UK scalper boss on PS5 and Xbox Series X: ‘it’s a luxury, okay?’
Consumers already face a third Christmas without a new console and the head of a scalper business sees little issue with what he’s doing.
It’s only January, but all the signs point to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S remaining scarce for the rest of the year. Not only is the global chip shortage believed to last until 2023, but scalping continues to be a serious problem.
Ever since the two consoles launched in 2020, people were already managing to snap them up in bulk, with the express purpose of selling them online at inflated prices.
In an interview with Sky News, one Jack Bayliss, who runs a scalping/reselling business called Aftermarket Arbitrage, has defended his work, saying it is no different to the stock market.
‘If you look at the stock market, and the moment you see an arbitrage opportunity, where someone thinks an asset is undervalued, traders are gonna jump on it and arbitrage that profit away. That’s exactly what we’re doing,’ said the 24-year-old.
Aside from its own reselling, Aftermarket Arbitrage allows and encourages others to do the same. By paying a £30 subscription fee every month, you get access to a stock tracker that informs you of when certain highly demanded items are available for purchase.
Apparently, the majority of subscribers are very young, with Bayliss describing them as entrepreneurs. He adds that older members have managed to make enough money to quit their jobs, pay off their debts, and spend more time with their families.
‘We’ve had people who’ve been able to renovate their house, they bought the kids a climbing frame, they bought the wives new cars, they bought themselves new cars,’ he said.
‘We’ve then had one of our members, he was £20,000 in gambling debt. And we’ve took him on. He’s
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