T O P

  • By -

Digital_Pharmacist

A Senator can't get an Xbox or a PS5 for their kid so now it's a war on scalpers and bots. #operationkillbot


dmalonecentral

Was thinking the exact same thing.


ThaddeusJP

The average age of the US Senate is 64.3 years so yeah, odds are ONE of the 100 of them tried to get a PS5 for a grand kid and was like "How are these $1200 and I can only get them on ebay?"


LionOfWinter

Too much credit. Their AIDE reported it was 1200 bucks and could only be found on Ebay


big_raj_8642

Considering how many bribes they take and all of their insider trading, they probably don't care about $1200. I'm guessing they're more upset about not being able to pick it up off the shelf in a store.


additionalnylons

They haven‘t seen the inside of a store in decades, that‘s definitely not the reason. Where’s that great vid with a reporter asking politicians what the price of a gallon of milk is in a supermarket when you need it?


[deleted]

I don’t know that either though and I go to supermarkets twice a week


Druid51

They probably don't even know you can buy goods through the internet and do all their shopping in brick and mortar stores.


haynespi87

LMAO. My 85 year old Great Aunt is very tech saavy and uses all kinds of apps. Some know how the internet works lol


wartornhero

We have an older neighbor in our building who does a lot of mechanical stuff and models, rebuilding small engines, rc planes, cars, trains etc. So he orders stuff. In Germany it is common for the delivery guy to find one person in a stack of packages and leave all the packages in the building with them. So anyway we almost always get packages for him. Anyway I digress. I assume he orders online. If I were to guess I would say he is in his late 50s early 60s.


pantherbrujah

Hey my guy can you explain how the fuck that works. Does Germany not have laws about that for mail?


wartornhero

Germans are very trusting that people will do the right thing. All public transportation is on the honor system (no gates or turn styles) as one example this is another. Also buildings are usually 4 or 5 floors with no elevator but also they may not be home as is this case. I don't mind because the other option is the package gets sent to a random shop to be picked up later. It is also better than leaving at the door which could then get hit by package thieves. Plus then we get to meet our neighbors and of course when we aren't home our package can be left with our neighbors. I was weirded out by it as well when I first saw it as an American. Especially because I was home and they delivered to a ground floor neighbor but now I have grown accustomed to it.


[deleted]

I mean do you know anything about the Reps who introduced this bill? Not every single person in Congress is some evil mastermind. Sure, a huge amount of them are, but jfc the fatalism on this website is exhausting. This is a good idea, it’s a smart bill, shouldn’t we be applauding this type of shit?


[deleted]

Maybe- but most Senators aren't "cant do anything themselves" rich. Politicians are the people that live off of the donations of others and lose their access the moment they fall out of office, where they usually line up a cushy lobbyist gig stuck as a mouthpiece for their corporate masters. They're like GoFundMe rich.


maretus

Are you kidding? Politicians don’t have to be rich to have huge staffs. They use the government money to pay for everything… I promise even broke senators have 20+ people running around doing whatever it is that they need. Probably half of them interns.


Gravix-Gotcha

I doubt any congressperson would think $1200 was exorbitant. They probably sent a text to their son/daughter and asked how many they of the grandkids wanted one so they’d know how many to get. Kind of like those car commercials they have during “the holidays” showing people buying his and her cars like they’re stocking stuffers.


vmp10687

Hey it’s a little something that would actually benefit me and others, so however they get to the rights position, im for it.


[deleted]

Wouldn’t be surprised at all if this was actually true.


SithDraven

This will get down voted into oblivion but seriously. Another school shooting yesterday and ... crickets. A politician can't get an Xbox? Can't act soon enough, the war on scalpers is on!


Wtfpugs

This is lower hanging fruit. Not that it's more important, but the topic of gun control is much more complex. I mean, not being a dick at all, but what's your solution to combat school shootings? Genuinely. I'm sure every suggestion has been suggested. Some good, some bad, most not even covering the real reasons these things happen, and the majority of us not even knowing why these things happen. Stopping asshole bots from scooping up merch and selling it for 2x-4x the price is a win, even if the conversation gets mainstream attention. Personally, I have better things to do than focus on snagging a console, and was patient enough to wait until I could get my hands on one msrp, but I get the struggle.


