Why the Amazon PS5 restock is something we're tracking – even if one just happened

PS5 restock Sony Direct
(Image credit: Future)

The Amazon PS5 restock isn't scheduled to happen in the US today (there is a report that the UK will see PS5 stock). However, here's why we continue to track Amazon PS5 inventory despite the fact that we just saw PS5 Disc stock a week ago: there was nearly a second Amazon PS5 restock last Thursday night – Amazon.com turned on add-to-cart buttons for the PS5 Disc and Digital consoles. But a website glitch prevented anyone from checking out. Was there really inventory? Was it an error? This is why we haven't given up tracking it alongside Best Buy, Walmart, Target, GameStop and other stores in the US.

  • Caution: Don't buy from Twitter users – which are all scams. Only buy from the US stores Matt alerts you about. No legitimate person will sell a console for just $550.

Why we're tracking the next Amazon PS5 restock

The next Amazon PS5 restock is the most controversial of them all simply because it nearly had two restocks in as many days. It happened last week: we saw thousands of people get a PS5 from our restock alerts on Wednesday, May 26, yet no one was able to get it the next day (Thursday, May 27) when there was a supposed second PS5 restock and we all saw the add-to-cart button turn on for about 30 minutes.

That means one of two things: Amazon did have PS5 inventory and it'll do another restock in June 2021, or it was a wider Amazon.com glitch and the add-to-cart button was never meant to go live (as in they didn't actually have consoles to begin with). 

We're tracking Amazon just in case it's the former. But we also know Amazon has waited between 15 and 52 days between PS5 restocks, so there's no telling when PS5 will be back in stock at Amazon. 

Second reason for an Amazon PS5 restock soon

The biggest question we get after 'When will Amazon restock PS5' is the slightly more specific 'Will there be a PS5 restock on Amazon Prime Day'. The Amazon Prime Day 2021 date is reportedly Monday, June 21, according to credible reports, so that fits into the retailer's restock timeline of between 15 and 52 days very nicely.

However, while we have no inside information, we do know that Amazon does get a huge surge of traffic whenever people flock to a next-gen console restock (double the traffic if it's both Sony and Microsoft consoles in stock simultaneously; cue the Amazon 'dogs' error pages). 

Would Amazon want to risk server overload during its critical sales marathon? If you remember Amazon Prime Day 2018, there was a massive outage at the very start of that Prime Day two years ago. So while a PS5 restock would send a lot of people to the Amazon website, it may be a better idea as a promotion in the days in advance of Amazon Prime Day, when far fewer people are trying to checkout with other items on the retail website.

When will PS5 restock in the US?

The good news is that you don't have to wait for the next Amazon PS5 restock given the fact that there are other retailers in the US to have a restock this week.

It's been over a week since the last Best Buy PS5 restock, while Walmart has fairly consistently done a restock every other Thursday (last Thursday it didn't have one, so there this is the week to look out for consoles). The sources of Matt Swider usually give him a heads-up if there's going to be a massive Walmart PS5 restock – he knows nearly three hours in advance.

GameStop has made the PS5 available to buy every week for the last three weeks on a Wednesday. We usually get advance notice on this one too, and on average tweet out the news 90 minutes in advance.

We usually have a good idea about when Target is ready for a PS5 restock simply because the retail chain ships consoles directly to individual stores around the US in advance of opening up online orders (like every other store in the US, you must secure the purchase online ahead of time). But last week was a small console restock, so Target was either holding back or, more likely, needs more time to replenish PS5 inventory. We'll know soon.

The best option, besides the likely Walmart and 50/50 Best Buy restocks this week, may be Antonline, which offers loaded bundles at face value. The biggest thing with Antonline is that their PS5 restock usually lasts under two minutes, making following a PS5 restock Twitter account all the more essential.

Matt Swider
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