Tips on how to find a PS5 or Xbox Series X: Talking Tech podcast

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Hey there listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. As you likely have heard, one of the hottest tech items available this holiday, and honestly, since they launched a year ago, has been the PlayStation 5 from Sony and the Xbox Series X from Microsoft. To say that they have been the hottest tech gifts is a big understatement. They've probably been the most difficult tech item to get over the last year. They both launched in 2020, and since then it has been a scramble. I have seen people scrambling in who knows how many different ways trying to get a hold of these consoles. And obviously, whether it's for the holidays or you're just looking for a great gift for a family member or friend, or just any other time of the year, we figured why not break down how folks are getting a hold of a PS5 or an Xbox Series X.

I write about this in a story you can read on tech.usatoday.com. I actually talked to some consumers who got lucky and were able to buy a PlayStation 5 or a new Xbox, and I asked for some of their tips just to get a sense of what are they doing to get a hold of one of these devices that have really been, I mean, increasingly difficult to get. You go to any retailer and they're not on shelves. You go online and they constantly say they're sold out. So, how did they do it? The first piece of advice that I pulled away was a lot of consumers have the pages open to all these different opportunities to buy a PS5 or an Xbox. They have the target page for PS5 open. They have the Amazon page for PS5 open, for example. And they just refresh those constantly just to keep track of updates, just to see if something comes in, and then they can pop right in and buy it, add it to their cart, do what they have to do.

There was one family I talked to in Tennessee, where they were trying to get an Xbox Series X. They tried through Best Buy's website, and they tried several times just checking throughout the day. Finally, they got lucky. They found one. They got it, and then they went to Best Buy to pick it up. Really it's just being vigilant. You want to find the retailers you want to buy from, check their sites daily, even several times a day. That's one way for you to maybe get ahead.

The next tip is, if you're not on Twitter, Twitter might be your best friend in helping you find one. There are a lot of accounts. Matt Swider is one that jumps out. He's a journalist with more than a million followers on Twitter, and he has been tracking updates of the restocks at different retailers of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. He might pop a tweet and say, "Hey..." For example, "Walmart has more PS5s. Here's where you get them." And you just pop right in. We had one... Again, one reader that chimed in and he talked about how he set an alert for notifications on Twitter anytime this journalist would have a new tweet, and he saw one about a Walmart restock got in, and he got a PS5. There are several other accounts like this as well, and you can read about those in my story, where they just let you know when there's fresh stock of a PS5 or Xbox available at whatever retailer.

The next tip, and this one I think is really interesting and also super important, because in terms of being able to do this, once you find something and get it as quick as possible, this is really going to help. Make sure that you have an account already with the retailer you're going to shop with, and not just an account, but have information like your credit card info, things like that filed away and in place beforehand. Because then what you can do is really speed up the process of buying this console. As one consumer who talked with us for our story mentioned, "Having it in your cart doesn't mean that you have it. You have to actually buy it, and then you own it." So, if you have your shipping info, your credit card info all in place and ready to go, then when you see that PS5 or Xbox on a retailer website, pop in, add it to your cart, and you're out the virtual door as quickly as possible.

Some useful tips, and again, not just for the holidays, if you struck out this holiday, this is something you try in January, or until we get a better supply of these consoles. Who knows when that'll be, but hopefully these tips help. If you have other thoughts on this, if you've been successful and have tips that we haven't talked about, let me know. But again, don't forget, you can read more about this on tech.usatoday.com.

Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show idea? And again, any tips you have on buying a console, if you have been lucky enough to get one, let me know on Twitter. I'm @brettmolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us, or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. Don't forget. Do you want tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter. It comes out every Thursday. Go to newsletters.usatoday.com for more. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tips on how to find a PS5 or Xbox Series X: Talking Tech podcast