Current Events > Scottish politicians call for regulations against scalpers

(+) Yeah! (+)

Six Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians have put forward a motion for consideration in UK Parliament to prohibit the resale of games consoles and PC components at prices "greatly above" MSRP, and the resale of goods purchased using automated bots to be made illegal in these fair isles.

A motion on the "Resale of gaming consoles and computer components purchases by automated bots" (via VGC) has been tabled with UK Parliament, and it aims to outlaw resellers' usage of automated bots and make it difficult to sell in-demand tech at prices far exceeding the manufacturer's recommend retail price.

The motion has no set date for debate in the Commons, and is what is known as an 'Early Day Motion'. These don't often receive much love in Parliament, often due to the sheer number of Early Day Motions going at any one time, but they are used to highlight specific issues present in society. That's hardly indicative of sweeping change in the near-future, but it's better than nothing.

Perhaps some MPs are just sick of trying to track down a PlayStation 5 or Nvidia's RTX 3080. We've all got better things to be doing than be stuck watching tracker sites, that's for sure.

"That this House believes that new releases of gaming consoles and computer components should be available to all customers at no more than the Manufacturers Recommended Retail Price, and not be bought in bulk by the use of automated bots which often circumvent maximum purchase quantities imposed by the retailer; calls on the Government to bring forward legislative proposals similar to those introduced for the secondary selling of tickets, thereby prohibiting the resale of gaming consoles and computer components at prices greatly above Manufacturers Recommended Retail Price and furthermore this House; and further calls on the Government to bring forward legislative proposals making the resale of goods purchased using an automated bot an illegal activity, thereby denying unscrupulous vendors the chance to make themselves vast profits at the expense of genuine gamers and computer users, while also deterring fraudulent cybercriminal activity."

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/uk-parliament-reseller-bots/
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It shouldn't be down to the government to stop scalpers, it should be down to the websites to implement ways to stop bots buying things and for users not to buy things off scalpers.

Once again Scotland do something that should have been done years ago.

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Trelve posted...

It shouldn't be down to the government to stop scalpers, it should be down to the websites to implement ways to stop bots buying things and for users not to buy things off scalpers.

But websites won't, they make too much money.

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Stop buying from scalpers. You don't need a ps5 day one.
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Trelve posted...

It shouldn't be down to the government to stop scalpers, it should be down to the websites to implement ways to stop bots buying things and for users not to buy things off scalpers.

Expecting a business to act morally when not required to by the law?


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Good.

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Bump
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Soon:
"Available for pick up in Lifford and/or Monaghan"

Trelve posted...

It shouldn't be down to the government to stop scalpers, it should be down to the websites to implement ways to stop bots buying things and for users not to buy things off scalpers.

A companies goal is to make money. They don't care who gets the product so long as they get paid. The fact that we have to have OSHA and the EPA should tell you that companies don't act morally or ethically unless it's required by law.

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teepan95 posted...

Expecting a business to act morally when not required to by the law?

scenario 1: company does nothing and scalpers buy their entire stock within microseconds
scenario 2: company spends money developing and updating bot protection to ensure everyone has a fair chance, entire stock sold in 10 minutes, then is virtually useless after the rush is over

which would a company only wanting to make money do?

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KnightofShikari posted...

teepan95 posted...

Expecting a business to act morally when not required to by the law?

scenario 1: company does nothing and scalpers buy their entire stock within microseconds
scenario 2: company spends money developing and updating bot protection to ensure everyone has a fair chance, entire stock sold in 10 minutes, then is virtually useless after the rush is over

which would a company only wanting to make money do?

That's...my point
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Sounds like a good start.

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Americans be like "Look I appreciate this is something that is good for literally everyone so let's definitely not do that"

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teepan95 posted...

That's...my point

Yeah, this.

Still, this is just superfluous game consoles in this context, and not insulin or something.

stopping free market enterprise isn't good hth
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Questionmarktarius posted...

Yeah, this.

Still, this is just superfluous game consoles in this context, and not insulin or something.

Insulin is freely available in scotland, also

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pinky0926 posted...

Insulin is freely available in scotland, also

Thus, the Scots already have their priorities in a row, and don't need to worry about frivolous consumer goods.

Bump
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