Amazon
The company told TechCrunch that the reason for this decision was made in order to avoid supply shortages and price gouging that may be brought about by bots or individuals.
Since Xbox
The order system is designed so that customers can request invitations to purchase items from Amazon. If Amazon decides to allow customers to purchase the in-demand items, then they will receive emails that come along with directions on how to appropriately buy them.
While the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are the very first items that Amazon will use in order to feature this invitation-based purchase procedure, the company claims that they intend to expand themselves by adding this feature to other countries and future products. This Amazon feature is free of charge to all consumers and Prime is not needed in order to obtain access to it.
In order to determine whether or not the customer account is real and not actually a bot, Amazon will observe certain activity such as account creation date or purchase history. Once Amazon determines that customers are actually live people and not bots, then they will send the email including directions for purchase of the product.
There is a time limit on the invitation to purchase the product before it is no longer valid, but Amazon alerts users with a countdown on the page of the item. And, while there is not any sure or secure way of knowing whether or not users will be able to successfully buy the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 simply through asking for an invitation, the process may help if customers are wanting to avoid future distress when it comes to securing a purchase as soon as there is a restock of inventory.