Steam Controller Sells Out in Minutes, Cue the Overpriced eBay Listings

While we patiently wait for Valve's modern Steam Machine to make its highly-anticipated debut, its retooled Steam Controller hit the ground running and quickly sprinted to sold out status. Valve will inevitably replenish its inventory, but for the timing being, procuring the $99 controller means paying scalper pricing on eBay, which we recommend against doing.

The Steam Controller is one of the three first-party hardware devices that Valve unveiled last November, the other two being the aforementioned Steam Machine and a new Steam Frame headest. It's also the first of the three to make its retail debut. Both of other two hardware devices are still on track to release this year, though the lingering memory crisis has put exact launch timing (and pricing) in limbo.

Meanwhile, scalpers are predictably doing their thing on eBay, where the Steam Controller is fetching more than twice the retail value. Sorting by listings that have sold indicates that the going rate is around $200 to $215, and some sellers are tacking on an extra $15 to $30 for shipping.

The highest value so far is $8,100 plus another $6.68 for shipping, though we have no doubt that the seller never collected anywhere near that amount. We've seen buyers fight back against scalpers by bidding ridiculous amounts with no intention of paying. That said, there are numerous sold listings that show the Steam Controller fetched between $300 and $555, and at least some of those probably did end up with an actual payment.

Valve has not indicated when a Steam Controller restock will happen, but it's only a matter of time. Of course, the next wave could easily sell out fast too, depending on how many units are made available. Even so, we don't recommended paying a 2x to 3x (or more) markup on a $99 controller. Or put another way, don't feed the scalpers, folks.