How are PS5 games so cheap on ebay?

[Razzie.P]

Finally decided to buy a PS5 for Ratchet & Clank (to begin with).   Got it retail, no scalper nonsense.  But when I went buy the game, it was 70 bucks. Normal, right... but checking ebay, dozens of sellers were selling it "new" for around 45 bucks.    Same thing with Demons Souls.     

 

Normally, when I see this type of price discrepancy, it has indications that it's they may be bootlegs/knockoffs, but that's not the case for PS5 games already, is it?

 

Anyway, both games arrived new and no "knockoff" indications that I can see, so yay!   43 and 45 bucks, respectively.   But that price discrepancy has definitely planted a seed of "WTF?" in my head.

 

How is it that so many sellers are able to sell new PS5 games for so much cheaper than major retailers?

[TheGameCollector]

Maybe it's because there is more supply than demand. Lack of demand comes from lack of system owners who are buying games maybe? There's plenty of discs out there with not enough systems to play them all.

[Punisher5.0]

They unfortunately are probably stolen. I see this with Switch games too.

[glazball]

I think both answers above are correct.  Lack of demand (while people wait to procure their consoles) and sure, likely many games being sold on eBay weren't obtained properly.

 

I would also mention that we're now seeing the shovelware start to come.  Paying $70 for a title is daunting but now we are seeing games like Curved Space and Balan Wonderworld launching at $20.  Don't know much about them, but people who do own the console would be more likely to pick up a mediocre game at $20, just to have a new PS5 game to play.

 

Heck, I know of at least 2 games that are only $10-$12 on Amazon right now:  Crazy Chicken Shooter Edition and Bibi and Tina at the Horse Farm.  I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to play those Wii-caliber turds, but someone must be buying that crap.

[fred]

The biggest reason for cheap games is that due to supply issues and bots buying up systems faster that people can PS5s are now many times sold as bundles online. I almost bought a bundle a few times without luck. Those bundles included games I did not want. If I was able to purchase the bundle I would've sold the games off for whatever I could get for them just to get back some of the money I spent.

 

I actually bought a used PS5 so this worked in my favor. I was able to get the games I want brand new for a good price.

[Lastblade]

People are selling the games that they don't want as a result of being forced in buying a system bundle.

[Leeroy ST]

It could be due to theft.

 

At the same time after Sony released some numbers and didn't release numbers for other games, too much supply "may" also be a factor.

[Mikebloke]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:18 PM, glazball said:

Crazy Chicken Shooter Edition and Bibi and Tina at the Horse Farm.  I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to play those Wii-caliber turds, but someone must be buying that crap.

I just googled the first out of interest, the first video that came up was "full playthrough" video at 10 minutes. And this is a physical release? This seems to be turning into a huge mess, yet again being 1-2 generations behind is paying off.

[glazball]

Ha!  What a fucking joke.  No interest in Horse Farm??  You don't want to see Bibi and Tina's epic battle on the final Glue Factory level??

 

I somewhat agree it looks like a huge mess, but not really.  Just business as usual.  I wouldn't say any ideas in this thread are wrong, but it seems like some are overthinking it.  People buy physical games, play them, and sell them.  I played through Ratchet & Clank over Labor Day weekend, got the platinum (only takes 10-15 hours), and though I won't be selling my copy I imagine a lot of people will - which of course will cause the price to fall.  Now is actually a great time to be picking up PS5 games.  I can't imagine paying $70 for some of these.

[HoshiChiri]

On 9/1/2021 at 6:43 AM, Lastblade said:

People are selling the games that they don't want as a result of being forced in buying a system bundle.

This- both of those games are common in bundle deals (R&C at Gamestop, Demon's Souls at Fry's).

 

People dumping bundled games+lack of buyers due to system scarcity= cheap prices. If you look into less bundled games, even ones that go on sale, the numbers/condition are more normal.

 

But thanks for the tip on how to get Ratchet & Clank cheap!?