PS5 restock help — use these tips to get an edge

News
By Shabana Arif
published

Increase your chances of getting a PS5 with tips for every retailer

PS5 restock
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

After a slow start to the month, PS5 restock is finally coming alive. Walmart and Sony Direct are just a handful of retailers who have offered console drops this week and we're expecting all new PS5 restock soon. 

However, even with an increase in restocks, securing a PS5 console hasn't gotten any easier. Perseverance is the key takeaway here, but if you follow these PS5 restock tips for Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, GameStop and more, you should be able to pick up a new PS5 during the next restock event. 

PlayStation Direct PS5 restock

Buying a PS5 directly from Sony via PlayStation Direct is a bit of a chore. The website has potential customers join a waiting room and a queue before the PS5 restock drops, which can understandably cause frustration. 

To avoid disappointment, PS5StockAlerts advises clearing your cache to get into the waiting room, and to try your luck with multiple private tabs, devices and web browsers. If you make it into the waiting room before the countdown ends, you'll be randomly assigned a place in the queue.

If you're seeing a message telling you there's more than an hour wait, don't be disheartened. That's the standard message everyone sees. You'll have to enter CAPTCHA, too, so be careful you don't rush through and get misidentified as a robot. 

Buying a PS5 direct from Sony is the most time-consuming option, but as always, we recommend trying your luck with all retailers until you succeed. 

Amazon PS5 restock

Amazon is a great place to pick up a PS5, especially as the PlayStation 5 isn't region locked. As long as you can get it shipped to your address through the retailer, shipping forwarder, or friends and family abroad, you can buy the PS5 from pretty much anywhere. 

We're taking for granted that you have an account with your payment and shipping details saved — if not, get that sorted out as a priority. Also check that you're buying from Amazon and not a third-party reseller who may have jacked up the price.

Add the PS5 standard or PS5 Digital Edition to your Amazon wishlist, and when the restock is live, move the console from your wishlist to your basket with the 'add to cart' button. If you've tried to buy the PS5 through Amazon before, you'll be familiar with glitches like the the PS5 disappearing from your basket, so this way, you can quickly and easily add it back in.

In this instance, it doesn't make any difference if you use the Amazon app or website, but you can maximize your chances by trying to get through checkout using both. And don't be put off if you see the PS5 go out of stock while you're there. It's a mad frenzy when the PS5 restock happens, so you may have to hang around for 30 minutes to an hour doggedly adding it to your cart before you succeed. Keep at it!

Best Buy PS5 restock

PS5

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Setting up an account with payment details and a shipping address is your first port of call. Bear in mind that Best Buy isn't delivering PS5 consoles at the moment, despite the ordering process taking place online. If you order a PS5, you'll need to pick up in-store.

Best Buy also has an app, and while the website has the advantage over the app, it doesn't hurt to download it and try checking out on there while you're battling through to the checkout on your web browser.

PS5 stock tracker Jake Randall recommends refreshing the Best Buy PS5 standard or PS5 Digital Edition product pages until you see the yellow 'add to cart' button, or grey 'please wait' button. If you see the latter, do not refresh the page. Be patient and wait for the button to change to 'add to cart'.

Once you're able to add it to your cart, you may see a message stating that the PS5 is no longer in stock. If that's the case, you'll need to choose a location that has the system in stock. Randall notes that if the PS5 is showing as completely out of stock, leave that page as it is, with the PS5 in your cart. Open a new page, and repeat the process until you see the 'add to cart' button show up, then flit back over to the first page you had open and try again with choosing the location.

Best Buy, like some other retailers, releases its PS5 stock in waves, so hanging around and sinking some time into the purchasing process is likely to pay off as more stock drops, and the competition peters off as people lose patience. 

The retailer will also prompt you to enter a code that it can send out via email or text. Always choose text, so make sure that your phone number is linked to your Best Buy account. Text alerts are instant, and speed is of the essence. You don't want to lose the code in your spam folder! 

Target PS5 restock

As always, set up an account with your payment details and shipping address. Target is offering store pick-up, as well as delivery, but if you want to get ahead of everyone else, your best bet is to opt for collection. It's also worth noting that Target releases consoles in waves, and will drop the PS5 standard edition and PS5 Digital edition in separate waves. The retailer doesn't communicate this, so stick around for a while after the PS5 restock goes live, and keep refreshing.  

Jake Randall also suggests setting up payment options like PayPal, Apple Pay or RedCard. The advantage here is that these payment options will essentially take you to a different server to process the payment. The Target website will be inundated when its PS5 restock goes live, so this will circumvent that issue. PayPal is the recommended method over Apple Pay, and RedCard is next up if those two aren't options.   

Target has an app, so try to checkout on both the website and the app if possible. If you manage to add the PS5 to your cart on one, you might want to switch over to the other to get through checkout. As long as you're logged in, it'll keep track of your cart contents. 

At checkout, you can edit the location to a store that has PS5 stock if your local one is all out. In some circumstances, Target won't let you progress through checkout after changing locations. If that happens, clear your cookies and give it another go.  

Walmart PS5 restock

The first thing to do is — you guessed it — set up an account with payment details and shipping address. Walmart has an app, so download that, too. The retailer is offering shipment for its PS5 consoles, and while the lead time can be anywhere up to four weeks, it often will be with you before then. So don't let the weeks-long wait put you off.

Walmart PS5 restocks usually go live at 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET, which it sometimes notifies customers about in advance. If you're on the site when the stock drops, the product page may quickly show the console as sold out, or tell you the next drop is in 10 minutes or so. If you see this message, just keep refreshing the page on the site until the 'add to cart' option is available again.  

With Walmart, the app is your friend. It'll let you repeatedly mash the 'add to cart' button which you can't get away with on the website as it refreshes every time, losing you precious seconds. Have your cart open in your browser and switch over as soon as you manage to get a PS5 into your cart on the app. 

Once the console is in your cart, if it says the PS5 is out of stock with a time displayed for the next stock drop, wait until the clock hits the designated time. Give it a few seconds, then hit checkout, and you should be able to kick off the checkout process.

The last tip, which is a weird one, is that affiliate links seem to give more success than visiting the website directly. You can either use the links here for the PS5 standard and PS5 Digital Edition, or get there some other way, but that's your best bet.  

Shabana Arif
Shabana Arif

Shabana is T3's News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). As well as contributing to Tom's Guide, she's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies.