After Sony recently hiked the price of a PlayStation 5 (Disc, Digital, and Pro) by $50, finding a better deal on the best-selling current-gen console seems more imperative than ever. Say the line Bart: "I remember when consoles went down in price across a generation, not up!"
If you still haven’t grabbed a PS5 and don’t feel like coughing up $500–$750, I don’t blame you. I’ve been tracking console deals for six years now, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that waiting for Sony to suddenly knock a big chunk off the price is a fool’s errand, even with Black Friday 2025 on the horizon. The smarter move, and the one I’d recommend every time, is refurbished.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a scary word, and there will be plenty of convincing, but statistically rare, anecdotal evidence on socials or in the comments about how refurbished stuff isn't reliable, will break, and is... dirty? Blah blah blah.
Refurbished is a supremely valid way to buy: it's both economically and environmentally positive, and won't tear a hole in your already depleted wallet. You've just got to know where to buy, and when to lay down the gauntlet when a decent deal finally rears its head.
In my humble opinion, that moment is now, as PS5 consoles are as cheap as $309.99 at Woot for a limited time. That's for the PS5 Slim Digital Edition, while the PS5 Slim Disc Edition is just $30 more at $339.99 (not bad considering the Disc Drive costs $80 standalone), and there's also a "Factory Reconditioned" PS5 Slim Disc Edition.
According to Woot (owned by Amazon), Factory Reconditioned items are "as close to new as you can get without technically being new" and "restored to fully working condition by the original manufacturer or a certified partner." If you want that extra assurance, it'll cost you an extra $30 compared to buying refurbished.
We've already seen plenty of buyers find the benefits in "Refurbished" or "Used - Like New" buys during Amazon Prime Day sales, where the PS5 Slim, Pro, and PlayStation Portal were all some of the best sellers of the event (dropping to as low as $320, $500, and $125 respectively), and IGN audience favorites to boot.
PlayStation themselves have been getting in on the action recently as well, and is selling its own certified refurbished PS5 consoles for $399.99 (albeit these are the standard PS5 console from 2020, not the more recent Slim models that are listed on Woot).
These also aren't the only refurbished deals going right now. Woot's refurbished gaming sale runs until September 12 (or while stock lasts), and also includes Xbox Controllers from $35, PlayStation Edge Controllers for $140, and Meta Quest VR headsets from just $230. Just to note as well, for the uninitiated, Woot is an Amazon-owned company, and you can use your Prime account for delivery etc.
Other top PS5 deals right now (besides Hollow Knight: Silksong's incredible $20 price tag) include physical copes of Resident Evil 4 for $15 and Final Fantasy 16 for $23.49, while the fancy looking Ghost of Yotei PS5 consoles and controllers just went up for preorder at PS Direct and Amazon as well.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
