Prior to Walmart switching to online only for PS5 consoles, I drove an hour away from my local Walmart and residence to a Walmart in a smaller town. I called that Walmart on Dec 19th., and an Electronics associate gave me a tip that more than 12 PS5 consoles were arriving later that day and will be available for sale. I arrived 2 hours before the truck arrived with the PS5 consoles and there was already a line of 14 people waiting in the electronic's department. After a total of 5 hours of waiting, the mgr announced there were 12 consoles unloading! I was so close and it was my last chance to get one before Christmas for my kids! I left that store very disappointed but one of the customers standing in line mentioned a third party AP that sends alerts for the top 7 retailers that were restocking PS5 consoles with daily and up to minute updates and notifications. I downloaded the app., HotStock! It was free to sign up and it sends a free alert every time a retailer posts the PS5 consoles! Three days passed, after the major letdown, and it was about 2:30pm in the afternoon and I received an alert from HotStock that Walmart online had PS5 availability online. I rushed to the site and with 3 clicks and I was able to place a PS5 in my online cart, enter my credit card info, and complete the purchase! The ETA had it scheduled to arrive to my residence by January 9th., but I was excited that we were getting one, even after Christmas. Each day, I checked for updates online and just before Christmas, the date changed to December 28th. The PS5 shipped earlier than expected and was transported to my doorstep on the morning of December 27th. We are very lucky that we got one but more importantly, we never gave up and I refused to negotiate with scalpers. I'd rather not have a PS5 than to pay a scumbag over list price! My kids love it! I can say it is worth the hype! The gaming catalog is a bit limited but it's the Heisman Trophy of gaming consoles! It stands vertical, next to our 65”TV and sound bar. I had Geek Squad connect it via an Ethernet cable to my protected network. I upgraded my modem, enhanced my security online, and added video surveillance to my property. The surveillance video was for many reasons; not just bc I owned a PS5, lol.
If you haven't purchased a PS5 yet and still are pursuing one, don't give up! Use third party sites for alert notifications, when retailers restock! They will restock! And, DO NOT pay a penny to those scalpers! Be persistent and I'm sure you'll land one, as I did! I'm grateful to Walmart for shipping my console so quickly! Good Luck!