Should console scalping be illegal?

[AkimboCurly]

I've written this elsewhere as well but this is a classic microeconomic problem.

I know nobody wants to hear this but price plays a rationing function. The supply and demand for these consoles are such that the markets will only clear at a higher price than what the manufacturers describe as "RRP". Just like how rent control leaves some lucky people with an artificially cheap apartment, and many others with no apartment at all, so launch prices lower than market prices benefit people at the front of the queue and harm the people at the back.

Looked at another way, the problem is that retail price is not actually the market price. The market price at launch (aka shadow price in this context) is somewhere between $500/£450 and the scalper prices at $700+

How to solve?
1. Manufacturers could price their consoles higher to begin with, so people who value them most buy them, and drop the prices after launch period constraints are over.

2. Secondly, retailers should be allowed to price consoles. We reach ridiculous "scalper" prices of $700+ because 90-95% of the market (the retailers) is artificially forced to move at $500. The scalpers are the only ones, which I'm just assuming are 5% of the supply, allowed to adjust prices, and so are able to fairly neatly price discriminate on all the people willing to pay very high prices. If retailers were allowed to compete on price, 100% of the market would be sensitive to demand.

-> given that the scalpers price is driven by the MOST price insensitive types, real shadow prices would probably be not much higher than current RRP, probably $550 or so would be enough for the market to efficiently clear. Im sure Sony/MS can afford an econometrician to discover these shadow prices.

Both above methods involve the exact same shadow price. By attempting any solution except the two above you make the situation worse. By banning scalping you leave those at the back of the queue unable to get a console by any means, even if they value it at $800+.
Much of the upset that comes about scalping comes from the fact that the "middlemen" are being rewarded for providing nothing of tangible value that the manufacturer didn't already. Both of these solutions move this revenue from the scalpers to the (1) manufacturers or (2) the retailers.
Happy to answer questions on this point of view.