By taking advantage of the limited PS5 stocks, scalpers have made over $43 million by reselling the hardware for as much as 260% more than the MSRP. Most of these sales happened over sites like eBay and StockX, with the former contributing nearly twice as much to the overall figure of $43 million.
The bulk of the scalping took place between the 22nd of October and 22nd of December after which both the overall sales and scalper profits dwindled due to the lack of global stock.
| 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 |
Scalpers sold nearly 80K units over at eBay, with the Disc variant contributing to the majority of the sales (61.5K) and the remaining 18K being the Disc-less Digital variants. The former sold for an average price of $987 while the latter went for just under $900, with scalpers getting $400 to $600 for each unit sold. Overall, the total scalper profits at eBay totaled $26 million, with the Disc variant contributing $20 million to the figure.
| 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 |
Although the total number of sales at StockX was nearly the same at 77K units, the scalper profits were markedly lower, with the Digital Variant pulling in $7 million for the resellers and the traditional Disc Edition bringing in $9 million, for a total of $16.8 million, a fair bit less than eBay.
