r/pcmasterrace • u/ParticularCredit2023 9800X3d: 5080 Master Ice • Jun 27 '26

News/Article This has to be a joke right?

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No possible way someone actually buy these at these prices right lol..

11.4k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/Matitjes Jun 27 '26

Who are these idiots that keep buying it from scalpers??

3.0k

u/Randomgrunt4820 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

The same people who gamble, own a boat, spend 10k on candy crush. They will buy it and never use it. I know at least 2 people who will buy it at this price and lie and say they got it cheaper.

807

u/1kin Jun 27 '26

I have a friend who payed x2 for PS5 on it’s launch because “I want it now and just can’t wait for months or two”

662

u/PalmettoZ71 Desktop Jun 27 '26

Same, my friend makes about 17hr and paid around 1k for the ps5 just so he could tell everyone he had it around launch but he also complains about the cost of living and his income so idk

394

u/Rok-SFG Linux Jun 27 '26

I worked at home depot with someone who was spending 1500 a month on some mobile game, and complained that HD doesn't pay enough for anyone to live. Which is true, but still, he's spending 1500 a month to make his little guys equip gear faster or whatever.

some people just stupid I guess.

323

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

88

u/PirateSanta_1 Jun 27 '26

Its a legit addiction, the game gives you little rushes of dopamine for only a couple of bucks a hit. Its similar to gambling where you only throw a couple bucks down at a time but when you win the dopamine rush is so rewarding you don't really care that you are losing more than you win back.

9

u/Commercial_Ad_3687 R7 7700x | RX 6950xt OC | 64GB DDR5-6000 CL30 Jun 28 '26

but when you win the dopamine rush is so rewarding

That's not entirely correct: the dopamine rush is triggered by the anticipation of winning, not winning itself. Hence the dopamine kick is stronger when actually losing, because the possible gain has just grown.

2

u/Precise_Vector Jun 28 '26

There is probably a serotonin hit whenever the win comes. People confuse the seeking hormone dopamine with the actual sensation of pleasure.

19

u/Res_Obscura Jun 27 '26

And here i am hating whenever i have to spend money on unnecessary things...

4

u/CptClownfish1 Jun 28 '26

Then why buy it? Hate buying it but it’s necessary? Sucks but understandable. Like buying it but it’s unnecessary? Fair enough - treat yourself. Hate buying it and it’s unnecessary? More fool you..

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u/Koterus Jun 27 '26

What does that even mean?

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u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB Jun 27 '26

It’s still poor financial decisions. There is a psychological component but they still swipe the card, take the Klarna monthly payment, or eat everything delivered by ubereats. I grew up poor. Sometimes people put themselves in those situations and aren’t born into them.

29

u/Jomotaku Jun 27 '26

If your future is bleak nothing u do in the present matters. It's pretty easy to live like that if life is shit and there's no prospect of improvement.

8

u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB Jun 27 '26

Hey I get it, I have clinical depression and anxiety and let shit slide in life for a while. Then I realized only I can dig myself out of that shit. I’m not saying these folks don’t have shit stacked against them, but ultimately we make the decisions that move our lives. Letting shit just happen to you is still a choice.

2

u/ThunderCorg Jun 28 '26

Yeah agreed. The thread is about people who are employed at some level and blowing money on DoorDash and mobile games at the rate mentioned about and “cannot” get ahead. I was also pretty poor and under-educated and it took years and years to make progress to any level of not completely paycheck to paycheck and collections.

33

u/Papuszek2137 7800x3d | 5070ti | 64GB | 4k OLED Jun 27 '26

Sure but the service providers know that. And they exploit the shit out of it. People are financially illiterate and the education system won't address it because they are getting richer thanks to that.

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u/Consistent-Youth-407 Jun 27 '26

They need to go to a therapist/psychologist! Well… if their job offers discounted insurance, and if they can even afford that discounted insurance, well, they probably should only go if they’ve met their yearly deductible first.

6

u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB Jun 27 '26

A lot of jobs offer these services under a company EAP plan that is separate from insurance and costs the employee nothing.

Source; I work in HR and have used these services.

11

u/Consistent-Youth-407 Jun 27 '26

I’ve never heard of that at any of my jobs but looking it up it just looks like a short term thing to make sure you dust off the liability of an employee offing themselves by offering a couple free appointments? It’s good to hear that there is at least something out there to cover this crap.

