A popular reseller site claims it’s now sold over 130,000 PS5 consoles

More than 130,000 PlayStation 5 consoles have now been resold on popular online marketplace StockX in the US, according to its internal data.

StockX is an auction site launched in 2016, originally focused on sneakers but later expanding to electronics following the launch of next-gen consoles last November. In 2019, the company was valued at over $1 billion.

According to the company, it’s now sold around 83,000 PlayStation 5 disc version consoles in the US, and around 55,000 digital edition machines, with an average sale price of $800 (disc) and $741 (digital). StockX previously claimed that around 60,000 PS5s were sold via its site in its launch month.

If accurate, StockX’s US console sales represent 1.66% of the 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles Sony says it has sold as of March 31, 2021.

However, the actual number of consoles resold is likely far higher. According to a launch analysis of auction site eBay, over 60,000 PlayStation 5 consoles had been sold on that platform in just its first month on sale.

Like other games consoles and popular consumer electronics items, PlayStation 5 supplies have struggled to meet demand during pandemic social restrictions.

Sony has reportedly told analysts that it expects PlayStation 5 consoles to be in short supply until next year, as the global shortage of hardware components hampers many industries including video games hardware.

According to Taiwanese business website DigiTimes, one way the corporation could cope with the demand is via a redesign of the PS5 hardware.

With next-gen consoles still widely sold out globally, and most restocks selling out in minutes, re-seller groups have faced criticism for their role in exacerbating the shortages.

In the UK, the government’s minister for digital and culture, Caroline Dinenage, confirmed in February that officials were even discussing a proposed bill that would make console scalping illegal.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said in November that he believed current console pre-order models were outdated and should be improved.

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In a bid to make the pre-order process less frustrating, Spencer said Microsoft had discussed giving customers the chance to put a deposit down and reserve a console with a guaranteed delivery date.

“We’ve had real discussions internally about, should I be able to reserve my slot? I’ll put some money down, I know my machine’s getting built January 20th, and I’ll get it on February 1st,” he said. “We have customers that would do that today.”

Id Software co-founder John Carmack has suggested that console and GPU manufacturers auction off their own products, in an effort to cut out scalpers.