As holiday shopping jumps into full swing, Oculus Quest is sold out at many retailers, driving the resale price of the headset up to 157% of the retail price.

Major US retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart are fresh out of the 64GB Oculus Quest after one of the most active periods of holiday shopping, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which hit over the weekend. Even attempting to buy the headset direct from Oculus in the US shows that the 64GB model isn’t expected to ship for another two weeks, with the 128GB model not expected to ship until December 23rd.

This stock scarcity comes despite Quest not even getting an actual holiday discount below its $400 MSRP; instead Oculus has chosen to bundle the headset with the Vader Immortal trilogy (a $30 value).

Resale Value as an Indicator of Demand

With major retailers in short supply, resellers are able to increase prices to sell to those willing to pay more than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) in order to secure a scarce item. In competitive marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay, seeing how much resellers are charging for the headset gives us an idea of Quest’s ‘true value’—or at least how much shoppers are willing to shell out to get their hands on the headset in time for the holidays. An economist might say that the price being charged by resellers is a more accurate reflection of Quest’s equilibrium price (the point where supply meets demand) than the MSRP, at least under these particular conditions.

Oculus Quest (64GB) – $400 MSRP 

Looking at the 64GB Oculus Quest on Amazon US, we can see that the best reseller offer for a headset with ‘New’ condition is currently $537 which is 134% of the usual $400 MSRP; but there’s a catch—this reseller doesn’t expect delivery until after December 31st.

Other resellers who are promising to have the headset delivered before Christmas are asking even higher prices—the best price currently offered on Amazon for a 64GB Quest delivered before Christmas is $626, a whopping 157% of the usual MSRP. The highest asking price, presently, is $680, or 170% of the MSRP.

Oculus Quest (128GB) – $500 MSRP 

The 128GB Quest is in a similar boat. An Amazon reseller promising delivery sometime after Christmas is asking $671, or 134% of the $500 MSRP. The best offer for a 128GB Quest with delivery before Christmas is $725, or 145% of the MSRP. The highest asking price at present, a seller offering Prime shipping, is asking for $1,000, a whopping 200% of the MSRP.

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This is both good and bad news for Oculus. For one, the significant premiums being charged by resellers suggest that Quest is seeing significant demand and is a hot item for this holiday season. On the other hand, every additional dollar paid for the headset adds to the expectation of the product, and Oculus could end up with some customers who weren’t aware of the actual MSRP and ultimately feel that the headset wasn’t worth what they paid for. And of course the lack of stock means that Oculus wasn’t able to meet demand head-on, which means fewer customers will end up with the headset compared to how many customers would have bought the headset if it were available at the MSRP.

Where Can You Still Buy Oculus Quest at the MSRP?

Scrupulous shoppers may still be able to find Oculus Quest headsets sold at the MSRP and deliverable before Christmas. At least at the time of writing, we’re seeing the following US stores reporting stock availability:

Also be sure to check in-store stock through retailer’s websites and you might be able to find stock available for local pickup that’s otherwise not available for shipping.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Shem

    Sounds like good news to me

  • Mike Porter

    This is all moot for suggesting success if turns out they only manufacture 10,000 or even 100,000 at a time, same goes to Zuckerberg’s claim to investors that “we sell them as fast as we can manufacture them”. We need to know the sales numbers to confidently say whether this matters or not.

    • cartweet

      Amazon sales rankings which is based on unit sales is a good a good indicator on how well it’s doing. When in stock it’s usually outselling all other consoles except switch and has maintained a top 100 (usually top 50) ranking since launch.

      • Mike Porter

        Did you actually read what I wrote? The point is the important thing is how many have been manufactured which have been sold, not just how many have been sold.