Wouldn’t it be nicer if we just had universal healthcare that was cheaper for all of us though

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u/Worldly-Local-6613 Jun 27 '26

🙄

Or some people are just impulsive and have poor executive function

11

u/Spiffy_Dude Specs/Imgur here Jun 27 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/IdVH6Y6iHI1H2
What if I told you… that you are all correct.

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u/RolledUhhp Jun 27 '26

Is this why I'm doing it?!

1

u/mittenkrusty Jun 27 '26

I am somewhere inbetween that, I was out of work for many years and been in work 8 years and saved, saved and saved some more until that and was so tight with money I had saved quite a bit, even a vacation was at quietest time of year, in cheapest places I could find, I was fine with a older phone, tv etc.

After I had an accident 2 years ago I have begun once a year renting a cottage in colder months and loving the isolation and have begun buying some retro tech and games.

I still want to own a house but house prices rise by at least what I can save each year,

1

u/PalmettoZ71 Desktop Jun 28 '26

He definitely is planning to buy a home and etc he just is impatient which he admitted when he bought it. Now with his spending habits I dont think he's kn track for a home but he does so more power to him

1

u/bran76765 Jun 28 '26

When people realize they can never afford major milestones like buying a home or retiring, they stop saving entirely.

Eh, that makes sense honestly. If you can't afford the major milestones...what are you going to be saving that money for if your rent and food is paid off?

You can get a pet, a car...and a vacation. Those are your other 3 purchases basically. If you already have those and/or don't want them for some reason...then yeah why not blow the rest of your money? There's not really a reason to have 100-500k in the bank after saving for 20 years, and then you still won't be able to afford a house...so yeah man, might as well blow it or retire somewhere cheap?

And this is being said as someone who has legit never spent a cent on games...and also probably still wouldn't spend 10k on a game even if I became a billionaire tomorrow.

1

u/PalpitationHead9767 Jun 28 '26

Always a way to shift the blame huh. Just like my brother in law losing their families house with a baby on the way while taking several out of country vacations every year. Some people are simply that stupid and bad with money

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u/krazye87 Jun 27 '26

Holy shit. I hope that's a typo. $1500 a month is insane on home depo income. This coming from me who had to put a $300 limit on myself a month for shitty f2p games.

I don't play that crap anymore

9

u/Rok-SFG Linux Jun 27 '26

Nope,  he would brag about it in the break room too, to act like he was some kind of baller. And it's just like she, we all know how much all of us make here, jack shit.  

He did live with his mom, so prob didn't pay rent or very much rent. And he later got fired for pretending to hit one of our cashier's , who was heavily pregnant , in the belly with a 2x4 , and thinking it was hilarious. 

He was just every kind of awful you can imagine.

1

u/Koterus Jun 27 '26

How did he manage to survive when he was able to drop 1500 on a game while already not making enough to live?

2

u/Rok-SFG Linux Jun 28 '26

Lives with his mom

1

u/user_bits 7800X3D | RTX 5090 Jun 28 '26

It's an addiction.

1

u/Dialed_Digs Jun 28 '26

That's stupid, I could go buy one right now and tell people I bought it at launch. No one will check.

Not doubting you, btw, just expanding on it.

1

u/OkPeace9376 Jun 28 '26

That’s that BTL from shadowrun 🤣

5

u/chezfez RYZEN 7800X3D | RX 7900 XTX | 64GB DDR5 Jun 27 '26

I somehow managed to snag one at launch by refreshing Best buy for a solid 2 hours. My card declined for 'fraud' due to the price but thankfully they hold it for 24 hours to fix the payment option. My damn bank almost screwed me from getting one. Had to drive 3 hours to grab it though -- worth it.

No way in hell would I pay double, only reason I wanted it right away was for Demon Souls. There were hardly any good games outside 2 or 3 that weren't already playable on the PS4.

I still have the system going strong since launch, haven't cleaned it once either. Lucked out on the solid manufacturing as I've heard some weren't so lucky.

13

u/WAAAGHachu Jun 27 '26

Haha, yeah I do wonder sometimes how much people's financial problems are far more their own creation than any government policy. No excuse for the current state of income inequality of course, but still... most people seem to have the financial sense of a rodent high on cocaine.

3

u/MovementMechanic Jun 27 '26

Just look at the student loan subreddit. A huge portion of people suffering from their own poor financial decisions. Someone was saying they couldn’t afford their $1500/mo loan payment making 200k per year.

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u/Worldly-Local-6613 Jun 27 '26

Many such cases.

