Xbox Series X restock tracker: Our best tips to get your hands on a console

Getting your hands on a Xbox Series X this vacation season has been frustrating, no doubt, but do n’t throw in the towel quite even. As we get nearer and near to Christmas good morning, we ‘re seeing more restocks than common, including three drops this past week alone. While there ‘s no restocks officially on the books for next workweek, that does n’t mean we wo n’t see some surprise handiness. Take a look at our best tips, tricks, and pieces of advice to make sure you do n’t miss your probability to grab one of these next-gen consoles. here are some immediate tips for catching a storm Xbox restock :

Timing: Unannounced restocks typically happen after 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) unless they come from Target, which tends to drop them before 6 a.m. PT (9 a.m. ET).
Walmart, GameStop and Best Buy have membership subscriptions that frequently offer early access to restocks, but they’re not always required. Even if you don’t pay for early access, you should still create an account with these retailers for faster checkout.
Install the app for your preferred retailer — they’re often faster to use than the websites — but it’s better to use both.

Want to know how to better your chances of getting a comfort ? here ‘s what we ‘ve got.

Reading: Xbox Series X restock tracker: Our best tips to get your hands on a console

Why is the Xbox tough to find?

basically, Microsoft has n’t been able to get the materials it needs to make enough Xbox consoles to meet demand. As with the PlayStation 5 and most PC video cards, there ‘s a chip deficit veracious now that is slowing supply. The pandemic involve product for a lot of chip manufacturers, and diligence watchers presently do n’t expect the write out to be wholly resolved until the end of the year. As a solution, Microsoft makes angstrom many consoles as it can and distributes them among its retail partners. Each retailer releases its available consoles in whatever way it deems appropriate. Most of the time, this means announcing ahead of time when you ‘ll be able to buy the console on-line and then releasing it for anyone to buy. Check out this fully breakdown on the chip dearth by CNET ‘s Stephen Shankland for more details .

Where has the Xbox been recently?

We keep track of every console table restock, and maintain this tilt hera of the most likely places you ‘ll find a console a well as when it was last in stock there .

GameStop: Oct. 14
Target: Dec. 2
Amazon: Nov. 21
Walmart: Nov. 22, 29, Dec. 8
Best Buy: Dec. 6, 9
Antonline: Nov. 23, 29

xbox series x console Andrew Hoyle/CNET

How can I improve my chances of getting an Xbox Series X?

It can be a fiddling chaotic, constantly refreshing the shield and hope to see a checkout connection. And as many can attest, it ‘s pretty atrocious to punch in your requital information alone to see that the buy ca n’t be completed because all the consoles are already gone. here are some of our tips :

Open multiple browsers: Got a laptop? A phone? Maybe a tablet? Use them all to try to make the purchase. Set yourself up ahead of time with multiple browsers open to the retail site of your choice and be ready to buy from all of them.
Don’t give up: Many of these retailers have started releasing the consoles over the course of 30 minutes, to keep bots from buying them all and reselling them at a price increase. If you see everything is sold out after the first 5 minutes, keep refreshing because your chance probably isn’t gone yet.
Have an account set-up and signed-in: The time it takes to enter your payment and shipping information can be the difference between getting your console and getting left in the dust. Avoid that delay by setting up an account on the websites you’ll be shopping on.
Make sure you have a confirmation email: There have been many reports of a purchase getting “stuck” and even though the website said the sale was complete, no confirmation email arrived and then no Xbox arrived. Keep an eye out and make sure you actually have an Xbox Series X headed your way before celebrating.

Is it safe to buy an Xbox from an unofficial source?

There are some places you can safely buy an Xbox secondhand. If you ‘re shopping at eBay or StockX, there are protections in plaza to keep you from spending money and getting nothing. separate from this, there are batch of folks out there eager to take advantage of everyone trying to get an Xbox Series X. here ‘s how to avoid the know scams :

Stay away from Twitter links: If you see something on Twitter about an Xbox Series X restock happening somewhere, your best bet is to go straight to the retailer instead of clicking a link. In many cases, those Twitter links have turned out to be scams.
Only buy at the retail price: If someone is offering you an Xbox Series X for more or less than $500 or an Xbox Series S for more or less than $300, you should probably stay away. There are many of these sites offering “deals” or “bundles” that are frequently not actually worth it.

The Halo Infinite edition

In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Xbox ‘s master flagship series Halo, this year Microsoft released a special edition of the Series X console table inspired by the series ‘ most recent deed, Halo Infinite. The cabinet was a limited edition and sold out cursorily. While all retailers presently list the comfort as out of neckcloth, there is a hypothesis that there are still a few of them floating about out there. If you ‘re in truth entrust to getting your hands on a Series X ( and do n’t mind dropping an extra $ 50 ), it may be worth poking around for one. Read more on the special edition Halo Infinite cabinet here.

Xbox Series X: Check inventory restock

Walmart does a solid job of noting handiness windows for PS5 and Xbox on its Twitter feed. You might besides want to visit the retailer ‘s Xbox down page for both new consoles. Bear in beware you may see higher prices from third-party resellers .

Best bargain was the last retailer standing bet on in the preorder days, but now stands ready for your Xbox Series X leverage as inventory allows .

This is Target ‘s product foliate for the Xbox Series X .

If you want to get the latest on the Xbox Series X, there ‘s probably nowhere better than Microsoft ‘s own Xbox Series X home page. hera you ‘ll find the latest specification, announced game titles, details on the new restrainer and more .

Amazon is selling both the Xbox Series X and the less expensive Series S from this product page .

GameStop has in the by touted a “ very limited number of Xbox Series X and S console bundles for purchase ” but is presently sold out .

This is where you can buy the Xbox Series X at Newegg when the retailer has inventory .

To be clear, we highly recommend waiting for stock to appear at ordinary retailers, so you can buy an Xbox Series X at the regular retail price. But if you ‘ve decided you plainly ca n’t wait another moment, the average Xbox Series X price on eBay is about $ 800 .

Are you desperate by immediately ? Are you willing to pay a premium of hundreds of dollars over the list price ? Listen, we would n’t do this and we do n’t recommend you do it, either. But if you want to take that path, StockX is a reputable eBay-style site that will let you buy and sell raw Xbox and PS5 models — angstrom long as you ‘re volition to pay up of $ 700 .

This history is updated frequently with the latest Xbox Series X armory news .