The PlayStation 5 is crushing the Xbox Series X in black market sales

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There’s always a hustle out there, and the latest hustle making the rounds is PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X preorders. Rumor has it, Sony’s PS5 is absolutely killing it vs. Microsft’s Xbox Series X in places like eBay and other reselling sites, reports Bloomberg.

We brushed up on this topic earlier this month where we reported people were selling PlayStation 5 preorders for up to $1,000. Nothing has changed, and the cost or preorders are just going up. And apparently, people are paying more for PS5 preorders than they are for the Xbox Series X.

From the Bloomberg report: “There are more listings on eBay for the new PlayStation than the Xbox Series X, according to ShelfTrend, which tracks activity on the auction website. More than 9,300 PlayStation pre-orders have changed hands since September, almost double resales of the new Xbox, the research firm said.”

Screenshot: KnowTechie

9,300 preorders are a lot. That’s a big number. And the chance to sell them for over $300 the retail price is a decent payday for any reseller. It’s obvious; people really want the PlayStation 5. According to MarkSight (and reported by Bloomberg), another market researcher, “the average number of bids on each PlayStation auction on eBay was 17.8 compared with 12.3 for the new Xbox.” As we can see, the numbers are a lot higher for the PS5 than the Xbox Series X.

MarkSight adds that average preorders for the PS5 sell at around $871 a piece, while the Xbox Series X averages out at $720 per reservation. Scalpers are seriously out here making a killing with these preorders.

The good news is that this preorder game is coming to an end, and the days of making a quick buck off of these are almost over, for now. Both consoles are slated for an early November release and will run under $500 each. And given the current demand, finding one in stores is going to be tough.

Are you in the market for a preorder? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Sony is finally fixing the horrible, no good, very bad PlayStation app
• PlayStation Plus memberships are down to just right now (usually )
• Sony’s PlayStation 5 is really freaking big
• PS3 and Vita games are leaving the mobile and web PlayStation Store starting on October 21

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.