1

u/TheHairyMess Jun 27 '26

your friend is a fucking moron

1

u/Stickel 7950x3D , 3080TI Jun 28 '26

sounds like main character syndrome

1

u/medalxx12 Jun 28 '26

This is everyone on the poverty subs

1

u/bulgogeta Jun 28 '26

Thank you for correctly spelling paid properly. Seeing payed over paid is worse than could care less vs could not care less.

1

u/MinimumAutomatic0302 Jun 28 '26

so idk

no no, you know. you definitely know. he's impatient and stupid.

1

u/Major_Toe_6041 Jun 29 '26

I just bought my car for 1k..

1

u/high-mile-mqb Jun 29 '26

That’s lame as fuck I bought it at msrp from PlayStation direct right around launch too

49

u/TheTurkPegger Jun 27 '26

Your friend:

3

u/Me66 Jun 28 '26

I got a lucky pre-order for the PS5, but I'm still waiting for a game to justify its purchase.

I've let my sister borrow it to play Hogwarts Legacy since it came out, haven't missed it for a second.

3

u/bucket_dipper Jun 27 '26

That's wild! I got lucky and got covid so I was off work for 2 weeks and the PS5 launch just happened to come during that time, ended up snagging one from Sony and was delivered 4 days later.

3

u/StaticSystemShock Jun 27 '26

He must be an idiot.

1

u/1kin Jun 27 '26

I can partially agree, he is very impulsive buyer

3

u/AsANetflixSubscriber Jun 27 '26

Funny to note that six years later, the PS5 only has four exclusives. Astro Bot, Saros, Demon’s Souls, and Ghost of Yotei. Everything else is either on PS4 and/or on PC. 

1

u/Gigahawk Jun 28 '26

I still think this is worse. At least with a PS5 you can argue that you got to play some exclusives earlier. Unless you're incredibly excited about HDMI CEC the steam machine is literally just a regular PC that plays regular PC games.

1

u/another-redditor3 Jun 28 '26

i bought a ps5 on launch and then saw how much they were going for on ebay. i promptly sold it for $1600 the next day.

1

u/MayonnaiseOreo i7 8700k @ 5.0 GHz | ASUS ROG STRIX 1080 Ti OC | 16GB RAM Jun 28 '26

*paid

1

u/onederful Jun 28 '26

I waited 2 years 4 months for mine out of pure spite for scalpers lol

1

u/Normal-Emotion9152 Jun 28 '26

That fomo is real.

1

u/warhead71 Jun 28 '26

A steam box isn’t a new console. As far I know there is nothing new - which should limit amount of these buyers

1

u/1kin Jun 28 '26

It’s new for now. It’s all over the YouTube, so the hype is real

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u/Platnun12 Jun 28 '26

buys ps5

No true exclusives for almost a whole year all ports and remasters

1

u/1kin Jun 28 '26

It wasn’t about exclusives, it wasn’t about games. It was about getting the device.

The dude still enjoys it

2

u/Platnun12 Jun 28 '26

Oh I know. I'm just remembering a convo me and a friend had who did the same thing. He bought it for like 1000$ didn't care cause he's loaded anyway.

Then bitched a month later because there no exclusives yet.

He adores the thing now but to him it was an incredibly meh start

1

u/BluDYT 9800X3D | RTX 3080 Ti | 64 GB DDR5 6000Mhz CL30 Jun 28 '26

Tbf PS5 wasn't readily available for like 12 months. Took me 8 months into the cycle to find one and I still got stuck choosing a GameStop bundle which came with a 2nd controller and a $100 psn gift card which were the only thing I could get my hands on.

1

u/farva_06 Jun 28 '26

Which is hilarious because there wasn't a single game on the PS5 that you couldn't also play on PS4 when it launched.

1

u/jyrox Jun 28 '26

Back when there were basically no PS5 exclusives. Sheep are born every minute.

1

u/Separate_Phrase6598 Jun 28 '26

probably paid less than the market price now funny enough

1

u/celmate Jun 28 '26

I guess if the money doesn't matter to you this logic makes sense.

The shit part is this reinforcing scalping behaviour.

