They're obviously selling their place in the pre-order queue, not the actual product today.

 

[Chomiq]

How could any of these people know their pre-order is confirmed? Valve did not sell any pre-orders. They sold you a reservation ticket to access the ordering queue when devices are shipping. It could be cancelled at any time, or you could be left out of the first draw on inventory, or you could miss the order window and the reservation lapses.

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...

View attachment 208791

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.

In that case any listing that mentions "pre-order" should reported to Ebay:

• Presale listings must guarantee that the item will be posted within 30 days of purchase
• The date the item will be available to post must be clearly stated in the listing
• Listings must clearly indicate in the title and description that the item is being offered for presale
• Handling time details should include the time the seller will wait to acquire the item, in addition to the time it will take to post to the buyer

Example:

 

[Fouquin]

Actually I take back what I said, eBay's Presale terms do warrant reporting these listings on two terms:

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!

In that case any listing that mentions "pre-order" should reported to Ebay:

Example:
View attachment 208794

Ah we hit enter at almost the exact same time!

 

[P4-630]

F*ck them scalpers.

 

[Chrispy_]

Scalpers will continue to be a problem for as long as there are supply problems.

Any and all silicon supply is constrained for at least a year longer, so scalpers will continue to exploit that situation.

 

[Rithsom]

Scalpers will continue to be a problem for as long as there are supply problems.

Any and all silicon supply is constrained for at least a year longer, so scalpers will continue to exploit that situation.

...and scalpers will continue to be a problem as long as there are morons who are willing to pay scalper prices...

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.

 

[Chomiq]

Scalpers will continue to be a problem for as long as there are supply problems.

Any and all silicon supply is constrained for at least a year longer, so scalpers will continue to exploit that situation.

They tested the waters with GPU's and people bought from them. Expect any next big announcement to be flooded by scalpers, even if supply improves.

...and scalpers will continue to be a problem as long as there are morons who are willing to pay scalper prices...

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.

This. Buy it from Steam, since there won't be any 3rd party resellers for them.

 

[RedelZaVedno]

I get scalper's mentality, greed has always been with us, but I don't understand today's consumers. People would send you to a shrink if you'd try to sell them a console or a dGPU for 2-10 fold the MSRP just 2 decades ago and now that's kind of normal. Something is seriously wrong with today's retail buyers. Is instant gratification syndrome, FOMO, brainwashing or something else to blame?

 

[freeagent]

Every single person who bought something from a scalper during the pandemic is to blame for this. You just enabled them for the sake of benchmarks, games, or mining, or to have something at a time when most others couldn’t. Hope you feel better

 

[Chomiq]

I mean, it's a great way to launder money. Just show up at a queue, buy the damn thing for cash and sell it off on ebay for profit.

Perfect example:

18:35
You think those chicks texting someone for instructions are PC enthusiasts?

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Ebay needs a kick in the nuts

 

[Colddecked]

I get scalper's mentality, greed has always been with us, but I don't understand today's consumers. People would send you to a shrink if you'd try to sell them a console or a dGPU for 2-10 fold the MSRP just 2 decades ago and now that's kind of normal. Something is seriously wrong with today's retail buyers. Is instant gratification syndrome, FOMO, brainwashing or something else to blame?

Instant gratification/YOLO for sure.

Ebay needs a kick in the nuts

Ebay's purpose is resellilng, don't look to them for answers. At this point, demand is going to have to slow down ALOT as well as supply being flooded before we get back to MSRP. Unfortunately at this point we need a crash...

 

[Makaveli]

doesn't bother me, ive got a desktop and laptop to run steam games. i might pick one up at a much later date if valve continues to make them.
please be sensible and don't pay that ridiculous price just because it's new and sought after product.

Same for me.

I may purchase one in a year or may wait for the updated model with a Zen 3 apu eventually.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Instant gratification/YOLO for sure.



Ebay's purpose is resellilng, don't look to them for answers. At this point, demand is going to have to slow down ALOT as well as supply being flooded before we get back to MSRP. Unfortunately at this point we need a crash...

All they have to do is only allow item in hand sales.

 

[qubit]

I so hate scalpers.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I hear ebay is pulling these sales as the pop up due to them exceeding the 30-day preorder limit, since these things aren't available for 4+ months. But I haven't checked if they actually are.

Anyway, only a retard and their money will soon be parted.

 

[Colddecked]

All they have to do is only allow item in hand sales.

Yeah, they need to enforce the rules they have in place, for sure.