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If you, like me, have been trying to get a PS5 FOR MONTHS then you will know it’s no easy feat. The newest console was released in November 2020 and preorders sold out incredibly quickly. Add in a global pandemic, people off work and furloughed, factories and ports running on skeleton staff as well as, here in the UK, all the issues Brexit has caused and you have a bit of a delay getting stock delivered. And then, you have people wanting to exploit this and make a huge profit. Now, I know people flip merchandise and tech products but I have never seen something quite so bad as this. There has been a whole system of people setting up bots to purchase all stock from retailers within the same minute of Playstation 5’s going online. This has included various retailers like Currys, Smyths, John Lewis, Game and Very – amongst a few others. It’s been really frustrating for genuine gamers who just like to play video games. This leaves us with two options – wait for stock to drop and attempt fastest finger first or buy one for double, sometimes triple the price on eBay.

Where Can I Buy a PS5 now in the UK?

The good news is most retailers are stocking them online more often but still quite sporadically. Stock is coming into the UK and more people are having better luck getting them from electronics and homeware retailiers such as Amazon, Very, Currys, Smyths, AO and ShopTo. BT customers have been able to get one from BT and John Lewis has stocked as well. Game regularly open up for preorders for their next big stock drop too. The bad news is they go out of stock very quickly thanks to people using bots to buy out all the stock virtually the same minute it comes in. I would not recommend buying one from eBay right now.

It’s been a problem honestly. Usually, we aren’t too fussed wanting a next gen console straight away but we both have anticipated games releasing, work is slow and we’re still supposed to stay home. Having something to do, for a lot of people, something to kind of take our minds off the crappy reality of a pandemic and brexit and just the mundane routine of staying home – well, a PS5 seemed like a pretty good option. Adam *almost* gave in and purchased through eBay but after looking into it in more detail and seeing that the seller would only discuss through Whatsapp rather than eBay’s messenger I was like no, that’s a scam. There are hundreds of these going on claiming to sell PS5’s but won’t communicate in the way eBay recommends so if you hand over the money and don’t get the goods you haven’t got a leg to stand on. We’ve had a friend get stung this way as well as I’ve seen parents who aren’t gamers themselves get caught out trying to get one for their children.

Then you have the parasites, otherwise known as ‘Scalpers’ that are using bots to buy out all of the stock as soon as it goes on sale to see the prices double, triple way over the RRP. These people are just wanting to turn a huge profit and honestly in this current climate it’s really awful. Frustratingly, online retailers seem to not care because it’s still a sale for them – although some have put in a 1 per customer policy. Adding a captcha would also help eliminate bots from purchasing as well as putting the products behind an account ie – no check out as a guest option. Of course, retailers are just ‘expressing their apologies’ rather than going above and beyond to allow genuine customers the chance to purchase. The thing is, the world will start up again and stock will be readily avalable and these sellers will be forced to bring their prices right down but until then it kind of feels like The Hunger Games when trying to make a purchase.

How Much is a PS5 now?

The RRP of a PS5 with one controller is around £449. Depending on the retailer this can vary up to around £549 and Game have plenty of bundle deals from the digital only console at around £349 to extra accessories and disc console for around £749. It depends on what you want and how much you’re willing to spend.

How We Snagged a PS5 in March 2021

I will say that we got a bit lucky and that doing this process took months. More people are having more success purchasing though which is brilliant because like I am for the gamers, not the sellers trying to exploit people out of hundreds upon hundreds of extra money. Firstly, there’s a few apps you can download which send push notifications to your phone when stock is available. The App we used was ‘Hot Stock’ and you can turn notifications on for PS5’s and Xbox Series X depending on the console you’re looking for. It’s also worth checking Twitter for PS5 Restock. This is handy because they usually have pretty good sources for when stock will drop with certain retailers. Using this in conjunction with the app can be really handy for securing the console you want.

We got lucky purchasing our PS5 recently. We knew that stock would be dropping on Very at some point. Twitter suggestted it would be around 10.30am on the Wednesday morning. Retailers seem to drop some of their stock, which does sell out in moments, then wait an hour or so before releasing more. I think this is to try and help eliminate the bot problem. We have the very app so when stock dropped it was a case of ensuring we were signed in and keep pressing refresh. The lone PS5 console sold out really quickly however Adam managed to spot one available with a 365 days of PS+ gift card. It seems to be purchasing a Playsation 5 with another item such as a gift card may be the way to secure a console.

Then we had to play the waiting game to see when our order would be accepted. It took while and so we were in doubt for a little bit to see if the order had actually gone through but within about an our the order confirmaton came through to our email. It was stressful but I’m really glad we didn’t end up paying well over the odds for the console. I think we ended up paying £509 in total but as it was on Very and we had credit available we can spread the cost a little easier. Also, I think this made the purchase a bit smoother because we didn’t need to apply for credit like you do with Currys to spread the cost and we didn’t have to enter card details.

Once the order had processed and the amount had been deducted from our account balance the purchase was locked in. We were given a delivery date of 31st March. However, on the Friday afternoon another email came through which informed us that our order had been dispatched and we were given tracking for Royal Mail. I thought this would just be the gift card because usually Very use Yodel. However, on Tuesday 16th March our PS5 was delivered by Royal Mail from Very. We have been using this method of stock checking and push notifications since January however, we haven’t been refreshing when stock notifcations have come through at 3am because, well, just no thank you. However, other people have been lucky this way.

So to summarise –
1. Follow stock accounts on Twitter and check in with their updates regularly.
2. Get an app with push notification set up.
3. Have an account with various retailers such as Currys, AO, Smyths, Game set up and logged in with an address and card details saved for a check checkout.
4. Act fast when a notifcation comes through and try and get a console with an add on if you can

I hope this has been helpful. I know it’s stressful when you really want a PS5 and just feel like paying a king’s ransom on eBay but don’t despair!

What games are currently available on PS5?

There isn’t a huge amount *right now* but then there never really is. I expect some games have also found themselves having to delay due to Covid. But there are some really good games available which make a PS5 worth having, some eagerly anticipated games coming and the best thing is it’s backwards compatible for PS4 games with some even getting a free PS5 upgrade. I’ve upgraded my AC Valhalla and if anything the quicker load time makes it completely worth it. I’m a huge fan of Final Fantasy so seeing that there is going to be an extra episode featuring Yuffie in between waiting for Remake Part 2 is pretty exciting and I’m really looking forward to upgrading this to the PS5 graphics. We also have Cyberpunk and Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War which are avaulble as a PS5 upgrade. We didn’t install the PS4 Cyberpunk version because of all the issues reported so I’m glad we held out but again it’s been months since we’ve been able to play anything new really.

We are currently playing the Demon’s Souls remake which is kind of the remake I didn’t know I needed for the PS5. The graphic upgrade is absolutely amazing. The souls games are some of my favourites despite how bloody difficult they can be. It’s so nice to go back into this world ten years on and relive the challenge. We’ve also got SpiderMan Miles Morales to play which looks really good. Anticipated PS5 games we are exicted about include Resident Evil village. We really wanted a PS5 before the 8th game in the Resident Evil world due out in May 2021 and something we have now been able to preorder. I’m also really excited for Horizon Forbidden West and Final Fantasy 16. It will probably be a great few years for exciting video games.