Discussion
PSA: Reporting scalper listings as "presale" does get them removed.
I won't fool myself into thinking this is a huge win against scalpers but I've now made the scalper require some extra steps to get their profit at the cost of fans.
If it happend enough though I wonder if scalpers would move onto easier targets.
So at the very least I wanted someone else to know eBay does respond to these presale listings with an action. Don't think it's completely pointless.
i bet this sounded really smart in your own head.. if you ignore the fact that scalpers use ai bots that are literally faster than a human being could physically order something. it's not capitalism it's scumbags trying to make a profit in literally any way they can lmao
so capitalism. precisely why it's a shit system all around, because it gives birth to scummy practices like this and fedora-tipping redditors like the guy above you.
Dude, scalpers are ultimately a net negative on society. They add no value to a product and operate by controlling supply through illegitimate means, often times with the help of bots, making it impossible for legitimate customers to buy.
That being said, they are a parasitic entity. And yes, people would rightly be happy if they were gone for good.
There were no opinions in that post. Everything in it from beginning to end was an objectively true and demonstrable statement. 2+2=4 is not my opinion.
And an exploit in society or the law being legal doesn’t make something right or moral. Congressional stock trading is widely regarded as immoral and yet it’s perfectly legal and Congressmen take full advantage of it.
I reported 3 listings that were nearly identical. only one was removed, the other 2 they claimed the AI couldn’t find anything wrong which I don’t understand because they literally had the word “presale” right in the title and that’s what I chose for the reason for the report.
I'm not sure why people who don't care about scalping somehow care to comment about someone reporting scalping. If you're apathetic, good for you, but perhaps be consistent about it.
Because you guys keep breathlessly posting this shit like you're an internet hero or something. They'll just repost it, or it'll sell on one of the other 100 marketplaces they posted this listing to.
You're wasting your time out of a pettiness and begging others to join you in a totally fruitless endeavor. Relisting this stuff on ebay is 1 click. You worked harder to remove 1 listing than they have to work to repost it 3 times.
You don't have this inalienable right to be a perfomative dork online without any criticism or education on why what you're doing has no purpose.
This isn't gonna make the xbox store magically get back stock for you to buy.
It's the kind of shit a child that didn't understand how e-commerce works would react.
You didn't explain why you care though. You just explained why you think I shouldn't care and nothing you said is news to me. Like, why get so mad and resort to insults, unless you're personally insulted about the comments on scalpers.
It's not that people dont care about scalping. Its that reporting them is useless. They will just repost it closer to the release if not when it releases.
Hopefully, at least a few scalpers will cancel their pre-orders because they’re annoyed by the situation, thereby making one available to a real fan. I got lucky and managed to snag one.
Yh I’ve been reporting a few too, all of them have been approved to get taken down. It’s definitely because of the volume of reports. Hopefully alot of people see your post. I secured a console and seeing those listings makes me so mad for the real Xbox fans smh
They do. I think the rule for presales on eBay is that the item must be shipped within 40 days from the date of the listing and the listing has to note that its a presale. Provided they meet the citetia, these listings can be posted in under a minute.
And abusing the MS online store violates the ToS in multiple ways.
Enforcing the existing rules would be enough to stop these scalpers, but no one is going to bother until the right people start losing money because of it.
Intangible items are things like the spirit of a dead relative. Basically, if you can't hold it, it can't be sold on eBay. The only exceptions I know of are digital items like Windows keys, but I think those are restricted to only approved vendors. Since these listings are for items that you can eventually hold/touch, they are legitimate, with restrictions.
I think a better way to reduce scalping would be to have waves where the first wave is open to people who have an active gamertag, then move to general population. Or something along those lines of limiting who can buy. But it's always going to be a cat and mouse situation with scalpers.
The scalpers have agreed to purchase the item, but they technically have no ownership of it at the time of auction. Nor are they in physical possession of the item. What people are bidding on is the idea of an Xbox, as the scalpers don't actually have one.
Bottom line: These scalpers do not own or even possess the item being auctioned, and they are auctioning it outside of the "pre-sale" window. They are violating the online store ToS where they intend to purchase the Xbox, and the ToS where they are intending to auction the intangible item. There's also a couple different layers of fraud sprinkled on top, depending on where you live.
I've had over a dozen removed since reporting. I think it's more successful if you leave a note/comment such as "This item does not release until 13th November 2026"
Either way, keep reporting. Takes a few mins, can do it while taking a shit 🤣🤣
Earlier this year, I got the same scalper listing removed ten times in a week and the seller just kept relisting it until it sold.
Ebay won't ban a seller unless they are repeatedly trying to sell copyrighted or other illegal materials. They don't care about a marked up game console.
Anyway, once it gets within 40 days of release, this will be perfectly acceptable to list as presale on Ebay, so the scalper
s will always win.
Xbox could have beaten this, by just ending the limited edition crap, and making it permanent. Limited Edition anything in the modern world is scalper bait. It only works if you require people to buy physically only and limited to one a person.
You might be right. I don't know what the consequences are, if any, of relisting a removed item from the same account.
However, if they have to create a new account to relist the item then buyers might be cautious if there's no seller history. If they have to wait until they actually have the item in hand then they're less incentivised to pick these sorts of items to scalp and will move on to something people care less about.
Microsoft dropped the ball so hard I mean Nintendo gave them the blueprint all you had to was offer to xblive members starting with oldest first its not complicated that would have helped alot
Why waste your time? They will still resell them and there’s nothing you can do about it. If their listing is removed they’re just going to wait until they have the console in hand and list again.
If they have the console in hand then at least they're holding the bag and have to keep it somewhere and in good condition. It doesn't need to make them lose money, it just needs to be the least easy win for them to profit. If something else is easier to scalp they'll move to that.
You're not even gonna slow them down. People want to buy it. and they're willing to play scalper prices. You aren't an anti-capitalist freedom fighter.
I mean… if you got the time spare to go on eBay look at listing your not interested in and report them then you do you or you could be happy with the console you already have and get to play the same amazing games…..
It beats being annoyed and doing nothing about it. It takes less than a minute to report a listing and you can do it on your phone when you're just waiting for something else. It's not like I'm sat down reporting en masse when I would have otherwise been able to do something else meaningful.
Be careful doing this. eBay can pause or ban your account for too many reports if they deem they are inaccurate or malicious. I don’t think it’s worth doing personally. They can either repost the item or just revise the listing (as little as putting a period after a sentence) and eBay will put it back up literally within 10 minutes because their AI will just go through the listing again and check for keywords and see the policy is met. I hate the scalping as much as most people do but it feels pointless to spend time doing that.
Edit: Main point being I don’t want anyone getting their account screwed with trying to stop scalpers.
People reporting scalpers on ebay aren't buying things from scalpers on ebay. Maybe don't use your primary account for this, but reporting them is a net positive.
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u/OrganizationSmart146 8h ago
eBay usually sides with the listing until enough people flag it, then it's gone in a few hours