Whether the scalpers genuinely believe this, which would be an indication of sociopathy and delusion, or, more likely, they're just blowing smoke and making justifications for their actions, I agree they need to be dealt with. This PR campaign of theirs is just ridiculous, and I can't believe they actually had the gall to do it and would think anyone would buy into it. Even if they are giving to charity, as someone else mentioned, it's likely only a tiny portion of their profits, and it's no different than Zuckerberg et al doing the same in attempts to make themselves out to be good people when they're getting massively rich off the destruction of society, but hey, at least they're giving a few million of their billions of dollars to charity (probably a charity for themselves, but I digress).

And even if you accept that them doing this allows people that otherwise wouldn't be able to get a console/GPU/whatever one, it also means people that would have been able to get one now can't, so sorry, that can't be considered a service, that's just shifting who gets "screwed." And it just means the less affluent will be the ones getting screwed, because they're the ones that can't afford the higher prices or will break the bank doing so. So if anything, the scalpers are an anti-Robin Hood.

As for speculators, regardless of whether you want to compare them or just consider them as another, unrelated problem (and I'm not going to argue about which it should be, so people that want to throw insults need not waste their breath), they may have an actual role to play, but how they play that role matters, and they lie, cheat, and steal to make money in the process at the cost of companies, shareholders, employees, and the economy as a whole. And they do add fluctuation, perhaps necessary to an extent, but often excessively and at detriment to "common people."

Quote from: Astar on February 16, 2021, 18:03:17

Quote from: ckonstantinos on February 16, 2021, 12:37:12

Quote from: Astar on February 15, 2021, 22:25:41
Who are all the idiots making comparisons with the stock market. What are you all, stupid? ...

I can't start a conversation with you because the way you express yourself shows your lack of intellect. This is exactly the type of lumpenproletariat that the parasite casino economy needs to destroy us all.

And its people like you who should just shut up instead of dragging in totally unrelated stuff like the stock market to what is purely an IT logistics supply chain & scalping/touting issue. Nobody wants to have irrelevant conversations with idiots like you who rant about unrelated stuff to pretend to show that you know anything! You must as well bring in stuff about your grandma... like we care.

Right or wrong, calling everyone idiots, stupid, etc, is going to have the exact effect you just saw: it makes it so either people won't want to have a "discussion" (if you can consider name-calling that) with you or it just causes them to throw insults back, derailing the conversation. I guess people will never learn they will get a lot better results with civil discourse vs acting high and mighty and calling everyone else inferior.

Quote from: ckonstantinos on February 16, 2021, 12:37:12

Quote from: Astar on February 15, 2021, 22:25:41
Who are all the idiots making comparisons with the stock market. What are you all, stupid? ...

I can't start a conversation with you because the way you express yourself shows your lack of intellect. This is exactly the type of lumpenproletariat that the parasite casino economy needs to destroy us all.

And its people like you who should just shut up instead of dragging in totally unrelated stuff like the stock market to what is purely an IT logistics supply chain & scalping/touting issue. Nobody wants to have irrelevant conversations with idiots like you who rant about unrelated stuff to pretend to show that you know anything! You must as well bring in stuff about your grandma... like we care.

Quote from: Astar on February 15, 2021, 22:25:41
Who are all the idiots making comparisons with the stock market. What are you all, stupid? ...

I can't start a conversation with you because the way you express yourself shows your lack of intellect. This is exactly the type of lumpenproletariat that the parasite casino economy needs to destroy us all.

Who are all the idiots making comparisons with the stock market. What are you all, stupid? The stock market is far more complex & totally different from the operations of these scalpers. By making those stupid analogies you only show your lack of understanding of BOTH the stock market and the scalping operations.

Scalpers are no different from the ticket touts at football games and other live sports events, be it Wimbledon or the Olympics. They buy up tickets in advance for the express purpose of resale at a higher price nearer the event when demand is highest. Ticket touting is already illegal in a lot of countries - i.e. try selling your match tickets outside a football stadium & you will get arrested. Hence, making scalping illegal is a trivial matter as a matter of principle.

