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How can I buy a PS5?

Lokii

Lokii

—
(He/Him)
Staff member
Moderator
This is a serious thread and I'm looking for real advice here. I haven't bought a Sony console since the PSP (unless the PSX Mini counts) and it feels weird to want a new one, especially one at launch, especially with all the barriers in place this year, and yet I find myself in a position where I'm pretty determined to get one on Thursday. I was coming to terms with the idea of camping in front of a Gamestop during a pandemic when Sony put the kibosh on those kind of shenanigans. Now I'm not sure about the best course of action and could use some advice. PS5 sales will be through online only and I have no idea how to be best prepared. Should I be camping on websites and refreshing at midnight? Midnight eastern? Are early morning sales going to be a thing? If not, when should I be prepped and primed to F5? Is this going to be an all-day commitment to refreshing? I've been trying to find out information but all the news sites are simply saying "sales go live on Thursday." I was hoping that maybe some of you might have better information or at least experience doing this kinda thing yourself and could offer some helpful hints.

I just want to play FF15 and KH3 but this is turning into a frustrating hassle!
 
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WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

I was just at Target yesterday, and they had signage up about this: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/ps5-in-stock-target

TL;DR - they'll have launch day consoles, but you have to make an online order and then pick up in-store; you can't buy directly from the store itself. I also expect that they won't have that much stock available either. Something like this might be your best bet, aside from just being patient and waiting a month or two for inventories to restock.
 
4-So

4-So

Spicy
You might consider stalking the PS5 thread at CAG, which was how I got tipped off to the Amazon pre-order short link you could use before the actual page at Amazon even went live. I also snagged one at Best Buy, and that was just a waiting game for literally about five hours before the site was stable enough for an order to go through. I don't suspect there will be that level of shenanigans but prepare for a "right place, right time" kind of scenario if you're adamant on getting one.

Another thing is in-stock alerts if any retailers offer those. I know Walmart does. Haven't checked the others. In terms of site refreshes, Best Buy is usually 1:00AM EST; Target is 3:00AM EST. Not sure about the other major retailers. In any case, I would expect any kind of new sales to be shortly after midnight or thereabouts. Honestly, probably open the PS5 pages on several tabs, one for each retailer, and start playing the refresh game around 11:00PM EST on Wednesday night. If you're juggernautin' to get one, may also want to call customer service at the respective retailers and see if they have information.

I have a friend who actually got hers through Gamefly of all places. It had to be in a bundle but it's a launch day unit. Might be worth a shot to look in some sometimes unconventional places - Sam's Club, Costco, NewEgg, B&H Photo, etc. Outside of those, what Wisteria said. I'm sure some people opted for store pickup and those pre-orders fell through, for whatever reason. It'll be worth calling around.
 
Lokii

Lokii

—
(He/Him)
Staff member
Moderator
WisteriaHysteria said:
I was just at Target yesterday, and they had signage up about this: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/ps5-in-stock-target
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been looking at Tom's Guide's coverage. Purchasing online at Target and then picking up would be ideal, honestly. What none of these guides say is about what time the orders are going to go live, and that's what I'm most concerned about. They're going to go quick once they're live and I want to be there and ready when they do.

4-So said:
Another thing is in-stock alerts if any retailers offer those. I know Walmart does. Haven't checked the others. In terms of site refreshes, Best Buy is usually 1:00AM EST; Target is 3:00AM EST. Not sure about the other major retailers. In any case, I would expect any kind of new sales to be shortly after midnight or thereabouts. Honestly, probably open the PS5 pages on several tabs, one for each retailer, and start playing the refresh game around 11:00PM EST on Wednesday night. If you're juggernautin' to get one, may also want to call customer service at the respective retailers and see if they have information.
Click to expand...

Awesome! This is very helpful. I have no clue what time these things tend to go up so knowing that an overnight timeframe is likely really helps.
 
ThornGhost

ThornGhost

lofi posts to relax/study to
(he/him)
Yeah, I'm also doing that grind. Pre-order shenanigans tripped me up hard and I wasn't able to get one. I called my local Target and they essentially said "You have to order it online. We don't know when they'll be in stock. Load up the site and start refreshing at midnight I guess." Thanks bro.

Getting the 5% off at Target with a Redcard is probably the best deal you can reasonable hope for price wise. I ordered a DS5 through Target and got that sweet sweet discount so I expect it will work on the console as well.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

4-So said:
Might be worth a shot to look in some sometimes unconventional places - Sam's Club, Costco, NewEgg, B&H Photo, etc.
Click to expand...
I've historically had pretty good success getting consoles at or near launch from Costco. Costco's online game isn't as strong as some other retailers, so their website doesn't get hit by floods of deal hoarders. And regardless of their online operation, they usually ship a certain number of machines out to retail stores, which surprisingly don't get descended upon as quickly as others. So if you can figure out when they'll be getting their shipments in, getting one in-store is pretty dooable. Buying from Costco also comes with that juicy Costco warrantee as well; I bought an XBone back in the day and returned it to them for a full refund like a year later when I realized it was a bad purchase. No clue if they've amended their console return policies since then, but yeah.
 
