UK politicians call for ban on console scalping and use of bots

Members of the UK parliament have tabled a motion to discuss banning the “resale of game consoles and computer components at prices well above the manufacturer’s recommended retail price”, and ban the use of robots for buy these products. VGC, six members of the Scottish National Party filed the motion, which, at the time of writing, has collected 23 signatures from MPs from multiple parties.

The motion seeks to ban the sale of consoles and computer components above the recommended retail price, ban wholesale purchase by automated robots and prevent resale at inflated prices. The motion specifically mentions a UK law passed in 2018 avoid “fraudulent prizes” when reselling tickets for live events. This law requires secondary sellers of other live event tickets to be transparent about the original purchase price and other details relevant to a purchase, and requires the reseller to prove that they own the item. in question to avoid fraud.

Have you played PlayStation 5?

YESNO

The full text of the motion is as follows:

“That this House believes that new versions of game consoles and computer components should be available to all customers at a maximum retail price recommended by the manufacturer and not be purchased in bulk through the use of automated robots that bypass often the maximum purchase quantities imposed by the retailer; calls on the government to bring forward legislative proposals similar to those introduced for the secondary sale of tickets, thus prohibiting the resale of game consoles and computer components at prices well above the price recommended by the manufacturer and further to this Assembly; and further calls on the Government to present legislative proposals making the resale of goods purchased using an automated robot an illegal activity, thus depriving sellers scrupulous about the possibility of making huge profits at the expense of real players and users rs of computers, while discouraging fraudulent cybercrime activities. “

The move was tabled as an Early Day Motion, which calls on the UK House of Commons to formally debate the subject. Unfortunately, Early Day Motions rarely get through the process, but UK readers may want to contact their local MP to ask them to second the motion.

Scalping became an extremely noticeable problem after the release of next-gen consoles, with PS5 hitting the resale market for $ 2,000and robot users claiming thousands of units for resale at inflated prices. It is a trend that may have been inspired by the rise of sneaker culture.

This huge demand and low supply may have led to even more damaging events – across the UK, PS5s have apparently been replaced by shipments from Amazon, and gangs even stole them from moving delivery trucks.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s News Editor. Follow him on Twitter. Any advice to give us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.