Even with the lottery system, scalpers are listing Steam Machine reservations on eBay for up to $3,500, with one already sold at $2,800.
  • bridgeburner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3 hours

    Apparently you can get those listings easily removed by reporting them that the seller sells an “intangible item”. Which is true, since a reservation is indeed not a tangible item.

  • bridgeburner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3 hours

    Scalpers are the proof that a lot of humans are dumb af. Scalpers wouldn’t exist if the vast majority humans were capable of using their brain.

    • Diurnambule@jlai.luEnglish
      59 minutes

      Dude scalper are a symptom too. I people weren’t wired for imefiat access to thing they wouldn’t exist. But hey you can get stuff in 24h, who wait a month or more for things in this society ?

  • Pyr@lemmy.caEnglish
    4 hours

    Valve should make a false initial sale then “run out” causing scalpers to stock up then all of a sudden “find” a bunch of extra stock to start selling immediately after the first batch runs out.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3 hours

      That would require having enough inventory to meet total demand at the set price.

      IMO the best they can do is cut the scalpers out by starting the price off high themselves and lowering it as supply increases. Low supply and high demand will always lead to increased prices and trying to avoid that by keeping prices low will result in others taking advantage of that market inefficiency.

      And the best we can do is just not buy the higher priced options and wait for supply to come up.

  • Zacryon@feddit.orgEnglish
    7 hours

    Pro tip: don’t buy obviously overpriced scalper shit.

  • artyom@piefed.socialEnglish
    10 hours

    Valve’s efforts were never supposed to stop the scalping, only mitigate it.

  • AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.socialEnglish
    12 hours

    If you wanted one so badly, you probably got into the prenotation lottery. In the case you couldn’t get one, you were put in the prenotation queue meaning that you’ll be probably in for the next wave that shouldn’t take too long to happen.

    So who are they selling these to? These scalpers are not the sharpest tools of the shed. But buying one at that price is not much better. You must be a special kind of moron to buy that.

    • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7 hours

      I know it’s not the intended audience of scalpers. They aim for the people with too much money and fomo. But just remember that scalpers are the only way that the global south will ever get access to this hardware. Valve won’t sell me this computer, I get zero access to the lottery, they won’t ship to my country. But a random scalper on eBay will, without hesitation.

      I don’t like consoles, but for contrast, I could go to my nearest mall and buy any current console in a brick and mortar store for a reasonable price, just a bit over the us dollar cost.

      I know there’s probably a lot of price fixating cartels for a bunch of hardware stuff. Valve is fighting a losing battle in a space the have zero reputation. But at the same time, scalping, much like piracy, is a service problem. It’s the result of a poor and fragile supply chain and not enough marketing and commerce channels available.

      Despite all the measures to deter scalping used on the steam controller, for example, which I think are fine. The fact that 80% of the planet can’t buy it directly from valve means that there will always be a scalping market. Even today the original LCD steam deck with the small ssd sells on eBay for absurd prices. It’s not a healthy second hand market or a bunch of people with desperate FOMO, the original deck is old news already. It’s people using the only purchase means available.

    • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      8 hours

      There’s enough rich people. If you’re a millionaire, 3k is the equivalent of like $50 for a normal person.

      • Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        5 hours

        This got me thinking, milionare normally means you have at least a milion right? Where $50 would be a good estimate, but the moment you have 2 milion you go half to $25 and technically 999 milion is still a milionare.

        • Sirdubdee@piefed.socialEnglish
          5 hours

          When you get to 2, you become a multi-millionaire until you hit 3 commas. If you had 2, you’d be insulted if you were called a millionaire.

    • Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      12 hours

      FOMO is strong with a lot of people. A lot of these guys just feel the need to be in the first batch and will buy at any price to be included.

    • FireWire400@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12 hours

      Well, looking at the completed auctions on eBay there are enough people wo are desperate enough.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16 hours

    You can build or buy a lot more computer than the Steam Machine for $3000, even at today’s absurd component prices. I’m not quite sure which is more moronic, trying to scalp a Steam Machine for that price or somebody actually paying it.

    • Venator@lemmy.nzEnglish
      1 hour

      Could also be people who just like the form factor but valve refuse to sell it to them directly because international shipping is too complicated for a small startup like valve. /s

    • De Lancre@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12 hours

      Yep, even Valve themselves told multiple times “it’'s just a computer”, hence the price that comparable to other prebuild computers. Who in their mind would pay 3x of that?

      That being said, Alienware and Razor audience also exists, so anything possible.

    • DaddleDew@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15 hours

      Scalpers are low lifes who don’t necessarily know much about the products they scalp. They must have thought it was going to be the same as the last few generations of gaming console releases.

      I also believe that the typical potential customer for a Steam Machine will know better.

      • dudeface@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13 hours

        I’ll always remember going to a rise against concert and scalpers outside were saying “tickets for rise against the machine”, they have no idea what they are selling

  • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15 hours

    If you spend US$3,000 on the Steam Machine your brain must be made of tofu.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 hours

      It worked for the last generation of Xboxes. Personally I was prepared to buy an x series for each of my kids two christmases in a row. However I refused to pay scalper prices and was never able to find them in stock.

      I hope scalpers rot in hell for ruining things for the rest of us, but it directly lead to my kids building their own gaming rigs, so that’s cool. More quality time with my kids plus they learned that I actually know something about computers

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zipEnglish
    9 hours

    Awesome, people are actually buying this on EBay. Soon we will be seeing news of how many did not get a steam machine at 3x the price. The next couple of month will be pretty entertaining.

    • turmacar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 hours

      I mean it’s not out yet. The raffle for who can buy one hasn’t started. This is just like scammers selling a PS6.

  • hperrin@lemmy.caEnglish
    16 hours

    Why? It’s not even that compelling at the normal price. If it were 3x the price, who would possibly want to buy it?