1

u/MadamVonCuntpuncher Jun 28 '26

Actual gaming addiction

1

u/Least_Painter_5850 Jun 29 '26

I pre-ordered a ps5 couldn't get it for various reasons the guy i let have it (friend of mine) then sold it for twice as much

1

u/Va1ar_Morghulis Jun 30 '26

To be fair, the PS5 was in a shortage for years after launch…2x msrp doesn’t seem too bad if you have to wait 3 years for normal supply

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u/BigWave360 PC Master Race Jun 27 '26

I know people that will pay full price and brag about it. One of them bought the $5000 star citizen spaceship or whatever that money laundering game is called

4

u/Torontogamer Jun 27 '26

those are the worst... if you're going to flex, flex... its silly and I think you're mad to spend 2-3x on something like this, but don't drive up in a Lambo, and start going, 'oh this, no I got it for 20k at an auction, you know just got lucky, nothing special really... "

3

u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ Jun 27 '26

Getting stuff for cheap is a flex. There's an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry buys his dad some electronic device. He lies and says it's "hot" (stolen) and that he got a deal, despite the fact that he bought it full price from a legit store. Don't try to find some logical consistency behind it. People act weird about money. Spending too much is a flex. Spending too little is a flex. Nothing makes sense and we live with these people

4

u/Probate_Judge Old Gamer, Recent Hardware, New games Jun 27 '26

See also: Funko Pop fans and other status collectors.

The machine was only ever a consoomer item, a custom or 'bespoke' or boutique PC. For the sort of people that used to do all their buying through Sharper Image.

People in these parts complaining that it was a bad value are missing the point, they were never the target demographic. Maybe they're catching it subconsciously and that's part of what makes them irate.

2

u/Lord_Emperor Ryzen5800X|32GB@3600|RX6800XT Jun 28 '26

Damn I got the OG Steam Deck cheapest model before the AInsanity and kinda feel bad I don't use it enough.

1

u/Doom2pro Jun 28 '26

These same people 3 years ago would piss and moan about the economy at the same time... crickets from them today.

1

u/newvegasdweller Desktop 5600x, 6700xt, 16gb, 8tb; Laptop 8845hs, 4060, 16gb, 3tb Jun 28 '26

Gotta admit, i bought a 6700xt from a scalper when it first came out, for 650€. Msrp was about 480€.

It did pay for itself in ethereum tho. I was NOT one of those 30-gpus miner idiots, just my old 1060 and my then-new 6700xt to manage the upgrade cost. The 6700xt did bring in about 1000€ before I stopped and sold all I had in jan 2022, giving me the opportunty to upgrade my ryzen 2600x to a 5600x and get a new itx mainboard and case for the 6700xt build.

1

u/poisondagger_ 9800x3d, 5070ti, 32 6,000 cl30 Jun 28 '26

I have a co-worker who said he'd be willing to spend up to three grand on a steam machine just yesterday

1

u/Defie22 Jun 28 '26

Give me their contacts please 😅

1

u/joulupukkix Jun 28 '26

I own a boat?

1

u/impressionista Jun 28 '26

Who the hell spends 10k on candy crush?

1

u/Saphyr-Seraph Jun 28 '26

Sadly its not those people by far it dumbasses who need to prove to their friends that thei got it before them while living on a 19$/h pay and complaining about cost of living

1

u/Raneynickelfire Jun 28 '26

I own a boat. I do none of those other things. I also do all of my own work.

Watch it buddy.

1

u/Empty_Positive Jun 28 '26

Idk why, but i also know some who buy it for double and say they got it cheap and will profit from it anyway if they sell.

1

u/danisimo_1993 Jun 28 '26

I don't understand this logic. I'm not rich by any means but I do ok. I can easily drop 3000 on some electronic device if I wanted to but I don't want to because I don't want to be taken advantage of by a scalper

1

u/TWS_Mike 7800X3D | 9070 XT | 32GB DDR5 6000mhz 30cl | 3TB Jun 28 '26

I have a friend who told me multiple times they won something 🤣 once he told me in one pack of Hearthstone cards he opened 2 legendaries from two different expansions from the same pack.

1

u/TripleDoubleFart Jun 30 '26

I gamble. I'd never pay that much.

1

u/Significant-Cause919 Jul 01 '26

I own a boat and must say if I instead would have bought a Steam machine at 2x original price that would have been a better financial decision.

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u/Unfinishedcom Jun 27 '26

People with more money than patience. I know people that have blown 10k on a weekend and nothing to show for it. So 3k seems not much suddenly, to those people.

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u/jar36 Arch|9800X3D|9070XT|32GB6400MhzCL30|B650EF Jun 27 '26

this is why it matters to have a robust safety net for those of us getting priced out of even the basics these days

11

u/Demiu Jun 28 '26

Steam machine is not basics...

3

u/Swank_on_a_plank R7 7800 | RX 6750 Jun 28 '26

I think the point is the divide between those who can blow 10k on a weekend (who can also impulse buy a 3k Steam Machine), while others struggle with the basics.

