How can I buy a PS5?

[John]

I got lucky by turning on notifications for Wario64 on Twitter, and snagged one from Amazon in the minute they were available. I had no luck with the Walmart crumbs that were being doled out through the day, or the Best Buy cart teasing.

I just told my wife what I did, and that now my Christmas and Birthday are taken care of. She was less than happy for me.

 

[Lokii]

Target was a bust, Cosco was a bust, I watched the noon Walmart be a bust, and said I'm not going to put myself through this anymore. I went back to my original plan and picked up a PS4 slim for a cool $300 and FF7. PS4 is what I wanted to play with this anyway and I'll pick up a 5 a couple years down the line for 7-2 probably. Feelin pretty good about this decision but lord knows I hemmed and hawed on it to a comical degree. Gaming truly does make clowns of us all.

 

[jpfriction]

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.

Slightly better news than "Memphis, TN". That's where all fedex shipments go to die, especially international ones.

Let me know if they accidentally deliver a single-shot autocorrelator instead, been waiting on an update on my case for that for about 4 months now.

 

[4-So]

My PS5 and AC Valhalla were re-scheduled for tomorrow; Demon's Souls comes in on Monday. All of it shipped with UPS.

Having said that, the extra unit I had arrived today, currently sitting in my bedroom waiting for its new owner to pick it up, also delivered with UPS. I guess Amazon was more prepared or overnight shipping is taken more seriously there than it is at Best Buy.

In any case, tomorrow for me.

 

[MetManMas]

I'm glad that I don't care about picking up consoles at launch. I'm just gonna wait a couple of years until a lot more stuff I want is out or coming, like I did with the PS4.

 

[ThornGhost]

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.

I have bombed spectacularly in acquiring a PS5, but let me pass along my terrible FedEx story for pleasant commiseration.

A couple of years ago before my daughter was born, we were trying to buy a piece of baby furniture from Amazon. It never arrived. Contacted Amazon, they realized they never shipped it or anything and promised to ship us another. That one never arrived. Called again, they promised to ship it again and are just head scratching why we never got our item.

Well, it turns out that whatever process they used to send us another product auto-generated a return label and pickup from FedEx but then they shipped us a new item through UPS.

Fucking TWICE, the item was delivered, then the other delivery company rolled by with a return label, grabbed the new item, slapped the label on it and took it to ship back to Amazon, all without anyone realizing. We were never at home when this happened. When we got to the bottom of it, I called up FedEx just livid. They absolutely couldn't see the problem.

"A third party gave you a shipping label and told you to go get something from our home. At no point did I ever give you permission to take my things. What you did was theft." I explained very calmly.

"No, that's just our business."

"No, dude. You were a hired thief. Could I just place an order for a shipping label and tell you to go get something from someone else's home or business without them agreeing to it?"

"Uhm."

Anyway, I was very close to FedEx saying they would never do business with me again because I was accusing them of crimes that they absolutely committed.

Finally got our furniture, though.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Anyway, I was very close to FedEx saying they would never do business with me again because I was accusing them of crimes that they absolutely committed.

JFC that is absolutely ridiculous. Definitely mega-shady.

Fedex guy dropped off my PS5 a little bit ago. And I mean 'dropped off' literally, as I watched him just kinda drop the box on the ground at my front door without even bending his back or knees just a little. I'm sure the PS5 itself is fine, most consoles come with a lot of styrofoam packing inside, but it's still a big moment

 

[Falselogic]

FedEx is not nearly the quality company they used to be.

 

[Mr. Sensible]

As someone who used to take customer service calls for FedEx, there's a big difference between FedEx Express (their overnight service) and FedEx Ground/Home Delivery (their direct competitor to UPS). Express side generally makes sure packages arrive where they're supposed to, and in one piece, because that service is goddamn expensive. The Ground side of the business was originally some third-rate shipping outfit called RPS that FedEx acquired back in the 90s, and their couriers are typically underpaid contractors who don't give a shit. But FedEx Ground undercuts UPS's shipping rates in a lot of markets, so plenty of businesses use them for shipping instead (not that UPS is some premium delivery service; I think they just pay their drivers better).

 

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I hate receiving packages sent by FedEx, internationally in particular. They always seem to come up with some ridiculous, expensive importing/customs charge that NO ONE else does.

Worse, they don't even tell you when you receive the package-- that doesn't come until some weeks, maybe months later, whenever it's least convenient for you.

Which reminds me, I need to tell my Ninja Santa this year not to use FedEx, or I might not be able to afford the present they send me.

 

[YangusKhan]

My launch-day order from Best Buy is now "delayed" which could mean it'll only be an extra day or 2, but the order page online does not instill confidence: "If we can't get it to the store by Nov. 27th we will cancel and refund your order." I've read people on reddit in similar situations and most of them seemed to have gotten theirs in 1 or 2 days after saying it's delayed. Plus like, next week is Black Friday so they're definitely getting more consoles Soon.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Just got one at GameStop. (Well, completed an order anyway... we’ll see) Continental US only.

 

[Zef]

I honestly don't think the PS5 will be widely available until at least the end of summer. I don't remember what the situation was for the PS4 (I got a Sim in 2016, years after release) but I didn't get a PS2 until the summer of 2001.

