So the situation with game scalping has gotten so bad that there is now a petition going around. This petition stating that scalpers where the ones that got their hands on a large majority of the games, leaving true fans empty handed.
change(dot)org/p/bethesda-fallout-4-pip-boy-edition-manufacture-more-pip-boy-editions-2

I am not saying that this petition is bad, or that it shouldn't exist. I want to talk about the situation in general. We have gotten to the point in this industry where scalpers and shady resellers get their hands on most of the stock meant for dedicated fans. This is a large problem, and it needs to be addressed in full.

How do we stop this problem? Are their any solutions? What needs to change in order to keep this from happening over and over again in the future? Enough is enough, its time to start taking action as a community.

I've had a few thoughts on the matter as well. It would be great if Bethesda banned the sale of Collector edition Pipboys, but I'm not sure how that would work. I'm no legal expert so while the idea sounds nice, I don't think it's sound. They could limit the re-sale of collector items until a week after release. Because only Scalpers would be selling them before then. Which would also mean Beth could take action against E-Bay for selling copies before they're released. Maybe?

Or Beth could just mass-produce them with the Collector Editions being the only ones unique, a code or certificate of authenticity or such. A little something that makes the Collector Pipboys a little special.

How can we stop this problem?
To provide a solution, one needs to actually be a certain authority in a big gaming company. Particularly, in the business section. I am not this guy, neither is anyone on this site (Are they?)
So providing a solution would be pointless, unless a large amount of people advocate for the solution to get it heard. People need to tell the big gaming companies that this is a huge issue. A petition is a good start.

To begin, I believe there should be limits to how many pre-orders can be made by one person.
This not only prevents scalpers from buying a large amount of the merchandise, but it also allows for the people interested (if they act quick enough) to get there fair share of merchandise.

Another solution, will 'de-value' the merchandise, by making the product more common. This will make it so the merchandise is suddenly less rare, and therefore less valuable to scalpers. However, this will have an impact on collectors.

One last thing. Scalpers will come in and take advantage of the fact that a gamer is willing to pay much more than what the merchandise was originally sold for by buying it up first then reselling it at the maximum willingness to pay. Gamers suddenly shunning gaming merchandise will create a huge issue, however, it will stop the scalping, as this ''willingness to pay'' dissipates.

@VATROU
Maybe... but that doesn't solve the problem, its just a way to deal with the aftermath. How do we solve the initial problem, so that this never happens again? How could retailers (online or offline) keep this from happening again.
One idea I had was... to buy a limited edition of a game, you will have to give the retailer your Drivers license/ID number (or EU/AU equivalent). This way one person can truly only get one copy of the game.

EDIT:
@Tekkers
I would advocate for either the first one, or the last. I never want them to produce more and devalue the product.

@Blaze1514

But then it is no longer limited, and not as valued. Just food to thought.

Edit: I did some 'googling' into the issue. I did find a solution.
One solution would be to do a by order process and make them as they are ordered.
You could then stop production of the product after a limited time.

Tekkers wrote:

@Blaze1514

But then it is no longer limited, and not as valued. Just food to thought.

No, its still limited... They still will only make the same limited amount. It will just eliminate the scalping problem.

@your edit
This could cause devaluing however... depending on how many order in that timeframe.

You mentioned a driving license, what if I don't drive?

Tekkers wrote:

You mentioned a driving license, what if I don't drive?

Do you have an ID, Voting ID, or Permit? If not... then then "your" probably too young anyway, and should just have your parent order it with their information.

Sadly, I don't have any ID. I'm only sixteen years of age. Not like society listens to age guidelines/laws whilst playing video games anyway.

This happens in the sneaker game alot too. That's why for instance when the Red Octobers dropped Nike did it randomly for only the quick to get. That'd be a possible solution. Also @tekkers Charlie Chaplin had a fantastic speech in the movie about him parodying hitler!

Tekkers wrote:

Sadly, I don't have any ID. I'm only sixteen years of age. Not like society listens to age guidelines/laws whilst playing video games anyway.

Which is why I stated to just have your parents lend you their license/ID for this process. The process isn't to check if you are who you say you are, the process is to limit the amount of sales by making it so that each sale has to be paired with a different ID/DL number.
Also many 16 year olds get permits...

JaySpectacular wrote:

This happens in the sneaker game alot too. That's why for instance when the Red Octobers dropped Nike did it randomly for only the quick to get. That'd be a possible solution. Also @tekkers Charlie Chaplin had a fantastic speech in the movie about him parodying hitler!

Yes but that problem has been in that industry almost as long as ticket scalping has. Its been a problem so long that many people probably can't remember a time when it wasn't.
This is not so in gaming, game scalping was always relatively low. It just jumped in activity in the last 2 or so years. We have a chance to crush this infestation before it spreads... we just have to work out how.

Same with those amiibos , great idea good work and good design but almost unobtainable.

In the past this was only the case with very aniticipated things like tickets for concerts but now is it getting more common a bit to common for my liking, but what can you do about it

lukaboot wrote:

Same with those amiibos , great idea good work and good design but almost unobtainable.

In the past this was only the case with very aniticipated things like tickets for concerts but now is it getting more common a bit to common for my liking, but what can you do about it

I don't know, maybe impose a system in which you need to put a ID/DL number in for each sale. Then the only way scalpers could get a hundred copies is if they have a hundred people lend them their ID/DL numbers

VATROU wrote:

I've had a few thoughts on the matter as well. It would be great if Bethesda banned the sale of Collector edition Pipboys, but I'm not sure how that would work. I'm no legal expert so while the idea sounds nice, I don't think it's sound. They could limit the re-sale of collector items until a week after release. Because only Scalpers would be selling them before then. Which would also mean Beth could take action against E-Bay for selling copies before they're released. Maybe?

Or Beth could just mass-produce them with the Collector Editions being the only ones unique, a code or certificate of authenticity or such. A little something that makes the Collector Pipboys a little special.

Making it illgal is very hard as it is sold in many country's

I agree with the idea of mass production it would most likely be the most efficient way of doing this.

[quote="lukaboot"]

VATROU wrote:

I agree with the idea of mass production it would most likely be the most efficient way of doing this.

But that makes it worthless as a collectors item.... that may be easiest, but it is far from most efficient.

I remember when I was really young and use to collect Lego (I was a kid, don't judge me) Certain items that had limited stock could only be sold online a to a particular IP once. Although I am sure some people could get around this, the majority would be put off.

Then again, if their is more than one person in the house who wants the collectors edition there could be an issue.

Petitions very rarely have the desired end-result, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to try.

My idea on the matter is this: Whether someone is buying in store or online, no more than one order per account/ customer should be allowed. That would make things fair for everyone and allow fans to get their hands on what they deserve. I'm surprised this hasn't been implemented at retailers and through amazon yet. Scalpers are a huge issue in the gaming industry and they need to be dealt with swiftly.

Well,this kinda worries me and angers's me.It anger's me because people make double accounts and buy the copy again so they can sell it for more when all the editions are sold out,and also it worries me because our Bulgarian gaming stores wont be able to recieve it and I wont be able to buy it which worries me a lot,anyway I think that Bethesda should take action againts this and BAN or at least delete orders from people who already pre-ordered the edition but I really hope they do something or im gonna cry a lot for not having the Collector Edition,and not mention it will be my very first UNIQUE collector edition,and you know its bad for those poeple who do it because of profit not because they care about the game and such.

Well, looks like they're listening to at least some concerns for availability. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/23/fallout-4-pip-boy-edition-now-available-for-a-limited-time?abthid=5589df052e6432b11a000030