I tried Walmart last night at exactly 8 PM when they were supposed to have more on sale. The BOTS
must have grabbed them all in like 3 seconds. I want to get one for my son. I know I know, I should have pre-ordered. Any strategies out there to try and pick one up before Christmas?
I don't want to pay 1K from a damn scalper

At this point, either overpay or pray.

Gonna have to sack up and tell him to wait.

I'd do it well in advance if the holiday and if you snag one between now and then it will be a happy surprise.

Don't beat yourself up for not preordering... the bots made that an extremely difficult process too.

Yep, the only way you'll get one at this point is extraordinary luck or overpay an eBay scalper.

It's unfortunate that the retailers don't give a **** about scalpers buying up huge chunks of inventory with bots, but it is what it is. Same thing goes for many computer parts as well. Just another fun part of 2020.

You used to be able to hit a couple of small town Walmarts and find a rare console or two. I did pretty well buying Nintendo Wii's when they first came out. Things might have changed though.

tamusc said:

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Yep, the only way you'll get one at this point is extraordinary luck or overpay an eBay scalper.

It's unfortunate that the retailers don't give a **** about scalpers buying up huge chunks of inventory with bots, but it is what it is. Same thing goes for many computer parts as well. Just another fun part of 2020.

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The manufacturers of these consoles should be telling retailers that they will not provide them for resale without some type of bot protection. It cuts into the manufacturers profit because less consoles getting used means less games and monthly subscriptions being purchased.

All this is kind of what I figured. Damn the Bots!

Wrap a picture of one with an IOU. Nothing else you can do outside of paying double price or more. Should be much more findable by February.

And the likelihood is none or very few of his friends will have one either.

When I was at A&M I had an exam the evening of the PS2 launch so I was unable to get in line early and get one. Friggin professor!

My mom asked what I wanted for Christmas shortly after. I told her I wanted a PS2 but I also told her not to worry cause she wouldn't find one.

Well, that woman called dozens of stores every day for weeks and she eventually found one. Hats off to my mom!

PooDoo said:

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You used to be able to hit a couple of small town Walmarts and find a rare console or two. I did pretty well buying Nintendo Wii's when they first came out. Things might have changed though.

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It worked great for me when I was trying to pick up a couple of Gamecubes that included The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, and Wiis. I was even able to grab a PS2 at the College Station Target shortly after launch that way because they had one off by itself in the electronics area.

I have an Xbox One and a 360 you can have. Your kid would hate you now but laugh about it as an adult.

Just put a photo of an Xbox and put it in a large box. When he opens it say you couldn't get one but he'll get it once they're available.

My parents used to do this kind of stuff all the time for hard to get/or stuff they ordered last minute. Hilarious poems saying why you don't get the gift get were also a hit.

https://stockx.com/microsoft-xbox-series-x-console-black

Overpaying likely your only option.

meatsweats said:

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I tried Walmart last night at exactly 8 PM when they were supposed to have more on sale. The BOTS
must have grabbed them all in like 3 seconds. I want to get one for my son. I know I know, I should have pre-ordered. Any strategies out there to try and pick one up before Christmas?
I don't want to pay 1K from a damn scalper

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They are live on Bestbuy right now. Wont be up long!

sosolik said:

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meatsweats said:

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I tried Walmart last night at exactly 8 PM when they were supposed to have more on sale. The BOTS
must have grabbed them all in like 3 seconds. I want to get one for my son. I know I know, I should have pre-ordered. Any strategies out there to try and pick one up before Christmas?
I don't want to pay 1K from a damn scalper

---

They are live on Bestbuy right now. Wont be up long!

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The Fife said:

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sosolik said:

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meatsweats said:

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I tried Walmart last night at exactly 8 PM when they were supposed to have more on sale. The BOTS
must have grabbed them all in like 3 seconds. I want to get one for my son. I know I know, I should have pre-ordered. Any strategies out there to try and pick one up before Christmas?
I don't want to pay 1K from a damn scalper

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They are live on Bestbuy right now. Wont be up long!

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Still up for me.