 

[Mommi]

For the PS4 you could walk into a store on launch day and get one without much of a line, and they were not hard to find until the following January. I'm guessing the BC catalog and general covid effect on supply and demand sides have made this so different.

 

[4-So]

Yeah, I pre-ordered my PS4 and I don't remember much fuss in getting one, as opposed to the PS5 where I stalked four or five websites for about eight hours and I was lucky enough to get a pre-order in. I got an email this morning that GameStop had limited stock in because I was looking for an Xbox Series X but they only the Series S and PS5s. Not sure which is more rare at this point, the PS5 or the Series X. I'm not expecting these to be semi-regularly available until late summer, and maybe not even then.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Yeah, this has something to do with everything needing semiconductors (no idea what those are) in these covid times.

I think XBox Series Xs are a little less expensive than PS5s if you buy from scalpers. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to just pay MSRP at most by the end of the year. But I dunno.

I will probably sell my copy of NBA 2k21 (if I get it! godwilling) but maybe I will finally learn about basketball.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Now that the new Ratchet & Clank is coming out, I feel the urge to start looking into getting a PS5. I’m hoping by this fall I’ll be able to acquire one. Can they be purchased in stores or do you have to go online and buy them?

 

[4-So]

You must still purchase them online, although some stores offer in-store pickup. You just can't walk in and buy it from the store.

Last reports I read said that PS5 shortages would likely last for the remainder of 2021 due to the general chip shortage. If you're serious about getting one, I'd recommend following Wario64 on Twitter (as well as various other watch groups) and hope you can snag one. I got the PS5 at launch but I passed on the Xbox Series X. I was finally able to get the XSX in March after a Wario64 tweet, albeit in a bundled form, and that meant parting with more moolah than I really wanted to.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I suppose I should bookmark Best Buy and Target’s websites.

 

[Zef]

I suppose I should bookmark Best Buy and Target’s websites.

Best Buy was how I got mine. I had alerts set up for both Cheapass Gamer and Wario64, so when I heard of Playstation Direct Queues or Best Buy drops, I'd get notified and head there right away. With Best Buy, I would usually get into my preferred bundle (the Spidey one), but would either fail to add it to cart, or I'd add it but my nearest store wouldn't have it in stock.

So my trick was, I left the cart active, and would regularly sign in to keep it active. Then as soon as I got a Twitter notification, I would go directly to my cart and try to check out, bypassing all the intermediate buttons from the listing, and from the product page. So I got it to work even though the main listings kept saying "Sold out."

 

[shramoon]

I stopped paying attention when I scored mine, but I had the best luck with Sony Direct. There’s a queue while a few people buy their things, then you go in and shop for what you want. Never even succeeded at getting a PS5 in my cart at Gamestop or Target, but no friction with Sony. Helps that it’s tied to your PSN account so you’re not fighting scalpers.

 

[Nodal]

I stopped paying attention when I scored mine, but I had the best luck with Sony Direct. There’s a queue while a few people buy their things, then you go in and shop for what you want. Never even succeeded at getting a PS5 in my cart at Gamestop or Target, but no friction with Sony. Helps that it’s tied to your PSN account so you’re not fighting scalpers.

This is also how I got mine.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

The Sony Direct thing is probably one of the better bets. You are required login with your PSN account (you don't need Plus), and it prioritizes people in the queue at random, so you've got a better chance vs the reseller bots there.

I got mine at launch via Wal-Mart which also seems like a better-than-others option. Other online stores typically advertise when they'll put PS5 inventories up for sale, and the resellers set their bots to spam the websites at that specific time and don't let average joes in on it when everything gets bought within seconds. But Wal-Mart tends to put up their inventories in batches. So if you miss out on the first wave of the day, just keep F5-ing the page periodically through the day and you've got a chance at getting in on one of the later waves they put them up and the automated bots aren't scripted to look.

 

[John]

I also used the method that Zef mentioned, I happened to get a console added to my Wal-Mart.com cart, but then it sold out. It stayed in my cart though, and even carried over to the iOS app. The next time I saw an alert from Wario64, I jumped over to the mobile app and hit submit. I've seen multiple people mention using mobile vs the straight webpage, as they may use different load balancing for their servers, and can allow transactions when the webpage is getting hammered by bots.

 

[jpfriction]

Briefly had a PS5 in my best buy cart today. That was exciting.

 

[Becksworth]

When I bought it, I had a moment of second guessing myself on getting a Series S. Fast forward a half a year later and I feel lucky that I was able to find that even.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I keep telling myself I'm OK with this because "I'll wait and get the Horizon Forbidden West special edition console" or maybe Elden Ring or I don't know, just let me have this comforting lie

 

[Oathbreaker]

I've been mad about this for a while. I got an e-mail from Sony inviting me to the invite-only queue on their website last week but my e-mail decided it was spam even though I've done everything in my power to prevent that from happening and it passed me by entirely. Thank you e-mail.

 

[Nodal]

I've been mad about this for a while. I got an e-mail from Sony inviting me to the invite-only queue on their website last week but my e-mail decided it was spam even though I've done everything in my power to prevent that from happening and it passed me by entirely. Thank you e-mail.

Oof rough.

 

[Kirin]

Meanwhile I'm over here still feeling like "is it really time for the next generation already?", so I'm fine ignoring the fact that this slow transition is happening until, like, FFXVI or something materializes...