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Where are the consoles this weekend? Restockings aren’t very common on weekends, but we do know that a PS5 restock takes place on Monday afternoon. As long as you’re a paid Walmart Plus subscriber, you’ll be able to line up for a console starting at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) on November 22.
Enter a Playstation 5 replenishment can be messy and frustrating, especially if you’ve been through a couple and still haven’t been able to get your hands on one. Over the past year, major retailers have made numerous changes to the checkout process in an effort to both provide peace of mind and prevent bots from buying and selling all consoles. elsewhere.
The most recent change we have seen in the PS5 replenishment game has been paid access, which means you buy a subscription and one of the perks is that you participate in the next PS5 replenishment plus sooner than anyone or exclusively for your club.
After a few weeks of rolling out this new system to GameStop, Best Buy, Walmart, and even Amazon in some cases, the only thing we can say for sure is that there is still no guarantee that you will get a console. through these systems. The queue fills up quickly for everyone, and consoles only stay in stock for a few minutes in many cases. Whenever a PS5 restock happened, social media filled with people describing how they encountered issues in the process and the consoles ended up disappearing altogether.
It’s not reasonable to sign up and pay for every service, but this is where we can help. We’re constantly tracking how best for you to get your hands on a PS5, and there’s a lot you can do to increase your odds before the buy button turns on. Find out below.
Andrew Hoyle / CNET
Why is the PS5 so hard to find?
There are three big reasons why you still struggle to get a PS5. The first is the most obvious: the system is really popular. Sony claims the PS5 is its best-selling console and has already sold 10 million units since its launch.
The second reason is the current shortage of chips that affects most of the world’s electronic devices. Sony said it got enough chips to meet its goal of 14.8 million consoles for the year.
As for the last reason, it is about bots. Resellers use software to buy large numbers of PS5s at a time, leaving only a few for real humans to buy. Retailers have added various robot protections when restocking the PS5, but these restrictions only hamper resellers.
Where has the PS5 been available recently?
We keep track of every PS5 restock and maintain this list here of the most likely places you’ll find them.
Which Early Access service do I have to pay for?
Many companies now limit access to a PS5 to a subscription, but each is a little different. Here’s the full breakdown of how each one works.
- Amazon prime: This one is pretty straightforward. In many cases, the only way to buy a PS5 on Amazon is to be a Prime subscriber or to sign up for the SMS Treasure Truck service. There are no additional charges outside of the standard Prime membership, but in many cases, you cannot access PS5 replenishment unless you are a subscriber.
- GameStop PowerUp Rewards Pro: Many GameStop PS5 restockings start an hour earlier for you if you’ve signed up for this rewards program. It works best when GameStop announces the replenishment in advance or sends an email to its subscribers to let them know that a replenishment is coming. This subscription service costs $ 15 per year and comes with a ton of extra perks.
- Walmart Plus: This service was designed by Walmart solely to provide early access during sales events, and that includes a PS5 restock. The rules for this early access vary; in some cases, PS5 replenishments may be entirely limited to subscribers or there may be an early access window of 1 to 4 hours before the general population has access. Walmart charges $ 13 per month or $ 98 per year for this service. A 15-day free trial is currently available if you’re not sure if it’s for you, but you only get early access if you pay for that first month.
- Best Buy Totaltech: If you want special access to Geek Squad for installations and technical support, as well as extensions on warranty purchases, this service is for you. If you want just that for early access to a PS5 restock, Best Buy is asking you to pay $ 200 a year and that’s a lot. Best Buy sometimes limits access to a PS5 replenishment to Totaltech subscribers only, but most of the time those replenishes are made available to the public later.
At the moment, the service that seems most useful to most people is Walmart Plus. There’s more restocking at Walmart than at most other places right now, and this subscription can dramatically increase your chances of getting a console. You’re still going to have to be quick and accept that you might not get the console on the first try, but it’s a good way to increase your odds.
How can I increase my chances of getting a PS5?
Big retailers like Walmart, GameStop, Amazon, Target, and Best Buy typically don’t give much notice before a restock. Sometimes they will have a restock in the morning, other times in the afternoon and in some cases even in the middle of the night. Here are some tips to help you get the better of the competition.
First tip: don’t wait to see an alert for a PS5 inventory drop. Check out the links at major retailers for stock updates daily or even multiple times a day. (We’ve all the links lined up below.) If you’re having some PS5 availability, go for as many browsers and devices as possible. On a desktop computer, for example, open the retailer page in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Then do the same on your phone and tablet. The more devices and browsers, the better. It’s like with lottery tickets: the more you have, the better your chances of winning.
Second tip: Create accounts at the various retailers and make sure you’re already signed in if you’re going to try and get a PS5. Make sure all of your shipping, billing, and payment information is up to date on any device you can buy on, whether it’s laptop, desktop or a phone. This makes verification much faster which is crucial as retailer sites get bogged down quickly causing people to lose their chance to get a PS5.
Third tip: keep reading this article and follow CNET and Oscar González on Twitter for updates.
Where is it safe to buy a PS5 if i agree to pay extra?
If you start to crack and plan to buy a PS5 right now (and we know that with the number of big PS5 games dropping over the next few months, the pressure is on) you can do it, but at a price of. ‘important markup on sites like eBay or StockX. On eBay, for example, we’ve seen PS5 units priced over $ 1,000, although prices have slowly come down to around $ 700.
Where to buy a PS5
You’ll generally find that the Standard Edition is available more often than the Digital Edition at Target, but that doesn’t make it a less solid place to check inventory.
Currently one of the best places to get a PS5, but beware, the company frequently makes the consoles available to Walmart Plus subscribers first.
Amazon
It is usually necessary to have a Prime membership to gain access to a PS5 replenishment from Amazon, but not always. And if you sign up for the Treasure Truck program, you’ll receive an SMS when a PS5 is available for delivery.
Refills are quick on GameStop, and if you’re a PowerUp Rewards Pro subscriber, you can occasionally get to the console an hour before everyone else.
You can find a PS5 restock at Best Buy more often than most places, although it sometimes requires a Totaltech membership if you want to purchase one sooner.
If you would like to purchase a console directly from Sony, click on this link and register to be queued. When you get an email urging you to buy the console, it’s a fairly stress-free order followed by a one or two day wait for shipping and you’re done.
PS5 restockings don’t happen very frequently in Newegg, but they do and it’s a great idea to check here as a lot of other people don’t know how to do it.
You won’t pay the standard price for your PS5 if you buy it from here, but you’ll definitely get it without too much of a fight to verify.
StockX
When all else fails, if you absolutely must have the console now, regardless of the price, the folks at StockX will at the very least protect you from scams from someone who never intended to give you a console.
Check this out:
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More PlayStation 5 coverage
This story is regularly updated with the latest PS5 stock news.