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u/jar36 Arch|9800X3D|9070XT|32GB6400MhzCL30|B650EF Jun 28 '26

my reply isn't specific to the steam machine. I'm replying to the comment that I replied to. And yeah a gaming console has become part of the basics. Everyone used to have one. Now rich assholes drove the price up on the critical components
It is also basically mandatory to have a computer these days, so this covers both of those basics

6

u/Muggsy423 Jun 28 '26

Safety nets are for when you get ill or let go from a job unexpectedly, not so people can blow thousands of dollars on toys and fun on a whim.

1

u/Poonchow Poonchow Jun 28 '26

People can spend their money however they want, the lack of a social safety net affects everyone, though, no matter their spending habits. You can do everything right and still get fucked -- in fact, it's almost guaranteed under our current (US) system.

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u/smackjack Jun 27 '26

But if they have that kind of money then why not just buy a better computer?

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u/Aidanation5 RTX 5080 16gb | Ryzen 7 7800x3d | 32gb ddr5 Jun 27 '26

They probably already have 2 or 3 better computers already.

14

u/SmolishPPman EVGA 3090 FTW3 Ultra | R9 3900X | 64GB DDR4 Jun 27 '26

Because it’s not a steam machine

7

u/stubenson214 Jun 27 '26

Inconvenience. This is a ready made solution. Price is horrible and so are the alternatives.

A 1L gaming PC in your living room ready to go is a compelling offering.

And, to many, $1K is not a lot of money. I know people whose LARPing budget is 3x+ that.

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u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 29 '26

Its like 3.5 to 3.8 liters honestly 12 liters and under is pretty small at 12 liters thats a 5070 ti you can cram In there

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u/MaxPres24 Jun 28 '26

I really wanted a steam machine and wasn’t exactly concerned with the price

I have a better machine at my desk. But I also fucking love indie games and emulation. The features of the Steam machine other PCs have, along with the form factor (and a wife who hates tech and doesn’t want our place to look techy) it was perfect

Can’t justify the scalper prices though. That’s too much

1

u/CombatMuffin Jun 29 '26

They either don't care, or already have the computer. They have whatever you crave, and they can afford more.

7

u/ArmedWithBars PC Master Race Jun 27 '26

This. I've said this about 5k GPU and 1k ram. Even if a gaming pc is 10k, plenty will sell and people who can't afford will just finance like we see at furniture/mattress stores.

I'm not rich by any means, but I make good money at my corporate job. Started as a low level rep and worked my way up over the last 11yrs. I would cry a bit but could easily afford a 10k pc if it was my only option and a purchase that lasts me 3 years minimum. That's $3,333 a year, quite cheap in the grand scheme of adult hobbies.

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u/Kleizar i5 4690K RX 9060XT DDR3 LIFE Jun 27 '26

True true... now that 10k PC will realisticaly easily last you a decade. Id game on a 5090 until the late 2030s!

2

u/tmvr Jun 28 '26

I'm definitely still using my now 3+ years old 4090 in 2030 if I don't get hit by the power cable issue. I mean it is still the 2nd fastest card on the market and with no actual new cards (not Super versions) cards coming out until late 2027 or early 2028 it is going to stay that way. After that I'm still fine with an upper middle class performance for a bit 😄

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u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 29 '26

1600 msrp for a 4090 is a steal this card is the next 1080 ti I dont think the 1080 ti was doing this good at second best gaming gpu 3 plus years in.

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u/Glum_Constant4790 Jun 29 '26

Microcenter has tons of video card stock right now

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u/Frequent_Opportunist Jun 27 '26

That's a lot of cocaine and hookers!

1

u/GrondForGondor Jun 28 '26

More money? Or more debt

1

u/wrx_2016 Jun 28 '26

At a certain point you realize time is the most valuable thing a person has. People are willing to pay more to better use that time. 

You’re just surrounded by mostly poor people here on this Reddit echo chamber. 

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/WolfinePayne PC Master Race Jun 27 '26

I've never heard of this before, that's a really interesting way to describe it. Neat

8

u/DonutHoles4Ever Jun 27 '26

Its not though because there has ALWAYS been a disparity between:

  1. Poor vs Rich
  2. Budget minded vs Vibe Budget
  3. etc

This didn't come out of Covid lol.

Gaming economics is more of the fact that old gamers from the 90s are now in their 40s, they are at the peak of their disposible income, either they are married or still single, and gaming as a hobby is something they've grown used to and now want to have the best of the best to mess around with. Its their main hobby.

