Players looking to get their hands on either the PS5 or the Xbox Series X have found this task easier said than done. Retailers around the globe have steadily attempted to restock their inventory of both consoles since their respective launches, however, sites like Walmart continue to crash with such an inflated amount of traffic. Now it seems that UK retailer CEX has an alternate plan to restock, rather than waiting on Microsoft to send it more Xbox Series X’s: buying them directly from players at an increased rate.
Players in the UK looking to make a little profit off of their Xbox Series X can take it to CEX, where the retailer is guaranteeing £550 in either cash or a store voucher if it’s still in the box. This is an increase of about £100 from the Series X’s retail price of £449. And while this may seem to be beneficial to all parties involved, with players making money off of the transaction and CEX receiving more Series X units to sell to customers, the individuals losing in this scenario are players wishing to purchase an Xbox Series X from CEX.
While CEX is paying players more than they initially paid for the Xbox Series X, the UK retailer is then attempting to sell said consoles at a high markup. CEX is asking for £690 for Microsoft’s new console, nearly £240 more than the original retail value. To put this into perspective, this means that CEX is asking players to spend about $917 USD for a console when it was likely previously owned.
This sort of sales behavior seems unusual for a retailer, and overall seems like a tactic used by scalpers. While scalpers have been a source of frustration with console launches in the past, the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X seems to have exacerbated the issue, with some asking for thousands of dollars online in exchange for Series X consoles. This is likely due to the combination of the Xbox Series X’s original retail price being so high, as well as the limited stock available due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
The unfortunate news is that it seems that some players will likely spend the extra money in order to secure an Xbox Series X. With Black Friday coming soon and other major retailers like GameStop stating that it will only have a limited quantity of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, some parents might be more willing to spend and extra £240 just so they can guarantee their child a good Christmas. It seems that CEX has no problem with this, and this behavior will likely only encourage scalpers in the future.
The Xbox Series X is available now.
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