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You would think that after a year of being on the market it wouldn’t be this incredibly difficult to get a Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X/S console. As someone who has had to track a few of these down, I understand the difficulty.
You look online they are all sold out, you go to a store, there isn’t a console to be seen on the shelves. When they do show up online, scalpers and other on-the-ball consumers snatch them up within minutes, leaving you hanging.
Getting one of these consoles right now is extremely difficult but it can be done. This guide will not guarantee you a console but Omni Game Player will provide you with some tools, methods, and tips to make it easier for you to land one.
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It’s going to take some degree of preparation, planning, and flat-out luck but here are our suggestions for getting a PS5 or Xbox Series X as soon as possible.
PS5’s and Xbox’s should finally start showing up on store shelves soon
A big break may be coming our way, it seems that retailers are starting to slowly put their xbox and PS5 restocks back on shelves. Consoles going for sale on store shelves is great news for consumers because that means we don’t have to compete with scalpers online to get them. Just being in the right store at the right time is all that is needed.
It will probably still be hard to find one but take a look at your local store and call ahead to see if you can get any word on when they may be restocking these consoles. When Best Buy first did this in late September a huge crowd gathered at some stores. Let’s hope the mage below from Kotaku isn’t how it will be for the long run.
Getting a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S/X online may still be your best bet.
Due to the pandemic, most retail stores decided not to sell their consoles in-store and only provide them through their online sites. This is slowly starting to change but right now it is still the most accessible way to buy new consoles.
Walmart, Target, and Best Buy have all opted to not put consoles on shelves at various times. This varies, some stores do put a few out there, sometimes there are days when they specifically say they will or won’t but in general, it’s rare that you will see one sitting in a display case.
There are some exceptions, GameStop has sold some consoles in-store and they have even had people camping out to get them. Usually, these go as soon as they become available as die-hard consumers have already set up shop to get their hands on them.
We suggest keeping your eye open when going to your local store but putting the most effort into looking to buy one of these consoles online. You simply have the most options available going this route.
Twitter is your best friend
The biggest strength of Twitter as a social media platform is that you can get nearly instant news and reactions, Twitter has also come in very handy when trying to find an Xbox Series X/S or PlayStation 5 as users can share their experiences and communicate when and where stock is available.
Twitter has helped me pre-order my own Xbox Series X, land my friend an Xbox Series X bundle, and it eventually lead me to my PlayStation 5.
The best thing you can do to aid yourself in finding a new-gen console is to follow two particular accounts that post when stock is available for all major retailer sites.
Wario64 and Videogamedeals (AKA Cheap Ass Gamer) are two of the best follows in this regard, they both focus on tweeting out great video game deals but lately, they have been putting in a tremendous effort to inform their followers of when and where available for the PS5 and Xbox Series X will be.
Follow these two accounts in particular and you should have a big edge over most regular consumers. Once you follow these accounts be sure to click the bell in their profile so you can get notified anytime they send a tweet.
If you desperately want to get one of these new consoles keep up on these two accounts as you want to be able to act as soon as they post about stock going up, these things sell very fast, usually within a minute or two after becoming available.
You have to act as fast as possible when trying to buy a console online
When you do see a tweet from Cheap Ass Gamer or Wario 64 telling you that stock will be available soon, sign in to your account for that retailer and have your information already entered in so you can make your purchase as soon as possible!
One of the reasons it is so hard to snag an Xbox Series S/X or PlayStation 5 right now is because of scalpers and their bots. Bots are programs that scalpers use to automatically buy up the stock in large quantities.
Bots operate far faster and efficiently than any person, by having your information ready to go, by being on the product page, and refreshing as soon as stock becomes available, you are giving yourself the best chance to get an order processed before inventory is gone.
At this point, buying one of these consoles is a competition. Not only do you have to worry about thousands of other consumers trying to make this purchase, but there are also countless bot programs out there buying these at the same time too.
When you hear that the console you are looking for will be available online, you have to be prepared to be on the product page, with info set up, and the refresh button (F5 on a computer keyboard) ready to go because chances are the site will be bogged down by thousands of users trying to do the same thing you are.
Stock apps and browser extensions/add ons can be a big help too
Another way to get an edge on finding your new console is to use an app like Popfindr or Octoshop that can really go a long way in helping you find stock.
I’m a big fan of Octoshop. It is an extension for google chrome and it has helped me find a couple of computer parts that are very hard to come by right now. Not only can you have it notify you when stock of a product becomes available, but you can also set it up to notify you of price changes.
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I have been trying to buy a CPU for weeks and Octoshop helped me get one in stock at a reasonable price. When it comes to the Xbox and PS5, it can be a bit slower than following the Twitter notifications but it still will let you know when they show up at major retailers and I think it’s a must-add if you are really looking hard to get a new console.
I have used popfindr a bit but I think it’s a little unreliable with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X stock right now. Sometimes it says retailers have stock in their stores but it’s counting units people have reserved online or units that simply aren’t available.
I have heard mixed feedback with popfindr, some people have used it to track down consoles in person, if you are determined to get find a console in-store and are willing to make the trip to try and get one, give popfindr or a similar stock app a try.
If you do manage to get correct information your chances of getting a console in store are a lot higher because there are no bots to compete with, you just have to get there before someone else does. With retailers starting to put consoles on shelves again, now is the time to give something like popfindr a try.
Persistence is key
At the end of the day getting one of these new consoles at retail price is going to take some luck and persistence on your part. Right now there are no easy ways to get one. You will have to pay attention to stock availability and you will have to compete with others to get through.
You may have to wait in Sony’s online queue, you may have to refresh the checkout page 50 times on a Walmart or Microsoft store order that’s not going through, it’s probably going to be a bit of a rough experience.
Just keep trying, keep paying attention to tweets, make sure your set up notifications for stock drops, and be ready to take action at any time. The demand is at an all-time high for gaming consoles and there are unfortunately not enough to go around to everybody so it will take some work if you really want to have one now.
If you can wait, however, do so. While the new consoles are great and a lot of fun, the current-gen consoles are still a great value and you can play 90 percent of the same games on them that you could play on the new hardware.
Hopefully, one day soon, the new consoles will be just as readily available as consoles normally are you can grab one with no fuss. The forecast for that day being anytime soon isn’t great though.
I hope this article helps some of you, I know many of us are looking forward to gaming over the winter months. Have any of these tips helped you land a console? Do you have more tips to share? Leave a comment and create a discussion!
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