This doesn't make sense. Unless the scalpers are hoarding consoles or using them for a purpose other than games (space heater? overpriced Netflix machine?), the consoles will get in the hands of a game buyer.

I've been trying to pick up a PS5 for a friend since they came out and it's been futile. I keep a watch on our local eBay and noticed there's one person who sometimes buys out all the available stock from the big electronics store, then puts them up for the MSRP. In the description they write something to the effect of "I am not making any money off of these - I just want to help people get a console for the price they normally sell for before all the scalpers buy them and mark the price up". I have no idea how they plan to prevent scalpers from buying those and charging 20% more... and also I wonder how the warranty will work since they obviously can't give you the original receipt.

Someone who pays $800 will probably buy fewer games with the console than someone who pays MSRP, so it would take longer to make back their loss.

Well, paying more for the console may mean less money for games, or having wait may mean deciding on a different system or not having enough money may have the opposite effect of selling at a loss.

Don't the people that they resell the console onto buy games though? Possibly missing something here

It'll shake out. I'm sure that is weighted to return more later in the generation anyway.