Steam Controller stock vanished in a flash following its release yesterday. Within 30 minutes, most regions were already showing as “out of stock,” despite some negative reactions from prospective buyers to the relatively high price of Valve’s new gamepad.
This immediate selling out of what my Steam Controller review revealed to be the best controller for PC gamers has brought even more ire from buyers who missed out on grabbing Valve’s latest. However, while Ebay is now awash with scalpers looking to resell their new Steam Controllers at huge profit, there is a way to fight back.
A quick browse of Ebay – and other reselling platforms – shows hundreds of listings for Steam Controllers with “presale confirmed,” “preorder confirmed,” or “see description” in the title, revealing the fact that the seller isn’t actually in possession of the Steam Controller yet. These listings are often priced at around double the official Steam Controller price, as Ebay scalpers look to squeeze every drop of profit out of their luck at being one of the first to purchase the new controller.
Crucially, while presale listings are allowed on Ebay, the company has strict policies in place for them. For instance, the listing’s title must say that it’s a presale item, and it should also be made clear in the description. That means that listings that merely say “see description” in the title are already breaking this policy. The listing must also show a clear date of expected shipping and a guarantee that the item will be posted within 40 days of purchase.
These policies mean that there’s plenty of opportunity to, shall we say, make life a little more difficult for these scalpers. We’ve already seen evidence of listings being removed after being reported by other Ebay users, and you can do your bit too. Assuming you have an Ebay account, you can report any listing by clicking on the three dots in the bottom right of each listing.
These reports and potential listing removals will only delay the inevitable, with the seller either able to resell with the correct presale listing requirements or be able to delay their listing until they actually have the item in hand. Still, if we all work together to remove as many as possible and delay listings as long as possible, the next wave of stock could arrive in time to ensure that the value of these first-wave controllers drops to a point where there’s little profit in reselling them. We can but hope, right?
The other crucial decision we can all make is to just not pay the scalpers. However tempting it might be, the Steam Controller is just a controller, and waiting a few more weeks to grab one at its normal price is going to feel a lot better in the long run than paying over the odds right now. After all, as I type, there could be another 14 ton Steam controller shipment arriving any moment. Delaying your purchase could also mean Valve has time to fix some of the Steam Controller software issues that currently make it a somewhat head-scratching device to set up.