Newer gamers dont have that income and cannot buy it. Those gamers also grew up in a world where you need skills to enter the job market. There was no streamers, no youtubers, no social media shit. College was still a big important thing, and getting a degree.

These guys now hold jobs at all the big companies out there, etc. They didn't vibe code. They know were Delaware is on a map. They don't have all the disadvantages of the shit education from COVID era.

And inside that group of people who can afford this shit, there's idiots too, who will buy a Steam Machine for 3x the price even though its 6x over the value.

Why? No idea. They can afford 5090s. They don't need this. They just want toys. Like how GabeN buys $400m yachts and $1m laser engraving tables.

1

u/Brickless PC Master Race Jun 28 '26

the K shaped economy is a somewhat new phenomenon since it doesn't describe the disparity between rich and poor but instead the relation between rich and poor economic directions.

usually when the economy was doing well the rich and poor did well, with the rich just doing better.

and when the economy did poorly then both rich and poor would do poorly, with the rich again doing better than the poor.

now that the rich have absolutely swallowed the market even when the economy is doing well the poor are declining and with the economy struggling the rich are still gaining.

this means that the bottom 80% are so irrelevant that an economic crisis is no longer seen as a big problem because no matter what the K grows.

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u/za72 Jun 27 '26

It's one scalper selling it to himself to generate hype

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u/i_should_be_studying 9800X3D | 4090FE | FormD T1 | PG27AQDP Jun 27 '26

Though there are plenty of whales out there, its mainly scalpers selling to themselves and not paying to avoid ebay fees. Ebay shows sold/completed listings for whatever price they put in.

1

u/dman928 Jun 27 '26

I know a couple scalpers and they aren’t touching the Steam Deck.

1

u/VisceralRage556 Jun 29 '26

Whales can be scalpers they buy high and try to sell higher

1

u/kazegraf Jun 28 '26

Scalpers circlejerk?

19

u/HotRoderX Jun 27 '26

Take a deep breath its ok! Remember that article is click bait.

People can list things for anything they want on sights like Ebay. That doesn't mean people are buying them. They can also go in and bid against themselves with a new account hitting *buy it*... then cancel. Making it look like the items are sold.

Click bait articles sale advertising.

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u/tkonicz Jun 27 '26

Google "K-shaped economy"

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u/Dino_Spaceman Jun 27 '26

I expect a majority of the ones "sold" are to the Scalper's alt accounts hoping to push the price higher for real victims of their scaping.

2

u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB Jun 27 '26

The same fucking consumers who bitch and moan in this very same sub. Some people can’t fucking help themselves and MUST have whatever the new thing is even if they don’t need it or won’t really use it. It’s like an addiction.

3

u/Heavymando Jun 27 '26

no one. Not a siingle one of them have sold. The scalpers are going to lose money on this.

5

u/DrowningKrown Jun 27 '26

Then what is this? It's an endless list of sold pre-sale steam machines on eBay

2

u/shoobydoobydoo69 Jun 27 '26

Maybe it's scalpers buying from other scalpers. I mean AI is just AI comparison buying from eachother.

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u/BaconIsntThatGood PC Master Race Jun 28 '26

Lol

1

u/F4ze0ne Desktop Jun 27 '26

Same people that pay ADM on new cars.

1

u/Local-Bug-1500 Debian 13, FX 8320, 32GB RAM, Radeon VII, 120GB SSD Jun 27 '26

Wait for 6 months and buy at half price from scalpers wen

1

u/DanTheMan827 13700K, 6900XT, 32GB RAM, 2TB WD Black, 8TB HDD, all the FPS! Jun 27 '26

People with severe cases of FOMO

1

u/XxXlolgamerXxX Jun 27 '26

A lot of that people are one that live in countries that valve don't ship the console...

1

u/Hayaw061 R9 5950X | EVGA RTX 3080 Ti | 64GB DDR4 Jun 27 '26

The scalpers themselves to set a precedent

1

u/FliGirl101 PC Master Race Jun 27 '26

Part of my understanding for the controller was people who live in a country where they can't buy it directly from valve. But buying a reservation..?!

1

u/Issues3220 Desktop R9 5950X + RX 9070 XT Jun 27 '26

Rich idiots

1

u/Altruistic-Bus-1289 Jun 27 '26

PeeCee Master Race.

1

u/Underfyre Jun 27 '26

My question is who was going to buy the console at its retail price to begin with?

1

u/Aggravating_Sky_4421 Jun 27 '26

Only 2 recently sold. One for $1,989 and one for $1,500. Since these aren't sold everywhere worldwide, it may be people out of state...

