PlayStation 5 scalpers have reportedly made at least $43.2 million in profit from selling Sony’s next-gen consoles at marked up prices. The figure comes from Oracle data engineer Michael Driscoll, who shared a new analysis today suggesting that at least 157,004 PS5s have been sold on eBay and StockX, which amounts to a scalping market totaling $143 million.
“[…] prices dropped ~$300 by Christmas from the post-launch peak, and unlike the Xboxes prices have remained fairly stable since the start of the New Year at $799 for the PS5 Digital, and $849 for the PS5 Disc,” Driscoll noted in regard to eBay’s sold listings. “Sales have dropped down to ~350/day for the disc version and ~100/day for the Digital.”
PlayStation 5 eBay Sales Overview
| Console Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Total Sales | Estimated eBay/PayPal Profits | Estimated Scalper Profits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS5 Digital | $399 | 18,329 | $894 | $799 | $522 | $406 | $16,622,295 | $2,114,599 | $6,104,994 |
| PS5 Disc | $499 | 61,586 | $987 | $849 | $649 | $507 | $63,354,245 | $8,064,429 | $20,205,041 |
| Total | N/A | 79,915 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | $79,976,540 | $10,179,028 | $26,310,035 |
“StockX is nearly as large a seller of PS5es as eBay, selling only 4% fewer PS5s, though 21% less total sales dollars, and 36% less profit for the scalpers. Perhaps due to StockX’s ask/bid system, forcing every seller to sell at the lowest current price, it pulls prices to be lower as buyers don’t have to scan hundreds of listings and compete against each other as much.”
PlayStation 5 StockX Sales Overview
| Console | Total Sold | Average Sales Price | Last Week Average Price | Total Sales Volume | Estimated StockX Profits | Estimated Scalper Profits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS5 Digital | 27,695 | $788 | $405 | $21,823,660 | $1,964,129 | $7,048,447 |
| PS5 Disc | 49,394 | $845 | $725 | $41,737,930 | $3,756,414 | $9,800,387 |
| Total | 77,089 | N/A | N/A | $63,561,590 | $5,720,543 | $16,848,834 |
In comparison, scalpers made $14.57 million in profit from selling Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S consoles at inflated prices. Driscoll’s analysis found that 113,220 Xbox systems sold on eBay/StockX, which amounted to $79.68 million in total sales.
Xbox Series X|S eBay Sales Overview
| Console Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Total Sales | Estimated eBay/PayPal Profits | Estimated Scalper Profits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series S | $299 | 18,339 | $460 | $438 | $385 | $304 | $8,572,490 | $2,379,638 | $1,292,467 |
| Xbox Series X | $499 | 50,990 | $836 | $750 | $639 | $507 | $43,253,936 | $5,518,138 | $9,171,837 |
| Total | N/A | 69,329 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | $51,826,425 | $7,897,776 | $10,464,304 |
Xbox Series X|S StockX Sales Overview
| Console | Total Sold | Average Sales Price | Last Week Average Price | Total Sales Volume | Estimated StockX Profits | Estimated Scalper Profits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series S | 12,635 | $416 | $405 | $5,256,160 | $473,054 | $579,599 |
| Xbox Series X | 31,256 | $723 | $630 | $22,598,088 | $2,033,828 | $3,523,880 |
| Total | 43,891 | N/A | N/A | $27,854,248 | $2,506,882 | $4,103,479 |