Over the past year, console resellers have become about as popular as a fart in a lift. I mean, nobody ever really liked them, but they haven't helped themselves of late.
Selling on hard-to-obtain items at greatly inflated prices is scummy at the best of times, but buying up the limited amount of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles that were actually released in the middle of the pandemic and stopping others from getting one at a fair price? Yeah, that really sucked.
We've heard scalpers openly boasting about much money they've been making over the last few months, which is why I find nothing but pleasure in reporting that PlayStation 5 resellers are now starting to lose money.
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According to a new report from Forbes using data provided by "secondary market" StockX (thanks, VGC), resellers are now getting 30% less for PlayStation 5 consoles than they were at launch. They're still making money from their shady pursuits, but not as much as they were. I'll take what I can get, to be honest.
The report goes on to claim that the number of consoles being sold has held steady, but the prices paid are declining. Meanwhile, Xbox Series X prices appear to be holding because of fewer shortages.
StockX's senior economist Jesse Einhorn told Forbes this is because Series X hasn't been restocked as many times as PlayStation 5 and that "as a result of their relative scarcity, prices on StockX increased".
StockX is a reseller site that was first launched back in 2016, primarily to sell on sneakers at inflated prices. They branched out into hardware in November last year, around the time the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S launched. Earlier this year, StockX claimed it had sold over 130,000 PS5 consoles.
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At their peak, PlayStation 5 consoles were being sold for around $1000 on StockX, but have since fallen to about $700. Lets hope that trend continues, eh?
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: News, PlayStation