It's no secret that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are being aggressively scalped. It's almost impossible to buy one without paying upwards of $800, and they've been sold out everywhere for much longer than any console I can remember. Even the PS2 eventually got out there eventually.
Clearly, "supply shortages" aren't the issue, as Sony's already sold more than 10 million of these things (I imagine most of them went to scalpers).
However, what is surprising me is the apparent scalping of the PS4 and Xbox One. Those haven't exactly been on the shelves either, and unless you're looking to go a bit on the sketchy side with some used systems, you're looking to pay at least $100 more than retail. Obviously we're getting nearer to Christmas, but at the same time, why are the previous generation systems being scalped? Are people hoping to trick people into thinking they're getting the next gen systems? Entirely possible on the Xbox end, given their bad naming conventions, but aside from that, it just seems bonkers that the previous generation is being sold out as as well.
Oddly, it seems the only thing you can get in stores or online at MSRP is the Switch, despite that system selling great as well. I'm sure Nintendo's happy with the situation, effectively being the only system available for the holiday, but it seems like such a bonkers situation compared to previous generations.
Of course, it's not much better on the PC end, and hasn't been for a long time. Crypto mining has led to the dearth of availability for GPUs in the market, and even older cards are selling at a premium, owing to the lack of cards on the market.
At least CPUs are available, and we're finally seeing movement in making passable APUs to meet the need for half-decent integrated graphics since GPUs aren't out there anymore.
The question becomes, how long does this last? Do we finally see manufacturers and sellers putting meaningful purchase limits, actual action against bots that scoop up everything literally the second it's available? Or is paying $100-$400 above MSRP simply going to be the norm for consoles and graphics cards forever?
Obviously, I have no answers, but looking at the way the electronics world is moving, I can't help but shake my head.