Scalper Problem?

[timothmurph85]

when are you guys ever gonna do something about your blatant enabling of scalpers profiting off of your platform? do lawmakers have to get involved?

I understand msrp of digital products being slightly higher due to shortages but +150% over msrp?!

that’s unbelievable and throughout all of the beginning of the pandemic till now, guess who’s been the mecca of scalpers?

when playstations and xbox got scalped guess where they were sold?

when Nvidia and AMD Graphics Cards were scalped guess where they were sold?

a 700 dollar item should by no means become 2,000 dollars.

I see no reason why buyers of scalped items and platforms they’re sold on allow scalping. 

do better ebay. atleast make it break TOS in some manner.

ebay was the same place where people were selling scalped hand sanitizer and toilet paper when people needed it most.

are your executives or wherever changes TOS just gonna act like that wasn’t a thing?

[downunder-61]

Oh dear, did someone miss out on the latest PS5 that is essential to the quality of their life ?

If the price is too high on here - be patient and wait for the next release and buy if from the stores.

I can list any item I like at $5,000.00 - doesn't mean I will be lucky enough to find a fool who will pay that

[chapeau-noir]

What gets me is all of these things - playstations, xbox, etc., are toys.  That's all - toys.

[terrycece62]

Just Keep shopping around until you find a price you can live with.

although it may take a while, prices will come down.

Sellers are free to ask anything they want for their items (even higher prices than some people think are fair) which IS NOT scalping

LOL

[wildpitchsports]

Those graphic cards are in short supply due to Bitcoin and other miners in the crypto space. Scalping has been going on with toys etc since..Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s?

Helium crypto miners retail at around $500. People get them and then put them on here for almost $2,000. Why do people pay? They don't want to wait six months for one directly.

In the sports & pokemon card world, scalpers buy boxes for $25 at Walmart and sell them upwards of $100+ for a premium product.

Squishmallows too  - people raid Target & Walgreens buy large ones for $30 and flip them here in some instances near $200 each.

That's what is called secondary market. My advice is to get something you can live with until the prices come back down and they always will.

[soh.maryl]

Of course, I am aware of what happened in ancient Rome.

Was merely trying to point out to the OP that he might be exaggerating just a bit.

[soh.maryl]

"end of discussion".

Not necessarily. 

[terrycece62]

Unfortunately @buyselljack2016 It  appears for some Xbox users this discussion will not be over until they get what they want.

[maxine*j]

Scalping applies only to the resale of event tickets, and laws against it are not universal and do vary from state to state.  So "scalping" does not apply to any of the items you mention.

Gouging refers only to the resale of the essentials of life during a government-declared emergency.  So "gouging" does not apply to anything you mention. 

The resale of everything else is based on a free market response to supply and demand. 

 What you're suggesting is that eBay engage in price fixing with its sellers.  Here's what the Federal Trade commission has to say about that:  "When consumers make choices about what products and services to buy, they expect that the price has been determined freely on the basis of supply and demand... Accordingly, price fixing is a major concern of government antitrust enforcement."

So you're asking eBay to violate federal law so that you can get a better price on toys, gadgets, gizmos, things that no human being on earth actually needs.  🙄

=
 

[b86fiero]

In the past many manufacturers of desirable items limited the number a person or business could purchase in order to ensure an adequate supply was available across the country.

Unfortunately it often seems America has become the land of greed.

[*_forum_id_*]

There is a difference between a Scalper and Price Gouging.   eBay did get involved in price gouging of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, etc.     I am not sure they will get involved in electronics that are not standard, everyday items people need.

[7606dennis]

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@*_forum_id_* wrote:

There is a difference between a Scalper and Price Gouging.   eBay did get involved in price gouging of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, etc.     I am not sure they will get involved in electronics that are not standard, everyday items people need.

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I would tend to doubt that they would considering it might draw the attention of the government with regards to the Sherman Anti Trust Act.  Of course, you're correct about there being a difference between Scalping & Price Gouging.

[krazzykats]

Cryptominers are selling off masses of used Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPUs

https://www.techradar.com/news/cryptominers-are-flogging-masses-of-used-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-gpus 

Most used cards have been running,  24/7. 

Then you have:

Best mining GPU 2021: The best graphics card for Bitcoin and Ethereum 

So it's really the gamers vs. the crypto miners.

[buyselljack2016]

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@*_forum_id_* wrote:

There is a difference between a Scalper and Price Gouging.   eBay did get involved in price gouging of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, etc.     I am not sure they will get involved in electronics that are not standard, everyday items people need.

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Well, unfortunately they actually did get into trying to control the pricing of "non-essentials".

There were some threads/posts about it. I'm sure many of the regular viewers here remember it.

What I would call attempted "price fixing".

Seems that they stopped. Perhaps on the advice of there legal advisors.

[bashort]

I liked how Amazon handles this, they are very strict about overcharging buyers and will suspend sellers in a minute if Amazon thinks that you are price gouging.

Then after they have removed the scalpers Amazon does the exact same thing with no competition.

[bashort]

How about the Federal government create the department of price gouging, that should fix it.