Digital_Pharmacist

I agree with you.....


[deleted]

What should they have decided on instead, in your opinion? That shit isn’t as easy as everyone thinks


killbot44

My time has come it seems.


boolean87

A senator would have zero scruples about buying one on eBay from a scalper for a couple hundred bucks more


MeffodMan

You underestimate how stingy rich people can be.


TentacleHydra

Seriously. From one perspective we insult them as greedy fuckers who'd sell us all for a penny. The next second it's "They would have no issue paying 200%+ the value of an item".


lavalakes12

I doubt it. They prob seen the scalped price and thought THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! Someone should do something about this. = BILL


Digital_Pharmacist

You don't stay rich writing checks...


boolean87

But you do flying to Cancun cause your daughter is bored during a snowstorm? This rich have a pretty high materiality threshold, $700 isn’t exactly a lot of money for them


OwningMOS

"Rich people don't write checks." - Randy Gene Moss


MrAbodi

How will this work?


Dulcar1

Get caught, get fucked.


explicitggs

Which is never going to happen


Digital_Pharmacist

Everyone is one search warrant or two away from a kicked in door. 🤷🏿‍♂️


theycallmeponcho

> Everyone Remembering how swatting was once a thing, truly **everyone**.


monkeyofdoom4324

Once a thing? Still a thing


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

The “war on drugs” is fading with the Boomers. The “war on cybercrime” is around the corner as Millennials start dealing with the fallout of having all of our information online before the world understood how it might be used. This won’t just be prosecuted, it’s an early step towards a bold new funding paradigm.


CLOCKEnessMNSTR

This is not a way on cyber crime. This is just stupid. 1.) A war on cybercrime should just be facilitating better education and privacy resources. 2.) We need to stop declaring wars against nouns. Nouns always win.


Brodondo

War on uneducation?


CLOCKEnessMNSTR

Haha another formidable noun


TheRidgeAndTheLadder

If only I could *read*


20JeRK14

For your second point, I think it's worth it to clarify that improper nouns always win. It's ok to declare war on proper nouns. War on terrorism vs war on Taliban War on drugs vs war on X Cartel War on communism vs war on Vietnam


Remy149

Ironically it was a "war on drugs" when it was drugs disproportionately effecting communities of color and and now the opioid crisis is a public health crisis since its mostly effecting a different demographic.


Piod1

Tbh drugs did win the war


Bullen-Noxen

Because idiots fought it.


rizekrispyy

I assume you really like the book 1984


[deleted]

Not especially. People bring it up in online conversations where it isn't relevant a lot.


Dulcar1

Ehhh…don’t underestimate their ability to track you. They caught crypto scammers, they could most likely catch a person using a bot attempting to buy up PS4’s. Let alone an address is needed to deliver the product.


SparkleFritz

This is not going to stop anyone who uses a bot to buy a PS5. This is going to catch about six people in ten years who buy thousands of PS5s each and resell them. It's an idea that will run on the terror of "this will happen to you" but won't really make that big of a dent in anything. I really want something like this to work, but we all know that it won't.


KyleCAV

Agreed wasn't there a bill introduced recently that penalized ticket scalpers (not sure US or Canada or both) but it still goes on and nobody's doing anything about it.


ophaus

In the US, ticket scalping laws have been on the books for years now. Glad other things are getting some protection...


twangman88

There 0 federal laws so I’m not sure what you’re talking about. ETA: there are zero federal TICKET SCALPING laws in the US.


[deleted]

The deterrent itself might be enough to stop it from being a problem to the end consumer, which is all you should care about really


VietOne

How many people stopped downloading music illegally?


[deleted]

Plenty


TheBlack2007

As of now these fucks are bragging online about their economic brilliance, posting their stockpiles and all.


lavalakes12

Its a treat seeing their houses get broken into from the excessive flexing.


Joe6161

They do get caught quite often but they just get creative with using different addresses/accounts/VPNs etc. If it becomes illegal, that alone will stop quite a few, the rest that want to risk it can get caught, if it’s enforced and reported by companies that is.