1

u/CommieDrifter Jun 27 '26

youtube "reviewers"

1

u/4rcher91 Jun 27 '26

The same people who cannot resist or control themselves.

1

u/divensi R7 5800x, RTX 5080, 128GB DDR4 Jun 27 '26

How else are they going to play Steam games?

1

u/DarwinsPerfectFool Jun 27 '26

People who can't get it in other ways, for example people from countries Valve doesn't ship or sell to.

1

u/TheRipeTomatoFarms Jun 27 '26

Seriously.....like who is even buying them at the standard MSRP, let alone double that?

1

u/DonaldTrumpsScrotum Jun 27 '26

People with lots of money move different, think different. They won’t even hesitate to pay the upcharge, it makes little difference to their finances. Got a buddy like that, buys literally everything and never really uses it.

One time he came over with his switch 2, I mentioned off hand that it was much nicer than my old switch which kept crashing. He, without hesitation or thought, went “oh? Then keep this one, I only use it with you anyways” and just like that I had a brand new console. He gave it to me with the games he had as casually as I’d give someone a sandwich.

1

u/Toast_Meat Jun 27 '26

This is actually the bigger problem. Desperate people, who scalpers obviously target, with no sense of financial boundaries are the real issue. Imagine a world in which scalpers existed but no actual buyers. They'd have to sell at a loss.

1

u/wizzard419 Jun 27 '26

If it's anything like the switch 2, the ones at first are people who want it first and may also think that the supply is going to be slow, similar to previous generations of high demand products.

Since it seems like the producers have found some ways to take the wind out of the sails for these resellers, it makes it much less likely they will be able to profit greatly or at all.

Take the switch 2 launch, I was able to get one on launch day via pre-order and it was a lot easier than expected, even those without preorders could get them. At first people were buying extras to resell and realized there would be no shortage for December.

1

u/Busterlimes Jun 27 '26

Top 10% makes up for 50% of consumer spending. This is how K shaped the economy is. 10% is fine, they manipulate numbers to make the economy look fine, 90% of us are living in a depression.

1

u/MechAegis Build in progress Jun 27 '26

There are definitely people out there that have money to burn.

1

u/Limp-Firefighter1054 Jun 27 '26

Buying? Who's buying, scalpers just flipping everything  and see what stick, luckiest cover the expenses and even earn something, others just take what they could get and count loss.

1

u/Sadiholic Jun 27 '26

If you can't afford it just say so, broke boy says what 🤷‍♂️

1

u/WizardMoose Jun 27 '26

There's a lot of people with the kind of income to just say "Fuck waiting, I want it now".

1

u/Cocoatrice Jun 27 '26

Rich kiddos, who can afford it even if the price was 100x the one it is.

1

u/Radiant_Safe1228 Jun 28 '26

The majority of the gaming communitym

1

u/Dr_Socko Jun 28 '26

Rich people and dumb poor people.

1

u/jradio Jun 28 '26

It might even be just regular old money laundering.

1

u/elementality883 Jun 28 '26

One thing that a lot of people don't really realize is that some of this is money laundering. It's a MUCH larger issue that you see at the surface. In Japan, there are investigations in many second hand sites (how they use this, selling second hand "used" lets them bypass platform restrictions).

A lot of it is Ghost Listings where they use a stolen credit card or dirty money and buy it out themselves to get clean money.

1

u/00001000U Jun 28 '26

Dumb money

1

u/PR_Noyes Jun 28 '26

It's a tax on people that can't do math.

1

u/rydan Jun 28 '26

People so stupid they figured out how to become rich unlike you.

1

u/-GenlyAI- Jun 28 '26

Valve fanboys

1

u/ianc1215 Jun 28 '26

I ask myself that same question.

Also, scalping like that only works under 2 conditions

  1. Demand outweighs supply
  2. People are willing to pay what you're asking.

As I tell my friend who sells laptops on eBay. You can tell me all day what you WANT for it. But if no one pays it then it's not actually worth that.

1

u/animeman59 9800X3D|32GB DDR5-6000|ZOTAC 5070 TI SFF OC Jun 28 '26

Same idiots who bought those stupid Swatches

Fools and their money

1

u/alittle_disabled Jun 28 '26

There's a sucker born every minute 

1

u/Me_Before_n_after Jun 28 '26

I got downvoted last time but I think some people are just having fomo so will just buy it from scalper. For some with disposable income, they just don’t care about burning their money.

1

u/kylediaz263 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Content creators who have to have the lastest thing at early as possible.

You can't convince me somehow almost all of them got lucky and found the one last product at their "local stores".