We as democratic voters (in whichever country we reside in) can pressure our governments to legislate and pass laws to combat the problem - PROVIDED we understand the issue. Talking rubbish about the stock market, hedge funds, the Gamestop issue & such is totally unhelpful - it confuses the ignorant and obfuscates the rather simple problem.

Quote from: t4n0n on February 12, 2021, 17:31:40
...
Hedge fund are the literal polar opposite of scalpers. Not only do they drive asset values to their fairest market value, they also add liquidity, increasing the volume of transactions, not decreasing it...

You are confusing Volatility with Liquidity. Speculative capital of any form (not only hedge funds) change positions short term based on speculation. Look historic graphs of volatility and (long term/short term) ratio of capital in stock markets show that after the 80s the short term speculative capital exploded (including hedge funds) and long term virtually disappeared. We are living in a global Scalpers economy where speculative capitals makes hundreds of billion out of thin air and the prices are the opposite of stable...

Scalpers are sub human trash, they deserve what ever happens to them legally or illegally, I could care less how they are dealt with, I'd be happy seeing them stripped of all worldly possessions and dumped on an island and left to fend for them selves, I have no sympathy for them, I don't care if what they think they're doing is charity, they deserve the very worst in life.

So scalpers are comparing themselves like robin hood and steal from the rich to give to the poor?
Sure Mr.Scalper, I don't believe for a second you give it back to charities and if you do a pretty insignificant amount.
Trying to convince people your doing this out love instead of pure greed is laughable 

Quote from: ckonstantinos on February 12, 2021, 15:53:30
Yes, they should be banned but then this is how the whole world economy operate.
Scalpers are parasites who inflate the demand/prices, produce nothing and cause huge problems to those who need these products.

Does this remind you something? Yes, today 90% of the world capital is used for short time speculation in the stock markets by the hedge funds. They are parasites who produce nothing, create false demand and bubble economy and sky rocket the prices for billions of people who starve because they can't afford to buy what they need any more!

Scalpers = Today's speculative parasite economy. Ban them both!

Err, wrong. Hedge funds have a totally legitimate role in the market by acting as a part of the price discovery mechanism. If it weren't for hedge funds - and we had an excellent preview of this last month - then you would have companies that were just about fit for bankruptcy, such as Gamestop, valued at more than Delta Airlines, for example, leading to investors such as pension funds, high street banks and individuals buying into overvalued stocks, only to lose all their money when the price eventually corrects itself.

Hedge fund are the literal polar opposite of scalpers. Not only do they drive asset values to their fairest market value, they also add liquidity, increasing the volume of transactions, not decreasing it...

Charity by scalping?

Seems like wording of a terrorist. They also speaks the same, by killing people.

If you are doing good then they are also right.

Yes, they should be banned but then this is how the whole world economy operate.
Scalpers are parasites who inflate the demand/prices, produce nothing and cause huge problems to those who need these products.

Does this remind you something? Yes, today 90% of the world capital is used for short time speculation in the stock markets by the hedge funds. They are parasites who produce nothing, create false demand and bubble economy and sky rocket the prices for billions of people who starve because they can't afford to buy what they need any more!

Scalpers = Today's speculative parasite economy. Ban them both!

They hardly need a new bill to stop this, rather the clueless morons at the CMA should actually do their (exceedingly well renumerated) jobs and actually enforce anti-competition regulations to shut this kind of harmful practice down.

Unfortunately they're probably too busy driving the price of household energy up instead...

Yeah, a charity made out of what many people see as a crime, that reason alone simply doesn't justify the use of bots to attack consumers who wish to get an item directly from manufacturer/big-name retailer at all.

I very agreed to ban such kind of activity. Its make both console maker and consumer hard time to enjoy the console from both parties perspective.