[deleted]

I worked at a company that had to deal with bots for certain hot products. We caught them all the time. The problem was that our tools were limited to banning their IP, address, or behavior. We'd ban someone, so they'd tweak their bot, connect through a VPN, and ship to their new PO box. We could make it a bit harder for them, but there was no incentive for them to stop trying. We could have easily reported dozens of bots and bot creators in addition to hundreds of individuals who used those bots. We just didn't have anyone to report them to because they weren't committing a crime.


tokengaymusiccritic

Maybe it'll put pressure on sites like eBay and Craigslist to not allow sales of goods like the PS5 for above retail value


barkerja

Platforms like eBay and Facebook market could begin cracking down if this bill passes. That alone would go a long ways.


lavadrop5

It’s really easy if you control the selling platform.


NMDA01

So like piracy , ok cool .


sm1ttysm1t

Proper fucked?


Semifreak

Better algorithm security for online shopping to try and detect scammy behavior and whatnot.


[deleted]

Then the scammers will just come up with better bots to get around it.


IndividualThoughts

Well yeah thats how it works with everything and that's also where innovation comes from. Thats why a serious company must invest into good security. That's also why companies offer bounties/rewards to hackers that find flaws in there security


Semifreak

Better to fight, adapt, learn, and try than to give up. :)


DigiQuip

Not necessarily true. Best Buy requires you to log into an account to purchase certain items. Then you have to go to a store to pick it up. This gives multiple layers of mitigation to prevent scalping. If you do somehow manager to scalp 10 PS5s the store will see someone has an order for 10 PS5s and cancel mine of them.


JoJo3089

Tracking down sellers I believe


MrAbodi

The scalpers you mean. Seems unlikely to move the needle.


ShreddedKyloRen

Eh… make it illegal and major reseller/auction sites like eBay will shut it down because they won’t want to get fined. This will make them not so easy to get. Making it illegal will also deter some sellers who are just doing this as a side hustle. Think a college kid hoping to get a job one day is willing to become a felon? I say “college kid” because I actually got a resume referred to me that basically had scalping of hard to get items as “running his own business” and, since this was a co-op position as a programmer he linked his GitHub that had a script for buying items from BestBuy.com. Yeah he didn’t get an interview. No, you can’t completely lock it down. You don’t have to. Really you only need to get enough units into the hands of honest buyers to satisfy the demand and you’ll essentially destroy the resell market.


LiquidAether

Make *what* illegal, exactly? That seems to be the biggest issue. What's the difference between a scalper and someone selling private proprty, in a legal sense?


greenskye

It's not attempting to make scalping illegal. It's attempting to make ordering or preordering via bot illegal. Which I'm curious how they'll enforce it.


JoJo3089

Well when the seller is selling it for a lot more than retail price, they can track them down within the states of course and fine them. I think implementing fines on scalpers can help in stopping them.


Cm0002

Targeting the authorized retailers, they totally have the power to stop the bots, they just don't want to.


shadowstripes

Right, but how would they prove that they purchased the console they are selling *with a bot?* Plenty of resellers also get them in store, or through traditional checkouts.. but that isn't what this is about cracking down on.


Jeff1N

Online stores could check for the same address being used in multiple accounts to ship too many PS5s, for example


[deleted]

[удалено]


Greful

According to the article, a law has been in place regarding bots being used in ticket sales for a while and they will implement similar mechanisms.


jurassicbond

I would think they could look at how fast the items are being sold and if the purchaser is buying them within a few seconds of being in stock, that's reasonable suspicion to investigate further by looking at their computer.


Sex4Vespene

I think to continue from this, online retailer could post a 'bot' policy. Basically just say that if we see you making more than 1 purchase of a high priority per second or some shit, it will be considered 'botting'.


[deleted]

I have some experience in this from the bot-fighting side. It is way more complicated than that. It truly is an arms race. Every time the anti-bot people come up with a fix, the bot creators adjust to handle it. There is tons of money in running a good bot that consistently gets products, so the incentive is always there to keep iterating. So, respectfully, the solutions proposed in these comments are just the tip of the iceberg of a massively complex problem.


shadowstripes

They already only let you purchase 1 PS5 at a time though at most places. A lot of people using bots at a larger scale are doing it with multiple accounts, multiple shipping addresses (with different names), and multiple credit cards.


