After fucking up the supply chain for toys over covid bullshit that politicians never seem to want to end in states such as California which houses shipping ports from China, some politicians are now proposing anti-scalper laws to combat high ebay prices for brand new toy, by making scalper bots illegal, since there will be almost no new toys at retail this Christmas.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2021/11/29/law-would-ban-cyber-grinches-from-price-gouging-popular-toys/>Majority Leader Chuck Shumer (D-N.Y.), Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) announced the Stop Grinch Bots Act, which aims to crack down on automated software snatching up entire inventories of coveted holiday items, and reselling them at higher prices.>The Stop Grinch Bots Act would apply this mechanism to all online retail stores and would task the Federal Trade Commission with enforcing the law, if passed.>The bots, which can purchase hundreds of items in a matter of seconds, could make certain toys almost impossible to buy for the average consumer, the lawmakers said in a press release.>In 2017, Schumer’s office found several popular toys listed for exorbitant prices on resale websites. Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition, which sold for $79.99, was out of stock at retailers like Target, Best Buy and GameStop, according to a press release. However, it was available on eBay and Amazon’s resale platform for over $13,000. A Barbie Hello Dreamhouse, which sold for $300 and sold out at Toys R’ Us, could be purchased for $1,500 on eBay and Amazon. The $14.99 retail price for Fingerlings inflated to nearly $1,000 each on resale platforms, according to Schumer’s office. 