Xbox opened pre-orders for its Series X25 console on Thursday. If you’re only just learning that and you planned on picking one up, sorry, it’s already too late. Despite the $900 price tag, the X25 console sold out in minutes, and it seems that, once again, scalpers are at least partly to blame.
Within minutes of Series X25 pre-orders going live on the Xbox website, the console was unavailable. Not because there was a technical problem, but because they had sold out. Pre-orders went live at various third-party retailers shortly after, including Amazon and Best Buy, but those were all quickly snapped up too.
As always when it comes to limited edition items like this, scalpers are to blame. That is already evident from the listings that cropped up on resale sites before Xbox even had the chance to slap a “Sold Out” sign on its virtual storefront. And if you thought $900 for a six-year-old console was bad, wait until you see what scalpers trying to turn a profit from them are asking for.
Up until a few minutes ago, a Series X25 was listed on eBay for almost $3,500. That one has since disappeared, hopefully because Xbox is trying to crack down on the consoles being scalped and resold for more than three times the price. Wishful thinking, perhaps, as other listings for almost that much are still live.
Right now, the highest asking price for a Series X25 on eBay is $2949.54 when you factor in delivery fees, so more than triple the already very expensive MSRP they paid for it. If that’s a little too much for you, there’s a second listing that’s trying to offload an X25 console for just $2164.41. An absolute bargain compared to the chancer above, but still significantly more than it would have cost you to buy two of these things had you only exhibited superhuman speed and bought one before the scalpers beat you to it.
The matching controllers, which can be bought separately and also sold out in record time, are being scalped too. $79.99 if you managed to snag one from the source, but resellers are charging as much as twice that on eBay. One scalper is asking for over $200 for the controller.
Aside from the fact that you should never resort to buying from scalpers, especially when they’re charging extortionate amounts like these, there are some caveats to consider. One is that they technically aren’t selling you the console. All they are claiming to have done is secured a pre-order. That means, not only will you not get the console until it’s released, you’ll actually be waiting even longer since it will have to be shipped to the original buyer before they can then forward it on to you.
The other, more important factor at play is that this is unlikely to be your only chance at owning an X25 console. There will almost certainly be more available when the console is released on November 13. At the very least, wait until then to see if you can buy one for $900 instead of $3,000.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-series-x25-pre-orders-sold-out-scalpers/
