The PS5 is in stock at Walmart… kind of. In an effort to compete with Amazon, Walmart has allowed sellers to set up storefronts on its website in order to sell their products. It turns out that some of those products are PS5 consoles selling for far more than their retail market value, with the PS5 disc version currently listed for over $1000 and the digital going for a hefty $899.
If you visit Walmart’s site and search for a PlayStation 5, you’ll be directed to a couple of pages showing the console currently available for purchase. However, this isn’t a fresh restock of PlayStation 5 consoles from Walmart itself. These are resellers attempting to move the console at far above the $399 and $499 retail values for the digital and disc editions respectively.
The disc edition is being sold for just over $1,093 from two sellers, one called Nationwide Distributor and the other called Discount Tech (the irony of the latter’s name is not lost on us). If you should opt for the slightly less expensive digital edition, you’re going to be forking over $899 to Nationwide Distributor for that one. Both are selling for more than double the suggested retail price of the console from Sony.
Curiously, not even Amazon is allowing these kinds of egregious upcharges for the console on its site. Searching for a PS5 on Amazon simply brings up a page that shows “Currently Unavailable,” rather than leasing out the space to resellers looking to make an extra few hundred bucks on the low stock and high demand. Most other scalpers are limited to selling via other dedicated resale websites like ebay.
The PS5 shortages have impacted sales of the console since launch in November 2020, making it very difficult to find for most people. Many restocks are swept up within minutes by eager fans looking to get their hands on the systems, as well as bots and scalpers that will go on to resell that inventory at a markup later. The shortages are expected to continue throughout the year and into 2022, making it an exercise in patience for anyone who wants to snag one for themselves. This is leaving fans either waiting to get lucky during a restock, or paying a premium to resellers in order to guarantee the console for themselves.
Have you picked up a PS5 for yourself? Did you manage to get one at retail price, or did you pick one up from a scalper? Head on down to the comments below and let us know.
(Thanks to Yowzagabowza for the tip on this story!)