Amazon Is Somehow Selling Xbox Series Xs For Over $1,000

An Xbox Series X and S stand side-by-side.

Image: Microsoft

Practically a calendar year right after the PS5 and Xbox Sequence X arrived out they are continue to exceptionally really hard to find, and expensive, which includes at Amazon exactly where the monopolistic retailer appears to be providing at minimum a handful of Microsoft consoles for about $1,000, or two times what they’re actually intended to value.

Kotaku was alerted to the seemingly sketchy exercise by a tipster who occurred to be perusing Amazon Warehouse’s gaming deals previously right now when they strike on a listing for the Xbox Series X marked up to $984, and in some cases even more. The Xbox Series X is supposed to retail for $500, and Amazon Warehouse is supposed to be the online retailer’s discount shop for refurbished and opened box goods. So why is Amazon selling used ones for double?

It could be a coding error, or it might have something to do with the dozens of scalper-made listings on the site trying to price gouge desperate consumers seeking latest-gen consoles. You might have noticed in recent years that Amazon’s online store experience is kind of a mess, and especially since all of the supply chain issues arose after the start of the pandemic, all kinds of pricing anomalies have fallen through the cracks.

A screenshot of an Amazon listing for an Xbox Series X sold through Amazon's warehouse with a price tag of over $900.

Screenshot: Amazon / Kotaku

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As Ars Technica reported a 12 months back, a report by the client watchdog group Community Citizen identified instances of price tag gouging and faulty products and solutions ended up rampant at the world’s most significant retailer. That is in addition to Amazon’s existing struggles with providing all kinds of mislabeled junk as a result of its largely unsupervised struggle royale of 3rd-bash resellers. But as the months roll on, some people today are evidently far more eager to choose risks on value and good quality to finally get their arms on a new console.

“I resolved to ‘bite the bullet’ and fork out double for the XBox Series X when compared to the retail price in stores,” wrote 1 the latest reviewer on the Xbox Collection X’s Amazon listing web site. “I was a little wary of paying this significantly (shut to $900) and doing so from a third-celebration, but I just actually wished to encounter the subsequent era of gaming.”

A screenshot of several listings for Xbox Series Xs sold through Amazon's warehouse for over $1,000.

Screenshot: Amazon / Kotaku

In that person’s circumstance the console turned out to be faulty. Microsoft was capable to correct it underneath the current guarantee, but the whole fiasco nonetheless finished up remaining an overpriced headache. “If I could go again and do it in excess of all over again, I would not make this obtain. I would wait patiently to discover a console in the stores for retail rate,” they wrote. “I are not able to assist but really feel cheated.”

Unfortunately, it could continue to be a while until that is probable. New-gen consoles are continue to primarily marketed out everywhere, with new inventory becoming depleted as soon as it will come in, even as scalped stock carries on to be priced at disgusting markups. Just previous 7 days individuals throughout the country lined up for blocks just to get a shot at acquiring PS5s and Xbox Series Xs at Best Get for MSRP.

“[The shortage is] heading to be with us for months and months, definitely through the finish of this calendar calendar year and into the next calendar yr,” Xbox manager Phil Spencer reported in a modern interview with The Wrap. In the meantime consider to resist offering into the scalpers, or in this circumstance, Amazon.