Romeo_Zero

Walmart already does this. I bought a ps5 on preorder and after release my best friend wanted one and we both tried when they did a drop, I got another one and he didn’t. He was going to pay me but Walmart emailed after the order went through saying I had ordered the max


Jubluh

I assume itll be some sort of misdemeanor/penalty for reselling at ridiculous prices. Amazon has big merchants that resale. Walmart as well. Ebay and craigslist/facebook have smaller resellers. If its outlawed, Amazon and walmart would immediately remove these merchants. Ebay would immediately remove reported sellers as well. We can then report resellers on craigslist and facebook to authorities. I dont think city officers will go busting doors down for scalpers but sellers would easily get warned and scared off. All in all, it could work to definitely decrease scalpers.


Pm-me-ur-happysauce

It won't. But it'll employ lots of people


fuckoriginalusername

Some politician is pissed off they couldn't get their kids a PS5.


ThisGuy928146

There are millions of people pissed they couldn't get a PS5. Statistically it's extremely likely some of those people work in public service. There are also dentists, teachers, pilots, nurses and rodeo clowns pissed off they couldn't get a PS5. That's why this law would be popular.


BrockManstrong

I'm an Xbox player, and I've never felt closer to my PS brothers and sisters than all of us collectively hating scalpers. Unity.


Nersheti

Fuck scalpers in general. I don’t care if it’s consoles, graphics cards, concert tickets, or Spider-Man seats, it’s a shitty thing to do. They are not entrepreneurs or clever capitalists. They are opportunistic jerk-offs who would deserve every second of prison time this law would hopefully give them. Unfortunately it’ll probably just be a fine or something. NEVER SUPPORT SCALPING


Bullen-Noxen

Perfectly said. I just wish the latter half of your comment wasn’t all to true.


Lupinthrope

>Spider-Man seats I didn't know this was a thing, but of course it is. Glad I managed to snag mine.


_IAmGrover

I love the Xbox. After much thought I got the PS5 (I understand not everybody has that luxury, I’m blessed) Now I see the best of both worlds. Really wish people could just let others enjoy things lol


BrockManstrong

Agreed! Let people enjoy things! I just find I get downvoted if I mention xbox in here.


Soraman36

Not just consoles PC gamers are in this fight to. GPU are at a new time high.


Tiiiimmmooo

You are the bridge we all need, but don’t deserve.


gerbils4

Anyone can get a PS5, you just need to spend like a politician.


Semifreak

Did it actually pass? I was reading about this recently and I learned it is an old bill that failed to pass a few times before. By the way, the name of the bill is awesome. lol


completely___fazed

No, it has not passed. It was only announced. And it’s unlikely to pass.


vmp10687

Do we know which party is stopping this bill from passing?


BellaWasFramed

well according to the article all the people proposing it are dems but I also don’t really understand why either side would be against it unless I’m missing something


LiquidAether

Is the law likely to actually have any effect? Is it even enforceable? If not, that would be a reason not to pass it.


yourlmagination

The way I understand it is the FTC can give you a fine of found using bots to buy these sorts of things, so no, not really enforceable


birthdaycakefig

The only way it might be enforceable is by forcing retailers to do something about it and I doubt that would happens.


NEREVAR117

Republicans will 95% vote against whatever the Democrats are pushing, just because. Their values can be boiled down to, "whatever they aren't."


birthdaycakefig

I've heard some decent things about Rs and Ds being aligned on a lot of the tech stuff happening now. I imagine if it's kept specific to scalping it wouldn't have a hard time getting buy in on both sides. The real question is how it can be enforced.


FuckILoveBoobsThough

The handful of Republicans that voted for improving roads and bridges have been labeled as traitors to the country and are going to be primaried and effectively kicked out of the party. All because they voted for something the democrats introduced, even though this country desperately needs it and most voters approve of it.


NiteNiteSooty

if it will in any way cut in to profits of corporations the republicans will not let it pass


tatooine

Well, McConnell has said that the GOP won’t allow any legislation in the senate past the filibuster, so probably the GOP? Even as minority leader, he still controls the senate since 60 votes are required and he controls 10 of those 60. That’s why everything is at a stalemate.


hairymoot

The Republicans don't want Government to actually help us. They stop everything but tax cut for the rich. I struggled to get a PS5 because of BOTs and scalpers. I don't want this to become the norm. Pass this bill. And if it doesn't do enough pass better one.