I clicked the add to cart button when it was yellow, but still said its sold out. Now the button is greyed out.
The Series S model also has a yellow add to cart button, but it doesn't work either. I give up.

I was able to grab a series X this morning from Best Buy online. Here's what you need to do. Follow stock alert accounts on twitter and click that you would like to receive notifications for every one of their tweets. If you don't have a twitter, it's worth signing up with a dummy account to get notified first. I immediately went to Best Buy's website and tried to add to the cart, got the please wait wheel for a long time, over 5 minutes and then it popped up to add to cart again and I did. It's almost like a 2 factor deal. Best of luck!

Gaming PC FTW and Steam gift card.

This could just be dumb luck but when Best Buy's cart system goes to **** after getting slammed, the mobile app was the real mvp.

It's what I used when I got mine, as well as something other folks were reporting on the thread I was lurking (on another board).

It's unlikely but not impossible. Good luck!

Edit: oh yeah, follow this guy on twitter or at least keep an eye on his page - http://www.twitter.com/wario64

Someone posted a link to this site on here. It claims that you can sign up to get a notice when it is in stock.

I don't know if it works or not because I've never used it.

https://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/microsoftxboxseriesx/

https://www.zoolert.com/videogames/consoles/index.php

I used this to buy a nintendo switch 4 different times this past spring and highly recommend it.

Update:

Using Brickseek website and Walmarts iPhone app, I was able to see late last night our local Walmart had stock I arrived early first thing this morning and was the 2nd person waiting around in the Electronics section. We waited for the Electronics person to arrive at 7AM. By then there were 4 others behind me. They wheeled out a cart of 10 Xbox Series X. Victory!

And now my watch has ended.

meatsweats said:

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Update:

Using Brickseek website and Walmarts iPhone app, I was able to see late last night our local Walmart had stock I arrived early first thing this morning and was the 2nd person waiting around in the Electronics section. We waited for the Electronics person to arrive at 7AM. By then there were 4 others behind me. They wheeled out a cart of 10 Xbox Series X. Victory!

And now my watch has ended.

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Congrats, your kid is going to be very excited on Christmas morning.

Thanks! He is going to be shocked. I already told him we will just need to wait until next Spring when supply is back. They are impossible to get right now.

jr15aggie said:

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Don't beat yourself up for not preordering... the bots made that an extremely difficult process too.

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The bots also did the same for the new graphics card releases. Freaking Skynet!

meatsweats said:

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Thanks! He is going to be shocked. I already told him we will just need to wait until next Spring when supply is back. They are impossible to get right now.

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I would keep laying it on pretty thick that you just can't find one and no way they will get one for Christmas. Don't know how old your kid is but that would likely make the surprise even better.

LOL. Yea the wife and are definitely going to downplay it. It will be one of those "hey what's that behind the couch deal" after he opens his T-shirts and socks gifts. LOL He's 12.

I almost felt bad dropping him off at school this morning. I asked him what kind of hoodies he wanted, and that the xbox was going to be a no-go. (if he only knew his new gift was sitting in the trunk of our car 6 feet behind him.

If anyone else is looking, Amazon has them in stock right this moment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H75RTZ8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_yvp0FbQMWNJQG?tag=slickdeals&ascsubtag=4bc1f6e23a3811ebb9d3aeb9af6f605e0INT&_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

For those ordering online, I would highly suggest getting the order in by the 15th or 17th or so if you really want them by Christmas. Many of the shipping/delivery companies are backed up and orders placed after that might come late this year.

meatsweats said:

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LOL. Yea the wife and are definitely going to downplay it. It will be one of those "hey what's that behind the couch deal" after he opens his T-shirts and socks gifts. LOL He's 12.

I almost felt bad dropping him off at school this morning. I asked him what kind of hoodies he wanted, and that the xbox was going to be a no-go. (if he only knew his new gift was sitting in the trunk of our car 6 feet behind him.

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I know it's just a material item, but Christmas will still be an awesome parent moment. Good for you.

And this is all the more reason that people who use bots and scalp this sort of item are despicable. They are denying families of moments like this.