A PlayStation 5 has appeared at Amazon at an obscene price, amid a new rush for stock of the console.
The console was being sold for £1,075 – apparently taking advantage of the interest and lack of supply to drive up prices.
The consoles are not being sold directly but by someone identifying themselves as “Christmas Console”. As such, the purchase might not come with the same conditions that Amazon usually applies to products it sells itself.
But the highly-priced listings were the first to show up when searching for “PS5” on Amazon, meaning that customers could easily be taken in by the listings and charged well above the £350 or £450 retail price.
Such considerable mark-ups are not rare. Resellers have made substantial amounts of money by using automated systems to buy the consoles in bulk and then sell them on at inflated prices on the grey market, using online shopping services.
The high prices at Amazon come as fan turn to other retailers such as Very and Game, amid rumours that significant amounts of new stock could be arriving on Tuesday.
Such restocks tend to come with little to no official warning, in small amounts, and at unpredictable times. That has left fans eagerly awaiting any kind of update, in the hope they can beat other fans – and the significant number of automated systems set up to buy any consoles that do appear – to actually get hold of the PS5.
Many have voiced their frustration with the process, with some saying they will opt out of the rush entirely and wait until reliable amounts of stock are available at retailers.