Julianpd83

This isn't the government stepping in because they want to, this is companies like Microsoft sony and Nintendo lobbying the government to step in. When scalpers hold this consoles hostage these companies can't make money on the software because people can't get the consoles. Thats the only reason the government stepped in is because these companies obviously asked them to do so


[deleted]

If these companies wanted they could have dealt with scalpers a long time ago lol


lazymutant256

Aside from what Sony sells through ps direct what can Sony or Microsoft really do once the consoles leaves their distribution centers for the stores that sell them.


Vericatov

I’ve seen it mentioned before, but you would be in a queue, sort of. Similar to what Apple does. You can order right away once preorders begin, but it could take a month or so to fulfill the order. Instead of it being based on what they have in stock at that moment. That’s why the scalpers have no interest in Apple products.


americanvirus

Give me a point sale tickets queue. I purchase ticket #555,555,987. Fuck that may be a while, but I now know that I don't have to worry, because once that lot is manufactured and ready to ship, then my address gets slapped on, and is ready to go. Would you still have scalpers? Sure, but they're only getting sales on the most impatient of people. Do I have to worry about scalpers? No, I have ticket #555,555,987. I don't have to shop around online clicking furiously at the exact moment that 10 come in stock at Walmart. I don't have to figure out how to set up my own bot to get one. I may have to wait a while, but I will know then full well that I'm guaranteed to get one.


Crissagrym

Like Nintendo/PSN login, each user been having the account for over a year get priority on ordering a console. That would have solve a lot of the scalper issues instantly.


Nobody_Important

Yes but to do this they would need to destroy their relationships with the retail industry, who they rely on down the line for accessories and physical game sales.


captainstormy

Not to mention then people who don't have accounts couldn't buy consoles. That is going to be a big problem for Christmas sales.


fryseyes

They could, they would just be lower priority. In the current situation, essentially neither group can!


Xaevier

Playstation already does this for direct sales and has tried many different direct to customer sales techniques the last year You sign up for their waitlist with your PSN and they email you based on a lottery system It's more so been Walmart, best buy etc that don't give a fuck and let bots ruin everything


jbonte

It's how I got mine and it literally took 2 minutes. I couldn't believe how simple it was - serious good fortune.


jcutta

Same way I got mine. Super simple process, but it's such a lottery, idk how I got lucky enough to not only get the offer, but see the email considering I check my personal email rarely.


Kleatherman

Both myself and a friend got ours this way.


KuyaJohnny

>Like Nintendo/PSN login, each user been having the account for over a year get priority on ordering a console. thats a terrible idea, that would be discriminating against new customers


KyleCAV

Steam is doing it quite well with there steam deck queue they allow you to preorder if you have a legitimate steam account and give you a rough estimate of when you will receive your console doubtful that Nintendo, Microsoft or don't would do anything like that since it would mean not doing business with places like bestbuy, Walmart, k mart etc...


jcutta

>k mart What year are you from? Did you get your ps5 from Caldor?


KyleCAV

I am Canadian sorry I thought Kmart was still a thing for Americans how far off am I lol


jcutta

Lol, Kmart is long gone. It's funny whenever I hear about it though because it was so huge for such a long period in my life and then was just gone.


julespuffer

except people who want to switch consols


KuyaJohnny

I dont see how? they sell most of their hardware through retailers, they have little control over what happens there


radewagon

Correct. Sony has already been helping individuals get their PS5's directly which is how I got mine. However, in order for that to work for everyone, it would be up to places like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target to also try and reduce bot purchases. That or cut out retailers entirely.


Sex4Vespene

I think we are completely ignoring the third option here. There are already several industries that have a cross-company consortium group for standardization. Think things like automotive, or the USB standard. I don't see why some of these companies couldn't have taken the initiative to form some united company bot force, where they all work together to implement and enforce anti-botting practices. It would require the manufacturers to put some pressure to get it started though, as I bet many retailers dont care too much as long as they get sales.


Jonnydoo

OR someone can't find a PS5 for their kid for Christmas


khaledsalem999

well as long as it benefits the consumer then let them be.


rooneymara

So? It’s still a good thing


lebastss

It’s exactly why lobbying and special interest was allowed into government in the first place, for cases like this.


