Scalpers are ruining the Internet, and in 2026, I hope their reign of terror comes to an end

Date:
Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Description:
Scalpers are one of the worst things about online shopping, and in 2026 I
want them to disappear forever.

FULL STORY

If Santa and his elves are the light that brings us goodwill and cheer, scalpers are the darkness ripping any happiness away and Im once again
hoping the coming year will be the year they stop ruining the internet.

Im sure youve all had a bad experience wrought by scalpers folks using an
army of bots or simply sheer will (and maybe other tricks) to buy up
something in high demand but short supply, only to resell it at a massive markup.

In the world of tech, theyve scalped PS5s , SSDs , and, more recently, RAM , but theyll also ruin other shopping experiences for concert tickets, limited edition items, and trading cards, among many others.

That latter one has been my greatest source of scalping frustration in 2025. Whether it's Magic: The Gathering s Secret Lairs or Riftbound s general availability (even the ability to attend its competitive events), scalpers
have taken advantage of the limited supply to jack up prices and ruin
everyones fun. And while Im not into the Pokmon TCG scene quite as much, I
know scalping is the bane of regular players there, too.

But what can be done to stop them?

In the fight against scalpers and resellers, we thankfully have a few tricks
up our sleeves. Ive gone round our office to ask the TechRadar team which anti-scalper methods theyve seen, and these three came out on top as our favorites.

The first is actually a rule being imposed by the UK Government to help keep concert ticket prices in check, and it prevents tickets from being resold at
a price thats higher than the original cost.

Service fees would be accounted for, and the rules would also put caps on
these to hopefully prevent the price limit from being undermined, but essentially, this proposed law would prevent resellers from making a profit. This would hurt scalpers but not legitimate fans reselling their concert tickets because they can no longer attend, and helps fans who missed out the first time go and enjoy the artist without needing to pay a premium.

While not ideal for all scenarios, for live events, this approach feels like the gold standard. It punishes scalpers without negatively impacting proper fans.

Another option for live events, or also the sale of a limited availability product, is a ballot draw. I think these work especially well if launched in conjunction with an official fan group, like subscribers to a service or newsletter.

While this randomized queue does require some kind of bot detection and also purchase limits to prevent bad actors from finding ways to abuse the system,
it helps give fans an equal chance of getting in on the limited supply, and prevents the irritation caused when you get in a digital line only to find
out the thing you wanted sold out while you were still 10,000 places from the front as with the ballot you know ahead of time that youll be able to get something.

The last method Ill highlight is made to demand: the system every Magic
player wishes Wizards of the Coast would return to for Secret Lair.

Rather than pre-making all of a limited edition preorder item, the seller
would instead set a time limit of a few days, weeks, months, however long
they want, within which folks can submit a preorder. The product would then
be made for every preorder and subsequently shipped out to the buyers.

It can be slow to get everyone what they ordered, sure, but it guarantees everyone gets the limited edition thing so you dont end up with folks
annoyed they missed out on that Limited Edition PS5 controller or TCG cards because they didnt get in an online queue at exactly 5pm (it hurts every
time).

Is the end in sight?

These solutions are unfortunately not foolproof they cant account for all kinds of scalping but my wish for 2026 is that more retailers will employ these and other techniques they can think up to tackle the scalping epidemic.

Having something youre excited about being snatched up by malicious middlemen and bots simply so they can sell it back to you at a markup makes almost no
one happy just the opportunistic bad actors who revel in ruining someone else's day.

I saw many players in my local Riftbound group upset they couldnt get tickets to the Bologna Regional Qualifier one of the first major regional events for the game outside of Asia.

Riftbound representatives have since pledged to make sure sales go better in the future and have revealed that you cant resell tickets for the event. If
the name on the order doesnt match the person who picks up the tournament badges on the day, you wont get them.

Eliminating scalping wont make everything right in the world, but itll
brighten up the days of everyone who has ever had the displeasure of facing
it. I expect over the next 12 months well continue to need all the brightness we can get.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/tech/scalpers-are-ruining-the-internet-and-in-2026-i -hope-their-reign-of-terror-comes-to-an-end

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