Best Buy’s new $200/yr membership locks PS5, hot holiday items behind membership

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If you're still searching for a PS5 and are a Best Buy customer, your ship may have just come in-that is, if you're willing to spend an extra $200 a year for access.

That's because the big-box electronics retailer is locking stock of in-demand holiday items like Sony's console behind membership of its new Totaltech program. The expensive customer service package was recently rolled out nationwide.

The $200 annual service-which has benefits like round-the-clock tech support, up to two years of protection on Best Buy purchases (including AppleCare+ insurance, which can cost $200 on its own), and member discounted prices-is throwing in exclusive access to "the season's hardest-to-find products" as a bonus perk for the holidays, the company said in a statement. The Best Buy retail site had the $500 disc drive model PS5s available for Totaltech members to buy Monday morning, with the consoles gated behind an "exclusive access event" paywall. Instead of selling out instantly, its stock lasted between 90 minutes and two hours-a relatively glacial sales pace compared to the insane demand for the hardware that consumers have faced since it hit stores last November.

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