PS5 Restock l Helpful ideas for buying a PS5

There are mainly three big reasons why we’re still struggling to buy a PS5. The first is the most obvious: The system is very popular. Sony says the PS5 is its best-selling console and it has sold 10 million units since its launch.

The second reason is the current chip lack impacting most of the world’s electronics. Sony did say it has sufficient enough chips to build its goal of 14.8 million consoles for the fiscal year.

As for the last reason, it comes down to bots. Resellers are utilizing software to buy a hugee number of PS5s at one time, leaving only a certain number for real humans to buy. Retailers summed many bot protections during PS5 restocks, but these limitations only affect resellers so much.

Stock refreshes were thin on the ground earlier this month, though they’ve hurried up nowadays. Here’s a look at the recent PS5 restock history:

• Antonline: Oct. 28
• Walmart: Sept. 16, Oct. 28
• PlayStation Direct:  Sept. 28, Oct. 14, 20, 21, 22
• GameStop: Sept. 28, 30, Oct. 22, 26, 29
• Amazon: Sept. 21, Oct. 26
• Target: Oct. 1, 20, 27
• Best Buy: Sept. 23, Oct. 1, 4, 11

The store with the most PS5 restocks is Sony’s official store, PlayStation Direct. Drops usually happen at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) during the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). What Sony has done lately is give a lucky fewer email invites for exclusive ways to the store, which generally starts at 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET).

To get one of these miracle invites, you not only need luck, but you also require a PSN account. You can sign up for one on the PSN website and it’s free. After you have an account, you just need to register your place in the queue to get a PS5 on this page.

From here, it’s a matter of being patient and having a little luck on your side. It shows priority access emails are sent, but you will require to partake in one of the lines on PlayStation Direct in order to be part.

PlayStation Direct PS5 restock works slightly differently than other retailers. At the start time, there’s a welcome page with a countdown clock indicating when the queue will start. You can stay on this page and when time is up, the website will begin placing people in line to buy a PS5. The page will update and say how long you’ll have to wait, but it’s not a guarantee.

To help your chances, once you’re in a queue, share the link with your other devices like your phone. Make sure each device uses a different IP address (such as having your phone on its mobile plan while your computer uses your home Wi-Fi).

This can improve your chances, as your other device might be put into a different line that moves at a faster pace. Even if you don’t get a PS5, as mentioned earlier, you still could get a pass to buy one on the next go-round.

Major retailers like Walmart, GameStop, Amazon, Target, and Best Buy don’t usually give much notice ahead of a restock. Sometimes they’ll have a restock in the morning, other times in the afternoon, and in few cases, even in the middle of the night. Here are some ideas to help you get the jump on the competition.

First idea: Don’t wait until you see an alert for a PS5 inventory drop. Check the links at major retailers for stock updates daily or even multiple times a day. If you do happen upon some PS5 availability, go all-in with as many browsers and devices as possible. On a desktop, for example, open the retailer’s 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 idea: Create accounts at the different retailers and make sure you’re already logged in if you’re going to try to get a PS5. Make sure all your shipping, bill, and payment info is updated on whatever device you can buy from, whether it’s a laptop, desktop, or phone.

This makes checking out a lot faster, which is crucial as retailers’ sites get quickly bogged down, leading to people losing their chance of securing a PS5.

Third idea: Keep checking back with this post and follow CNET and Oscar Gonzalez on Twitter for updates.

While most retailers very much want you to show up when something is marked in stock, the extended difficulty in getting a PS5 has encouraged Best Buy and GameStop to offer early access to sales for their paid members.

The recently expanded Totaltech program from Best Buy offers a ton of benefits for its $200 per year price tag, but the big one for would-be PS5 owners is early access to “hot products during the holiday season” which means there will be limited access events where you could get a PS5 without having to click refresh on your browser because you’re in a member’s only queue.

If you want to increase your chances of getting a PS5 from GameStop, all you need to do is sign up for the PowerUp Rewards Pro program. This is a subscription program GameStop has had for years, and it uses this program to offer discounts and coupon codes as well as a subscription to Game Informer magazine. This program costs $20 per year, and if GameStop is true to its promise people who are a part of this program will be able to get a PS5 before it is available to everyone on the website.

If you’re starting to crack and considering buying a PS5 right now (and we know that with the number of big PS5 games about to drop over the next few months, the pressure is on), you can do so, but at the cost of a hefty markup on sites like eBay or StockX. On eBay, for example, we’ve seen PS5 units priced over $1,000, although prices have slowly made their way down to approximately $700.