The overwhelming demand for PS5 restock is thanks in large part to scalpers buying up stock to sell at a ridiculous mark-up, but unfortunately, now legitimate retailers are getting in on the resale game.
As reported by TechRadar, there's a selection of PS5 bundles that start from $899 and go up to as much as $1,129 that are currently available at Sears. There are also several bundles that include the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, with similarly sizable price tags.
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These bundles are mostly filled with undesirable products including silicone controller skins, no-name-brand headsets, unofficial controller charging docks and some of them even come with PS4 games instead of actual PS5 games.
What’s most egregious about these bundles is that they have a quite considerable mark-up. Doing some crude maths we can estimate that these bundles shouldn’t cost more than $650, yet most of them are being sold for north of $1,000.
It’s important to note that the bundles aren’t being sold directly by Sears, but instead, the listings come from a third-party seller. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing to see a major retailer allowing its marketplace to be used by essentially scalpers looking to exploit the current PS5 stock shortage for profit.
Unfortunately, PS5 restocks seem to be actually becoming less frequent in recent weeks, likely due to the worsening global chip shortage, so it’ll probably be a while yet before we no longer see unscrupulous sellers trying to cash in on people’s desire for a PS5.
If you’re still desperately hunting for one of Sony’s next-gen gaming machines then don’t cave and buy ripoff bundles, bookmark our PS5 restock guide and we’ll alert you when there’s a restock so you don’t have to pay more than the going rate.
PS5 stock tracker
- Walmart: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 18)
- Best Buy: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 26)
- GameStop: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock April 6)
- Amazon: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition
- Dell: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 31)
- Target: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 31)
- Sony: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 23)
- Newegg: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 23)
- Adorama: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition | Bundles
- Costco: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock March 26)
- Antonline: PS5 | PS5 Digital Edition (last restock April 6)
Bundles don’t have to be bad
It’s important to note that just because a retailer bundles the PS5 with other items, doesn’t necessarily mean they are attempting to scalp you.
Retailers like GameStop, Antonline, and Costco are all quite fond of offering bundles during PS5 restock, but the key difference here is that these retailers don’t exploit the PS5 shortage the same way third party resellers do.
There is actually a quite significant benefit to retailers putting PS5 stock in bundles as well. Resellers are less inclined to buy them as they don’t want to be saddled with additional extras like a second DualSense controller or a stack of games that will eat into their profit margins. Making bundles often easier to buy than the console standalone.
So, in summary, bundles can definitely be worth your time, and we’ve seen plenty of bundles we’d recommend purchasing, just make sure you’re not getting conned by sinister third-party resellers looking to make a quick buck.