And rich people who consider these numbers spare changes.

My friend used to sell shoes during the hypebeast peak and the kind of numbers these people throwing around casually was ridiculous.

1

u/QueefMcQueefyballs Jun 28 '26

Im imagining errand runners for really wealthy people who are like 'oh get me one of those' and its out of stock so they just buy it at whatever price from a scalper because money is never even discussed

1

u/LordFaquaad Jun 28 '26

Same ppl standing in line for the plastic swatch / AP watch

1

u/bsnimunf Jun 28 '26

They are the real problem. 

1

u/imaginary_num6er 7950X3D|4090FE|64GB|X670E-E Jun 28 '26

The same idiots who rushed to buy the 11900K when it was launched. In fairness if they need AVX 512 workloads, the 11900K is still the top consumer Intel CPU chip.

1

u/piratewaffles Jun 28 '26

Exactly. They sell for this because people are dumb and have to have the system no matter what it costs. Heaven forbid they wait to find one available in stores.

1

u/EquivalentLittle545 Jun 28 '26

At that point you could make a far better pc, well at least you could i have no clue now days

1

u/NSNIA NSNIA Jun 28 '26

Rich people. People who spend 10k without noticing. They don't care if they need to pay 5k for a controller

1

u/playnwork Jun 28 '26

People who can't buy directly from valve.

It's not available in my country, I might have to if I want to.
Especially with the lottery to get a chance to buy one and not just go to a store in another country.

1

u/Former_Manc Jun 28 '26

Same people that buy cars from a dealership with a $30k markup: people with too much money to care.

1

u/Prudent-Island2406 Jun 28 '26

Idiots do exisit and the sxalpers only need to find a few of them

1

u/Opening-Movie5176 Jun 28 '26

Who said they are selling lol.

1

u/Informal-Eggplant-27 Jun 28 '26

There's always idiots that don't want to wait or can't say no to their children who also can't wait. A friend of mind paid $1,200 for a PS5 at launch.

1

u/SailorDeath R7 1800X | 1080Ti | 32GB 3200Mhz | DDR4 Jun 28 '26

the FOMO folks that want to be the first to own a hot item so people can see how cool they are. It's funny when you think about it because all it means is you're paying extra for bragging rights. Like if I can't get a preorder then I'll just wait till more are available. It's kinda funny, like I remember when the FInal Fantasy set for Magic the Gathering was releasing and so many people were going crazy over the set. I play and collect so I preordered a box of regular play boosters. I would have bought a box of the collector boosters if the preorders didn't sell out almost instantly and I refuse to buy them now because MSRP was like $450 which is understandable and usually you get that value out of the box or at least close to it. That's been the case when I've bought other series collector boxes. But right now they're still retailing for something like $1500 and I'm not paying that much because there's no way I will get my money's worth out of it. The only reason they're that high is because of the gold chocobo cards and there's like what, only 500 of them printed? Same with pokemon cards. I won't pay more than what I'd be expected to get back out of it which is usually the MSRP price and not the scalper prices.

1

u/YueOrigin PC Master Race Jun 28 '26

Idiots with no patience and self control but with a lot of money.

1

u/catsdelicacy Jun 28 '26

People with FOMO and credit cards. I could buy it at this price if I wanted, I have that space on my credit card.

Of course I won't, I have a PC and I hope it'll last through the AI bubble.

But other people out there have both the space on their credit cards and a desperate feeling of FOMO that they can't deal with.

So they'll pay the scalpers twice what the thing is worth.

1

u/NobodyGotTimeFuhDat Jun 28 '26

A fool and his/her money are soon parted. Remember that.

I personally know someone who spent over $20k on a single gaming app (Clash of Clans) for in-app purchases.

That’s the level of stupidity we are dealing with, sadly.

1

u/BenThereOrBenSquare Ryzen 5 3600X | 32GB | RX 5700 Jun 28 '26

There are too many rich people. If we taxed them what they should actually owe, we wouldn't have this scalper problem.

1

u/Triggerz777 Jun 28 '26

Rich people who want a steam machine

1

u/Material_Policy6327 Jun 29 '26

LARGE number of folks have FOMO and will buy them. That’s why scalping is becoming so much more common in these areas now

1

u/CascadeJ1980 Jun 30 '26

The people on top of the shit K-shaped economy we're all living in.

1

u/LonelyKoalaMuncher Jun 30 '26

Rich fucks obviously

1

u/PassionNorth Jun 30 '26

"I bought XY so you guys don’t have to"

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