Oculus Halts Rift Distribution in China Due to Scalpers

[Steven Bogos]

Oculus Halts Rift Distribution in China Due to Scalpers

This is why we can't have nice things.

You may not have guessed from the plethora of coverage and hype surrounding the Oculus Rift, but its not actually a consumer product yet. Development Kits have been made available to developers and enthusiasts in limited quantities around the world, creating a pretty big demand for something that doesn't have a lot of supply. Today, it looks like that demand is going to get a little bit higher, as Oculus has announced it will halt distribution of the device to China, due to rampant scalping.

"We need to make sure that we are doing what we can to make sure that resellers that are looking to flip our product for a profit are not taking stock away from legitimate developer purchases globally," an Oculus rep said in a reddit thread [http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/29pyl3/preorder_has_been_cancelled_in_china/]. "Our product, in its current form, is a developer kit, meant for developers that develop VR content. We are looking into alternative ways to make sure that our development kits are getting into legitimate developer hands in China."

When asked just how bad the "extreme re-seller purchases" was, the rep responded sarcastically "We were forced to suspend an entire country from purchasing. I'll let you put two and two together."

Bad news for any of you in China hoping to get your hands on a rift.

Source: Engadget via reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/29pyl3/preorder_has_been_cancelled_in_china/]

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[josh4president]

Seedy business practices?

In China?

THE HELL YOU SAY!

 

[Chaosian]

As someone unfamiliar with the businesses definition of "Scalping" (which, I can only assume is just "re-sale"), can I say that is article title sounded incredibly, hilariously, misleading?

 

[Scrythe]

As someone unfamiliar with the businesses definition of "Scalping" (which, I can only assume is just "re-sale"), can I say that is article title sounded incredibly, hilariously, misleading?

I've never heard it in any context outside of people who sell sports/concert tickets right outside the venue for an inflated cost. The appeal (I think?) is that you pay a little extra to get a ticket instead of waiting in line. It's to specifically target the morons who really wanted to go to Event, but couldn't be arsed to purchase a ticket ahead of time. Or alternatively, if it's a Big Event where tickets were sold out in less than half an hour (PAX, Comic-Con, BlizzCon, that Led Zeppelin reunion concert in 2007, etc).

 

[Jadak]

As someone unfamiliar with the businesses definition of "Scalping" (which, I can only assume is just "re-sale"), can I say that is article title sounded incredibly, hilariously, misleading?

I've never heard it in any context outside of people who sell sports/concert tickets right outside the venue for an inflated cost. The appeal (I think?) is that you pay a little extra to get a ticket instead of waiting in line. It's to specifically target the morons who really wanted to go to Event, but couldn't be arsed to purchase a ticket ahead of time. Or alternatively, if it's a Big Event where tickets were sold out in less than half an hour (PAX, Comic-Con, BlizzCon, that Led Zeppelin reunion concert in 2007, etc).

Well, there's also the practice of cutting off a person's scalp. And given that the product is used by being strapped to ones head, that may be the source of said hilarity.

 

[weirdee]

The intent in this case is to purchase an object of limited quantity, for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the gap between the original sale price and the price that a really desperate person will pay for it ("arbitrage") by occupying a customer space that would normally have gone to somebody who actually wanted to use the product, a practice which while some people believe is simply adhering to the "equilibrium price", would assume that the original seller would not have anything to lose by charging ruinous prices for their product.

Offtopic: Some venues, like Comic Con, counter this practice by forcing all buyers to register their identity to their pass in order to prevent people from transferring ownership.

 

[Grabehn]

Well, there's also the practice of cutting off a person's scalp. And given that the product is used by being strapped to ones head, that may be the source of said hilarity.

That's exactly what I thought of when I read the title, and ignoring almost everything about the Occulus, I thought the news was about something completely different.

 

[kerrowecrisis]

Scalping... Geez if I didn't know any better I would have thought this one was pretty brutal. haha.
Though I am still not sure what way they really mean that word. Wish that they explained it themselves though.