Move aside PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the scalpers have got money to make and your semiconductor shortage is getting in the way. Time for them to shift focus to... gaming chairs?!

Scalpers Home in on Secretlab Gaming Chairs

It would seem like nothing is safe from getting into the hands of scalpers. Not content with buying up droves of PS5 and Xbox Series X inventory, the greedy swindlers are shifting their attention to gaming chairs.

Related: The Best Gaming Chairs in 2021

That's right. March 2020 saw Secretlab teaming up with Japanese streetwear brand AAPE (which you may also recognize as A Bathing Ape) to release a series of gaming chairs. Like most AAPE collaborations, this was a limited run which has seen scalpers circling with their talons out, ready to rip chunks of stock out of gamers' hands.

In an email from a Secretlab representative, we have confirmation that scalpers have been flipping the Secretlab x AAPE chairs for sky-high prices. We've confirmed this with a quick search on eBay and the results are fairly shocking.

aape scretlab gaming chairs ebay

These chairs cost between $489 and $539 depending on the model you buy, so scalpers are generally doubling the price, with one greedy eBay user, going by the name drippycloset, charging up to $1,900 per chair. Disgusting.

What Is Scalping?

Scalping is a practice whereby an individual or a company will attempt to buy a large inventory of stock and then sell it on at a huge profit.

The term actually comes from investors inflating the price of cheaper stock and selling it at a huge profit. We call these people scalpers and they practice scalping.

We've seen this happen with the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, most recently.

The problem with scalping is it isn't just ripping people off. With inventory sat in warehouses instead of gamers' living rooms, the scalpers are hurting the brand too.

Without consoles, gamers can't play the games, either, which means they aren't giving their money to brands to reinvest back into the company, for service improvements or new products.

The same can be said for anything that scalpers are scalping, so that includes limited drop gaming chairs like this collaborative effort between Secretlab and AAPE.

Don't Let Scalpers Win

A Cybercriminal Sitting With A Laptop

You might be wondering what power anyone has to stop the scalpers from winning. After all, they used advanced (and incredibly fast) bots to buy up inventory in record time.

The best way to stop the scalpers, is not to buy from them. They artificially inflate prices due to demand. Stop buying from them and they'll be left with useless inventory they can't sell on.