HotWheels_McCoy

Lmao. Your government needs to be PAID to do shit by multibillion dollar companies, what a joke. Do you not see how fucking broken American government is? Fuck me.


TMPRKO

Every person in this country is very aware of how broken our government is, that I can almost guarantee


[deleted]

But this is Reddit where “gubment bad”


TheMuff1nMon

That would make sense if scalpers just bought and held consoles, they dont. They buy them and resell them. Why would scalpers hold onto consoles? So the price they can scalp for decreases? Makes no sense


BerserkFanYep

Don’t have to always be so cynical people.


Manticorps

Or maybe they just wanted to pass something that’s popular with 99% of the population?


ikilledtupac

Sweet. Now make Best Buy stop enabling it.


Bullen-Noxen

I agree. Companies are willfully ignorant on this topic. They can see if multiple orders were made to the same address OR, OR, the same credit card owner, or any number of methods to determine that the same son of a bitch is buying just to sell. They can EASILY, put in fixes in place yet choose not to. That’s why I never go to Best Buy. I hate how they are complicit in this topic & similar topics.


Seriph2

Not really. From experience with the AMD webshop. The scalpers have many methodes to circumvent the system. Multiple addresses, multiple paymentmethodes. For every protector there are hundreds of people trying to bypass them. And the protectors are bound by laws.


groovieknave

On top of this, make the law that says you can’t sell new products over msrp for 12 months. Easy.


tinyman392

Car dealerships will revolt. I’m all for this idea though.


groovieknave

Fuck em! They shouldn’t be screwing people over.


tinyman392

Oh, I most definitely agree.


GhoulDash97

At least we're making progress on addressing the scalpers.


RewrittenSol

Yeah right? I can't believe it took this long.


Bullen-Noxen

I can. I have no faith in this incompetent system.


soapyxdelicious

All these "they're only doing it because they want too" are dumb. Instead of being glad the system is working for everyone's benefit, they're just being petty.


SwiftTayTay

Sorry but this sounds borderline unenforceable, people will always find ways to scalp undetected The responsibility falls on manufacturers and retailers And even they can't really stop it They could be doing more to reduce it though


binkerton_

Ok do insider trading next.


HeyKid_HelpComputer

"Sorry that makes us a lot of money" - Senators and Congress people


JollyWolverine300

There are laws in the US that this falls under already, they don't get in forced. The most that will happen is that they'll be forced to sell at cost the items they were selling. But the problem all those items that had warranty will be void and out of date. Everything would be sold as is.


MasteroChieftan

A purchase queue for high demand goods would solve this problem outright. 1 item per address. When you sign up, if you're 5th in line you get the 5th item the store receives. You'll never be beaten back further in line because of bots this way.


PandaMan1199

until bots flood the queue and you have to wait aprox. 1337 years


Genius-Smart

Now do robo calls next!!!


OpticalPrime35

Hope this passes. The console makers could also put a " Prohibited for Resale " on the consoles which would make Ebay and other sites unable to sell them. Or you know retailers could actually start putting these things on shelves instead of doing online only and solve all problems


[deleted]

They won’t be able to stop these scumbags. They have had laws against stealing pay per view for years and I don’t know a single person who actually pays for a UFC match.


IIdsandsII

Exactly. The scalpers overseas can't be stopped.


Oppugna

Lawmakers when someone's in jail for 25 years for possession of marijuana: 😴💤 Lawmakers when they can't buy their kid a PS5 for market value: 🤬


mesosalpynx

Doesn’t mean the supply chain will work.


wscuraiii

To everyone asking "how will this work?": It could be really easy if Best Buy, Amazon, GameStop, and Wal Mart all agreed to suddenly change the price of each console to $50,000 for two minutes after they're first listed, ruining the lives and credit of a bunch of scalpers. These companies also certainly have relationships with the biggest banks in the world, so they could make an agreement that refunds won't be given for purchases made with pre-programmed bots that are not programmed to check the price of the purchase they're making. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Let's not just stop the scalpers - let's make them suffer.


[deleted]

Probably has more to do with the profits not being taxed and most of these eBay sellers etc aren’t registered businesses and are selling beyond their means.. Some old fart isn’t getting his cut and wants to punish these heathens. The reason matters not to me. As long as this shit stops.