        • cartweet

          I read what you wrote but you seemingly dismiss the Amazon rankings which is an excellent barometer on the health of VR. Reaching the top 100 rankings is incredibly difficult for any VR headset. The highest Rift ranking is 21 and that was during summer of rift when it dropped it’s price dramatically. The Vive peaked at 25 I think during some sale and the Go 32GB at #4 during it’s launch. The Quest and PSVR are the only 2 headsets to hit #1. The Quest and PSVR are the only ones to maintain a top #100 ranking in it’s first 6 months of launch. Comparing Quest to PSVR in rankings isn’t 1 to 1 since as you mentioned PSVR has had multiple skus in the past but don’t take these rankings lightly.

          I also track installed userbase on a few VR titles. Quest has easily sold more than 400k in 6months. That number from SuperData is incredibly inaccurate as all their past estimations have been. The userbase size of some of the Quest titles says as much even when given very generous attach rates.

          • Mike Porter

            I’d disagree Amazon ranking is a great “barometer”. And yes, it is doing better than the rest but when the competition is pretty small and just awful (HTC) it’s not hard to win the 1st prize.

            Quest has easily sold more than 400k in 6months. – yes, and that’s still not awesome and remotely close to things like Switch.

    • benz145

      Not entirely moot; no company ‘wants’ to run out of stock rather than sell their product when there is demand. The heightened reseller prices suggest the demand is significant. Yes we don’t know how many are selling, but we are seeing clues that demand is strong.

      • Mike Porter

        Hi Ben,

        I didn’t really say they wanted to run out of stock.

        There can be many reasons why they manufacture them in “small” amounts right now.

        Sorry but I still disagree this is evidence there is “high” demand becaue they are currently out of stock exactly for the reason I mentioned: it’s about how many have been sold. If you sell 1000 headsets only and run out of stock that doesn’t make it high demand.

        • Immersive Computing

          One reason for limited production capacity can be their ODM partner, there isn’t huge capacity bearing in mind many specialist ODM (like Goertek) have multiple clients jockeying for batch assembly production slots.

          • Mike Porter

            Yes, that’s a less sinister possibility. I’d be surprised Facebook is unable to find a bigger or laternative ODM but then again they haven’t been a hardware company for long.

    • NooYawker

      These claims of under producing to create a buzz makes no sense. They try to gauge demand and not over produce and sometimes a surge in sales creates a shortage. The Valve Index just started selling in multiple countries and are sold out in most countries. The individual parts are sold out in the US. I highly doubt anyone wants to lose money by losing out on sales so they can make a little drama.

      • Mike Porter

        Keeping the shareholders happy by providing them good figures is not “drama”, it’s what CEOs do. My assumption at this point is either facebook is unable to have them produced faster or doesn’t care and just wants to keep the shareholders happy and the public interested just enough to be able to continue funding VR research for their actual envisioned AR products they believe will be mainstream. But that’s just a theory, like anyone else’s here.

  • Niklas Fritzell

    Sounds like they are not manufacturing very many of them?

    • Mike Porter

      exactly my point

    • GunnyNinja

      Sounds like you shouldn’t use private sellers on Amazon as a barometer…

      • Mike Porter

        Amazon and even to a lessel extend eBay is not a place where only individuals and private business sellers sell items. Many manufacturers sell directly from Amazon or eBay like HP does and some retailers sell online through Amazon or eBay such as BestBuy.
        On top of that I don’t think anyone mentioned private sellers on Amazon before you.

        • GunnyNinja

          “On top of that I don’t think anyone mentioned private sellers on Amazon before you.” You could read the article.
          “With major retailers in short supply, resellers are able to increase prices to sell to those willing to pay more than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) in order to secure a scarce item.”
          Who do you think is asking these ridiculous prices? Resellers are private sellers. The manufacturer is Oculus. It surely isn’t them, so I don’t know what point you are trying to make…

          • Mike Porter

            Using the term “private seller” just causes confusion. BestBuy or HP selling on their online eBay or Amazon shops aren’t private sellers like privately owned small shops or individuals, they are retailers.
            Retailers, unlike private seller individuals usually sell most or all of the manufactured amount and are exactly who you should use as the barometer here.

