The gaming community is one that’s constantly full of division and debate, this we know. Where one person loves something, you can guarantee there’ll be about another 10 who’ll hate it, and will be very vocal in expressing such opinions. However, one thing basically everyone can be united about is how frustrating scalpers are, both in making things like the PS5 incredibly difficult to get hold of at retail price, and just their attitude about it all, too.
Speaking of which, look, it’s everyone’s favourite person. Jack Bayliss might not exactly be a household name, but he’s the owner of Aftermarket Arbitrage - a subscription service where members pay him £30 a month to be informed of restocks of high-value goods, like PS5s and the Xbox Series X, to be able to buy them in bulk and resell them at profit. Basically, the whole thing is to assist scalpers in their scalping, and on a huge scale.
PS5s have been in high demand since launch, with scalpers contributing to the stock shortages by buying so many of the consoles in bulk to resell.
Bayliss claims to be earning around £45,000 a month from the service, and despite acknowledging the fact that many people and families are being left completely unable to buy new-gen consoles thanks to him, he believes the benefits outweigh the negatives.
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Apparently, many of the subscribers of the service are “very young”, and speaking to Sky News, Bayliss said he believes he’s helping them start their own entrepreneurial careers: “What they're doing is they're being entrepreneurs, they're going out, creating a side income, and they're doing something that 90% of the population can't be bothered to do,” he said.
He went on to say how some of the subscription’s older members have been able to quit their jobs thanks to the profits earned through scalping: “They spend more time with the family, with their kids. We've had people who've been able to renovate their house, they bought the kids a climbing frame, they bought the wives new cars, they bought themselves new cars,” he added.
Just in case you didn't know, this is the same guy who said that owning a PS5 is a luxury, by the way: “To me, owning the PS5 or an Xbox isn't a necessity, it's a luxury, okay? If you can afford to spend £450, spending the extra £100 should be pretty marginal, if you've got cash ready to splash on that." What a lovely individual.
What a pleasant, not at all infuriating read, huh? Sigh.
Featured Image Credit: Aftermarket Arbitrage via InstagramTopics: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation, Xbox