![]() In February, data engineer Michael Discroll posted a series of reports on the scalping marker, noting that at the time, 10-15% of all PS5s in the United States have been resold with scalpers estimated at the time to have amassed $43.2 million in profit. Take a look at the prices of PlayStation 5s, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch OLED consoles on third-party reseller sites like eBay and you’ll get the idea (and this doesn’t even take into account that some of these listings might be scams in their entirety). Scalpers have also taken the opportunity to use bots to try and jack up the price of highly desirable and hard-to-find items. Not even the Bots Act of 2016 can help, as it only outlawed bots from being programmed to purchase digital tickets other purchases are mostly fair game. ![]() What’s more, these shopping bots are legally allowed in the US to perform these specific tasks. This is why you might have seen some retailers put up inventory for a PS5, and the stock sells out instantly. If this sounds deeply unfair to the average consumer, it is. Bots have become so desirable over the last year, particularly as a tool to get the latest consoles, that there are communities dedicated to teaching newbies to create them. The second a restock happens, whether it was announced by the retailer or executed surreptitiously, bots are programmed to immediately purchase on your behalf, bypassing any hassle of a page crashing. There are a few different types of shopping bots, but the most common one is aimed at purchasing high-demand products automatically by keeping tabs on a litany of web pages. ![]() Shopping bots, (commonly referred to as bots), take advantage of this, using an automated system that keeps tabs on a slew of website pages for retailers once a specific product has been restocked. In 2021, it makes sense that Xbox Series X consoles and PS5s are being sold primarily online. Over the years, bots have become a growing issue as retailers have moved from brick-and-mortar shops to an online model. There are several contributing factors at play here, including the global chip shortage which has impacted every industry. ![]()
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