A sudden drop in income, mounting medical debt and a family to feed have left Sheraz (not her real name) struggling to find another way to make money.
During the pandemic, his wife lost her job as a beautician, and government pandemic support was not readily available to him.
So, he turned to “reselling,” an unfavorable term for stocking popular products and reselling them at a higher price to make a profit.
Many sought-after items are resold, including concert tickets, limited-edition trainers, and game consoles.
While the general resale of soccer tickets is illegal, pretty much everything else is legal to buy and resell.
Sheraz says he only sells to his friends and family to earn around an extra £250 a month, so he can “slowly eat” away at a £50,000 medical bill.
But for most scalpers, scalping is big business, and they use the technology to gain an extra edge.
Many electronics are in short supply due to a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips, which are essentially the brains of modern electronics.
Cars, graphics cards, smartphones, and game consoles have all been affected.
The PlayStation 5, Sony’s next-generation gaming console, has been particularly hard to come by for many gamers.
Some shoppers relied on leaked information from big retailers to predict when new stock might be available. But even those who stayed up until 03:00 excitedly updating a retailer’s website would find that stock sold out in minutes.
The bots were hitting the real shoppers.
Software developed by resellers can notify them as soon as stock is available on any of their target websites. Sometimes the bots can even buy items automatically.
Bots were taking over PS5 consoles, only to resell them for double the regular retail price of £450.
Jack Bayliss is a 24-year-old former investment banker who started scalping six years ago. His profit margins were huge: he would sometimes buy Yeezy sneakers for £150 and sell them for up to £1000.
He decided to quit his day job and start Aftermarket Arbitrage, a scalping company that teaches others how to scalp. Through subscriptions alone, Mr Bayliss says he has made £456,000 in revenue since he started the business 18 months ago.
For £30 a month, subscribers get alerts as soon as the bots detect a rare item is in stock.
All 1,200 subscribers are notified on the Discord app and can quickly head to the retailer’s website to purchase the item.
Asked if the scalping was fair, Bayliss told the BBC: “If you look at any market, if there is an arbitrage opportunity, people will capitalize on it.”
“Why would you leave the money on the table?”
Instead of being greedy, Bayliss said the scalpers were simply trying to make some extra money. But for some, he said, it was also for a living.
A scalper told the BBC how he paid off a £30,000 gambling debt with the money he made from the scalper. Another said scalping introduced some structure to his life and helped him cope with alcohol addiction.
Both men declined to be interviewed on camera due to concerns for their safety.
Mr. Bayliss received many death threats after articles about secondary market arbitrage were published.
Despite this, Sheraz agreed to be filmed.
“The last two years have not been easy for most people,” he told the BBC.
“I was pretty much at rock bottom. If it wasn’t for resale, I wouldn’t have a roof over my head.”
“I have little kids. And when you have to put food on the table, you have to do what you have to do. As long as it’s not criminal, which this isn’t.”
The use of bots to buy products is not illegal in the UK, but has drawn the attention of lawmakers.
Douglas Chapman, the Scottish National Party MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, is leading the fight against scalping.
Last year, it introduced a bill in Parliament to ban the resale of electronic products purchased by automated bots.
He says that consumers would benefit from an eventual ban on scalping altogether.
“I think it’s skewing the market beyond what is reasonable, and I think we need to look at what the protections are for consumers,” he said.
He said “entrepreneurs” must live “by the same rules as someone who sets up shop on the High Street”.
And while it may hurt his own income, Sheraz agrees.
“I think the bots should stop. There are some people who will do this 24/7 and will have up to 20 computers set up. They’re stockpiling PlayStations, trainers and toys,” he said.
“It’s almost a manipulation of the market.”
Chapman’s bill failed to pass Parliament late last year, but he plans to renew his bid very soon.
But Bayliss sees it as a question of supply and demand.
“I wouldn’t classify not having a PS5 as a pain. There are people who want to do more than their nine to five schedule. They want an extra hustle,” he said.
“If you see friction between supply and demand, you will see someone taking advantage.”
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