With the holiday season just around the corner, Xbox Series X and PS5 restocking events are taking place daily. In the past 48 hours alone, there have been restocking of consoles at Best Buy, Walmart, Sony Direct, and Microsoft Store.

Unfortunately, every time the consoles have been restocked, they have sold out within minutes. If you are looking for a console, you may want to consult our guides on where to buy the PS5 and where to buy the Xbox Series X.

Before the pandemic, getting a new console on launch day meant standing in a physical line with other gamers in hopes of being one of the first shoppers in the store. These days, everyone shops online and has a common enemy: bots. Scammers are using bots to buy up as much PS5 and Xbox Series X inventory as they can. They then sell those new consoles at extraordinary prices.

The best way to squash bots is to simply not buy from scalpers. To do so, stay vigilant 24/7; Twitter accounts like Wario64 and @PS5StockAlerts can provide updates on inventory. You may also want to follow the Twitter accounts of your favorite stores like Best Buy, Newegg, and Walmart. Check these feeds 24/7. Likewise, you can sign up for email alerts from your favorite stores.

Restocking of consoles can happen at any time of the day. Some retailers announce them at least 24 hours in advance, while others announce them 10 minutes in advance. When you find a restock, bookmark the page and load that website a few minutes before the restock occurs.

Sony Direct Stores require a virtual queue before you can shop for a PS5. In many cases, the "wait time" can be several hours. However, there is no need to worry, as the estimates provided by retailers are just that, estimates. In the case of the Sony Direct Store, we found that even though the store indicated a wait time of over an hour, the wait time estimates tended to be short.

It is worth knowing, however, that just because you stand in line to buy a game console does not mean you will actually get it. We created a virtual line at the Sony Store, only to find that after only 20 minutes all the consoles had been sold out.

Below is a list of landing pages for the PS5 and Xbox Series X at all major retailers. These pages are always worth checking whenever there is a restocking event. (Unless, of course, the retailer in question provides a link to a new landing page.)

Arriving at a retailer's website during a restocking event is a surefire way to miss out on the console you want. Know which pages to check and check them often.