Well, this one got my hackles up. According to Engadget, GameStop is selling PlayStation 5 Pro consoles for $500 over the manufacturer's suggested retail price, betting that frustrated gamers will pay just about anything to get one during the current shortage.

Let me put that in perspective for you. The PS5 Pro was already a premium-priced machine before any of this. Another $500 on top of that is enough to buy a whole second decent gadget, a nice pair of headphones, or frankly a good chunk of a budget laptop, just in markup alone.

The shortage is real, to be fair to anybody caught up in it. Sony simply can't keep up with demand, and whenever supply runs thin the vultures circle. I've watched this movie before. The Wii shortage of 2006 and 2007, when families were calling stores at dawn to ask about delivery trucks. My sister-in-law practically stalked a Toys "R" Us for weeks to get one for her kids. Scarcity does strange things to people, and stranger things to retailers who smell an opportunity.

But there's a difference between some third-party scalper on an auction site and a big national chain doing this out in the open. GameStop is supposed to be a retail partner, not a ticket broker. When the store with the official signage marks something up $500 because it can, well, that tells you exactly where you stand in the relationship.

And I won't pretend I don't understand the temptation on their side. GameStop has spent years fighting to stay relevant, and a hot console in short supply is one of the few cards left in their deck. But squeezing your most loyal customers, the folks who still walk into a physical game store in 2026, is a peculiar way to say thank you.

My advice is the same advice I give my family about every gadget: never buy from panic. Technology should work for you, and that includes your wallet working for you. The PS5 Pro will get restocked eventually. It always is. The original PS5 shortage felt endless at the time too, and somehow everyone who wanted one eventually got one, usually at the actual price. Paying $500 extra gets you the same machine a few months sooner, and those months of smug patience are worth quite a lot.

Set up stock alerts, check with retailers that haven't joined the markup party, and maybe give your current console a little more quality time. The games haven't gotten worse in the meantime, I promise.

If you do spot a console at a fair price from a reputable seller, grab it, that's wonderful. But $500 over MSRP at a chain store isn't a deal, it's a shakedown with a receipt. My granddaughter Jess would tell you I don't use that word lightly.