Time was you could simply walk into a store and purchase the product you wanted, but these days that has become increasingly difficult even for basic everyday items. Sure the scalper market has always been there, you'd hear about a hot toy that holiday season or some new electronic everyone wants, but the past 2 years this has extended to every consumer market. TCG's, GPU's, really any computer part, shoes, concert tickets, electronics, board games, clothing, toys, household cleaners, toilet paper, food, even the very homes we live in are being bought and scalped. Not just every consumer product, but even the basic things humans need to live are being bought by soulless opportunistic scumbags and flipped at the expense of everyone else.
This is a huge problem that needs addressing immediately. The longer these jackals prosper the worse it will get. How can the current rampage of scalpers and resellers be stopped before they destroy the retail market completely out of selfish greed?
Working around video game sales my company has strict preordering and rules for limited stuff. Even TCGs we limit to 1 large item or 3 boosters per household. What I don't approve of is the 'First Come First Serve' way of doing business. There may be some Series X or PS5s going online, but even limited to one per purchase bots still ensure they are gone within 10 seconds of being posted.
Every customer I have spoken to doesn't have the time to stal;k a website all day long every day of the week, they have lives to live. Who do you think is getting these products then? Yup. Resellers. Solves absolutly nothing. I always approved the que system. Customers regularly tell me they would happily wait an entire year if they could simply set it and forget it, getting in a line and ensuring they will receive what they want eventually. No botting, no stalking, no bull**** games.
But in the meantime we need our lawmakers who are hopelessly out of touch with the situation to create laws and regulations preventing these vultures from being able to prosper by doing nothing.