Zef

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
I don't think it's possible to find a retailer this close to release, but, it's in their best interest to get a fresh supply ready for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday gift season. I'll probably start scouring the major sites around 11/23.
 
Gaer

Gaer

chat.exe a cessé de fonctionner
Staff member
Moderator
WisteriaHysteria said:
I've historically had pretty good success getting consoles at or near launch from Costco. Costco's online game isn't as strong as some other retailers, so their website doesn't get hit by floods of deal hoarders. And regardless of their online operation, they usually ship a certain number of machines out to retail stores, which surprisingly don't get descended upon as quickly as others. So if you can figure out when they'll be getting their shipments in, getting one in-store is pretty dooable. Buying from Costco also comes with that juicy Costco warrantee as well; I bought an XBone back in the day and returned it to them for a full refund like a year later when I realized it was a bad purchase. No clue if they've amended their console return policies since then, but yeah.
Click to expand...
Costco does tend to force you into buying a bundle (still less than MSRP of individual items). Usually its two controllers and a game that you may or may not want.
 
Sprite

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
Wario64 on Twitter has gotten me many an impossible buy, if you don’t mind getting lots of notifications that aren’t relevant to you as well. Tends to be quicker on the draw than other sources I’ve tried.
 
estragon

estragon

Sprite said:
Wario64 on Twitter has gotten me many an impossible buy, if you don’t mind getting lots of notifications that aren’t relevant to you as well. Tends to be quicker on the draw than other sources I’ve tried.
Click to expand...

Similarly, while I don't want a PS5 and don't know the specifics for a PS5, someone somewhere (Reddit? Major Gaming Forum?) has almost certainly already made a Discord channel where a bot tells you the instant one comes into stock.

There will be thousands of other people using this, so you're still competing with them . . . but it's a better shot than than just hitting refresh, and maybe their bot is different than wario64's bot and will find things he didn't.
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
This thread is relevant to my interests. I don't think I'm going to hardcore stake-out the internet on Wednesday night, but I'll at least try going to various store websites to see if I can manage an order somewhere.
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

Thraeg said:
Major electronics are 90-day returns now. Still better than most other retailers.
Click to expand...
That’s been their policy for over a decade now, but during most of that time, video game consoles were categorized as “toys” and thus exempt from the electronics policy. That might have changed but ya, that’s where I was coming from. 3 months no questions asked is still a lot better than most retailers.
 
Becksworth

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Welp, the screen on my old phone is dying and I ending up getting a higher end phone from last year for $500 on sale, so I’m definitely going to be sitting out on a new consoles at least this holiday season, unless PS5 or Series X/S games show up on their respective cloud services...
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
People in the CAG thread have said they bought their Series X from Target starting at 1AM EST. I think I'm only gonna try Target tonight and then apparently Walmart all day tomorrow. I downloaded their apps as that was also some advice I read because it might be more stable compared to the website? I can believe that.
 
4-So

4-So

Spicy
I haven't received a shipping notification yet but Demon's Souls, AC Valhalla, and the PS5 were all debited from my bank account early this morning, as was the PS5 from Amazon. The Amazon order actually shows shipped; Best Buy orders show "preparing" but I've learned that doesn't necessarily mean anything since they don't seem to be as spry with giving accurate info for pre-orders.

Point being is that retailers obviously have product, so start your engines. Word around the campfire is that all the major retailers will have limited stock available at their brick-and-mortars, you'll just need to place the order online for store pickup.

Good luck, friends, and happy hunting!
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
I must've spent a couple hours last night trying to get one but it never happened. Once I finally got in to the Sony store they announced they were out of stock until later today.

However! I woke up early this morning and it just so happened to be right when Best Buy started adding stock, and after about 30 minutes of frustration and constant refreshes, I got an order through! It's not supposed to get to my store until the 20th, but I'm okay with that.
 
Cyrael

Cyrael

...we're shy.
(he/him)
Costco online bundle went up this morning and is still showing available if you are a Costco Member and logged in. I snagged it. Bundle with Spiderman, and an extra controller!
 
WisteriaHysteria

WisteriaHysteria

unknown.png

My PS5 has apparently been sitting at a Fedex distribution center since 2pm yesterday, but now it's just in limbo. I don't think I've ever had a positive experience with Fedex ever in my life. Fuck that shitty business into oblivion.
 
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