The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are the world’s two most powerful consumer VR headsets. They are also two of the most difficult to obtain gadgets on the market today.
While it is true that both systems officially “launched” on March 28 and April 5 respectively, obtaining them is still far more difficult than simply walking into Best Buy or placing an order through Amazon.
If you want to lay your hands on either the $599 Oculus Rift or the $799 HTC Vive you will need to add your name to the ever-lengthening lists of backorders that are accumulating online. In addition to this already lengthy process, unforeseen shipping delays have been slowing the availability of both headsets and making an already difficult-to-come-by device virtually impossible to acquire.
However, where some see failure others are seeing opportunity. A few enterprising early adopters are flipping the coveted devices on eBay; many times at markups of over 100 percent.
For example, one particular Rift headset – being sold by a user named sagarp23 – recently closed its auction at the eye-popping price of $1,525.
If you, like me, still use your phone’s calculator to double-check the change you got from the pizza man, let me clarify. Sagarp23 is selling the $600 product for around 150 percent of its value (shout out to percentagecalculator.com). Furthermore, closing this deal could enable our old pal sagar to purchase an additional Rift after the sale and still walk away with a net profit of just over $300 (before taxes and shipping costs of course).
On the Vive side of things, the story is the same. At the time of writing, a consumer version Vive, in hand and ready to sell, is currently sitting at $1,575 (a 96 percent price increase) with four hours left on its auction.
From here things begin to get almost ludicrous. At least one ambitious eBay user, by the name of jareddd123, was able to sell, not a product, but a spot in line for $948. I think I’ll let Jared explain that one himself. Here is what he wrote in the item description:
Hi,
You are viewing a listing for a sealed, unopened Oculus Rift consumer version VR headset. I placed the order during the first 15-20 minutes that preorders opened back in January. The original order page said the headset would ship in April. Oculus has since provided a shipping update and the estimated ship date is May 16th-May 26th. The order number ends in 28xxxxx. If for some reason the May ship date from Oculus slips I will keep the buyer updated regarding shipping dates. I will ship the item out the day it arrives or at the latest the following day. Shipping is free!
This CV1 preorder comes with all preorder bonus’s (games, Ouclus Touch reservation, discount codes).
Thank you,
Jaredd123
As steep as these prices are, and as confounding as it may be to sell a product that you do not yet own, the principals at play here do make perfect sense. Supply is low and demand is high. People are nearly frothing at the mouth for these headsets. Combine that with their already limited availability and shipping woes, and you’ve got a recipe for one very lucrative piece of technology.
