Scalpers Are Already Ruining Steam Deck

Despite Valve's efforts to block scalpers from snagging Steam Decks with a unique preventative queue system (via IGN), these shady sellers have taken to eBay to sell their reserved spots in line for outrageous amounts.

A big reason things have gone haywire for the Steam Deck is the massive influx of orders that ended up crashing the Steam Store the day reservations opened. Erroneous alerts stopped many disappointed users from securing their places in the first round of Steam Deck orders, with everything from credit card issues to account age inaccurately cited as reasons for incomplete transactions. And now, scalpers are making the situation even worse.

At the time of this writing, the highest Steam Deck reservation listing on eBay was priced at a whopping $1,699. Considering the three Steam Deck models range from $399 to $649 depending on storage bandwidth and storage speed, that's a significant hike. Add on the fact that nothing is guaranteed with the console and you have a full-on recipe for disaster. As Valve put it in the Steam Deck's FAQ section, "We will make every effort to convert all reservations to orders but we are not able to guarantee availability."

There may be a glimmer of good news. Kotaku shared an update on July 17 after reaching out to eBay about the legitimacy of the listings. The online auction giant responded with a commitment to taking down the listings since they go against the company's Presale Policy, which requires presale items to be shipped in 30 days or less.

The Steam Deck won't ship anywhere close to the 30-day range since the initial set of order invitations may not go out until December 2021 (assuming all goes smoothly). While eBay seems to have followed through with its promise, new Steam Deck reservation listings continue to pop up on the site.

It goes without saying that the Steam Deck is highly sought after, even though the internet is divided about a few of its key features. Though the portable can't run some of Steam's most popular games as of now, Valve is working on fixing that issue and getting the system ready for its big day. Hopefully, scalpers don't make as much off this upcoming console as the astonishing amounts they raked in through the Xbox Series X|S and PS5.