          • GunnyNinja

            You say it’s confusing but then explain why it’s not. Best Buy is a retailer. Retailers are not private sellers(resellers) no matter where they advertise. You don’t see Best Buy selling on Amazon, anymore than you see Amazon with an eBay store. Amazon is a retailer as well as an outlet. Ebay is just an outlet. Amazon doesn’t need eBay. Resellers use outlets to sell items they bought from whatever source, be it retailers or other private sellers. You keep countering what I say only to go on and agree with it. THAT is confusing…

  • NooYawker

    What idiot would pay this premium over retail? AND still have to wait weeks for delivery?

    • Xron

      Parent who’se kids are asking for vr device, and aren’t interested in checking msrp.

      • david vincent

        …aren’t interested in checking msrp and also in checking if VR is healty or not for kids (it’s probably not)…

        • Bob Smith

          This old myth. There is NO actual evidence that VR harms kids. Doesn’t mean you should let them use it all day, like any other screened device, but 20 minutes here and there will not hurt them.

          • david vincent

            That’s a myth only for VR fanboys, there is NO actual evidence that VR doesn’t harm kids on the long term… there is obviously no track record on this.

  • MosBen

    Just the other day I think that there was a story reporting that the Quest had only sold about 100,000 units, so is this about a sharp spike in demand, or low numbers of the product being produced?

    • Marius Stubberud

      That is absolutely not correct, Quest has sold more than 100k units. You might be confusing quarterly sales with total sales. I believe they sold 180k units Q3 2019, so that might be what you remember seeing.

      • benz145

        Let’s see some sources friends.

        • Marius Stubberud

          You can google just as well as I can. Other guy didn’t put any sources either, why should I?

          • benz145

            Friends is plural; I was speaking to both of you. Sources are going to lead to a more productive and informative discussion. Even if @MosBen:disqus didn’t cite a source, doing so yourself will strengthen your argument.

            I’d also like to know which numbers you are both pointing to.

          • MosBen

            I suspect that Marius was right, and I had confused quarterly sales numbers with lifetime sales numbers. I don’t read Venture Beat, so this is definitely not where I get that number in my head, but it looks like Facebook has sold about 400,000 units total, 180,000 last quarter. My mistake, though I still think that my larger point, that being sold out could be due to a sudden significant spike in sale or it could be the result of low production numbers, is valid.

  • sfmike

    Was at my local Best Buy Monday and the glass case on the right that was full of Quests a week ago is now empty. I consider that a good sign for VR. They should have stocked more for the holiday season. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c0027fd93ecc92c9cdbfa1c5c0fc2ba80185dbed220b4806a7a4231d71d2e75.jpg

    • Mike Porter

      Yes they should stock more. But by full approximately how many did you see?

      • NooYawker

        Looks like they could fit 6-10 boxes into that small space.

        • Immersive Computing

          And refill stock in secure storage area

  • Mei Ling

    The Valve Index is also facing the same issue. This sort of news is fantastic and extremely healthy for the industry!

  • Andrew Jakobs

    You really must be desparate to pay 157% of the actual store price…. it might be a nice headset, but it isn’t THAT nice..

  • GunnyNinja

    I think “Commanding” is a bit over the top. Asking would be more fitting.

  • David Byres

    Order on Amazon US today, ships on the 9th. No big deal.

  • Uhm, Facebook says that is selling them as fast as they could manufacture them, but they have sold 4-600,000 units, that is good result, but not too many. Every spike of demand the headset goes sold-out… it really seems that they are not that fast in producing and distributing it…

    BTW, Good news that there has been a spike in sales!

  • MountainK1ng

    You can get the Quest 128Gb on Jan. 2nd directly from Amazon for $499, the list price… Is it really worth an extra $200 just to have it a few days earlier?