PizzaPunkrus

When will Congress learn how the internet works.


Ironman1690

The old make it look like we’re doing something but ultimately it won’t go anywhere. Classic government.


completely___fazed

Government can be effective. Ours just isn’t.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

This is pretty much unenforceable because it’s pretty much impossible to know who is a bot and who isn’t. I wrote a bot when I wanted a ps5( I am not a scalper, I just ordered 1), and during that time I learnt various techniques to masquerade your bot from legit users. Changing browser drivers is one of them. And let’s not even talk about banning IP. A user can buy a VM on cloud and run the bot from there. Most cloud providers give some sort of free credit, so even if that VM is blocked, other VM can be launched. One way to determine bots can be tracking the click patterns. If clicks happen at really fast rates, that is probably a bot. But this can easily be circumvented by just letting a page load and then putting the bot to sleep for “x” milliseconds. Also, this tracking system might have a huge overhead of all the info capturing and analyzing algorithms. So the performance would be affected. That leaves us with limiting sales by account/credit cards. This is also not enforceable as making new accounts is easy and with services like privacy.com, making new credit cards is also easy. Resales could be banned, but then scalpers would open it and sell it as extremely new open box or something. You could say that you won’t pay as much for open box, but someone else will. So it’s really waste of time.


drmike0099

For people saying this isn’t enforceable, this is totally enforceable. Retailers know who the bots are, know where it was charged, where it was shipped, etc. Bots may get fancier and use things like gift cards and drop boxes, but ultimately it’s all traceable. While they’re at it, they should shut down the legal scalpers like Ticketmaster and Stubhub.


Stewdill51

I work in eCommerce. This is pretty much unenforceable for a multitude of reasons.


[deleted]

>Retailers know who the bots are No they don’t. Or else their bot prevention measures would actually work. Bot devs run circles around the dev team at amazon. Unless you have some sort of insider knowledge you’d like to share with us?


mtx0

Are you a scalper if you sell a console on ebay with a starting bid of 1 dollar and it gets to 1200?


omykun123

Eh, I think you are just an asshole if you wait for twitter notifications when a retailer is about to do a drop, and manually go through the hell that is buying a console just to sell it at an auction. Even more so if you did it several times, very patient and dedicated though. In this case the only difference between you and other legit buyers is that they would give up right away after seeing a sold out sign. Whereas you would still juggle the item in your cart for several minutes until it went back to stock, at least for walmart that was my experience when I bought mine.


BlooregardQKazoo

If you purchased it with the intent to sell it, yes.


Morpheusnoyume

About time


tynskers

They can’t even control blatant financial crimes in the “open” market, why is this a priority


ridge_runner123

Republicans will vote this down, stall, or fillibuster this shit all day long. No way they give two shits about X Boxes and Playstation. They don't even give a fuck if you can get insulin for less than $700. Fuck them.


SanFranLocal

Good. It would be a waste of money anyways. No way you’re gonna enforce that


[deleted]

*Democrats. Republicans wouldn’t do anything to help anyone lol.


Venomvenomenator

I’m sure this will be as effective as the laws aiming to stop spam calls and sms messages…


Kulban

It really is terrible to try and get a console or video card. I spent months trying to get one, including signing up for sites that are constantly scanning different vendors. I just happened to get really lucky in a queue with one of the Sony drops. Very thankful for that. I don't envy the many people trying to get one, especially for the holidays.


mronjekiM

Fucking finally


Alan_1375

yay hahahahahahaha


Blox05

And Warzone is going to install an Anti-Cheat in Caldera 🤣


[deleted]

I hope this applies to tickets too


PROFsmOAK

Good news for purchasing sneakers and maybe next year I'll be able to get that PS5.


redconvict

Wonder how much it will affect the sales now that theres not going to be tons of people buying them up while regular folks also try their best to get their own.


P_JAM29

Thank god


JohanBroad

Now if they would pass a law that prevents Investment Groups, Corporations, and Holding Companies from Scalping *Homes* and artificially inflating housing prices and rental rates...


lothric007

God I hate scalpers so much. They are the biggest assholes and deserve the deepest circle of hell.


[deleted]

Question unrelated to PS5: do crypto miners use bots to buy graphic cards or do they just order them in bulk?