UK customers are still struggling to buy the PS5 amid scalping concerns

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Customers attempting to buy PS5 consoles in the UK are still having difficulties getting their hands on the new hardware. 

Despite new drops arriving at retailers over the past few days, a large number of people have taken to Twitter to air their frustrations at missing out. Earlier today, Twitch streamer Graham Day said that “I feel for the many people out there that joined the Currys PC World queues before 8am this morning, lingered in queues for 1hr30, only to be booted out of line by the system.” 

Accompanying that tweet are images that show that Day joined the queue at 07:56AM, and was still in queue 50 minutes later. Unfortunately, just under half an hour after that, he received an ‘rejected queue number’ error message, telling him he’d been bumped right to the back of the line.

Update: The #PS5 fiasco continues.I feel for the many people out there that joined the @curryspcworld queues before 8am this morning, lingered in queues for 1hr30, only to be booted out of line by the system.I took screens. Look at the time stamps.✅ 7:56⚠️ 8:46❌ 9:14 https://t.co/78A7at5qs5 pic.twitter.com/916CHaycF8January 20, 2021

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Unsurprisingly, Day isn’t the only person to have been affected by the queues of fans trying to get their hands on PS5 stock.  Twitter user anphi_x (opens in new tab) said they waited for more than 40 minutes only to be “redirected” to the back of the queue. The demand appears to be so high that it’s even impacting those who aren’t in the market for a new console. Another Twitter user (opens in new tab) said that they had only visited the retailer’s website to buy a new microwave, but found more than 160,000 people ahead of them before 9AM, despite the store selling out at 08:46AM.

It’s not just Currys PC World that seems to be struggling to keep up with demand. Earlier this week, a restock at GAME caused issues after one scalping group claimed that it had secured 2,000 more consoles. The retailer denied those claims, saying that it would be checking each order and canceling those that violated its ‘1 per customer’ rule.

Difficulties in getting hold of a PS5 are far from unique to the UK. Worldwide, scalpers were said to have secured and sold on more than 60,000 consoles during launch month. Add to that the fact that replacements tend to arrive in limited batches and with little notice, and buying a PS5 starts to become very difficult.

If you’re still looking, here’s our guide on where to buy a PS5.