Automated Calculator for Console Bundle Markup
Enter the bundle price, pick your console, add the extras — see the bullshit number instantly.
The Bundle Bullshit Auditor is a free, browser-based automated calculator for console bundle markup. Plug in the asking price, pick the console, type how many games and accessories the retailer claims are in the box, and the calculator returns the exact dollar markup over MSRP — plus a verdict on whether the bundle is fair, padded, or predatory. No account. No download. No tracking. The math runs entirely in your browser.
The bundle is always a bad deal. Here's proof.
You go to buy a Switch 2 or a PS5 Pro at sticker price. The retailer's only stock is a $799 bundle with two games you don't want and a third-party controller. The Reddit thread says "I'm STILL looking for one that's not being sold in an 800 dollar bundle." Someone else admits, "I'd be too embarrassed to admit spending $600 for a $300 Switch." Another describes the situation cleanly: "top-tier gaslighting by Sony." Everyone got pissed off, and rightfully so.
The pattern is consistent across consoles, retailers, and generations. Manufacturers underproduce. Scalper bots clean out launch stock. The remaining retail inventory gets locked behind a bundle with low-value padding — older catalog games, third-party accessories, a charging dock that costs $12 to make — and the package is sold at a premium framed as a "convenience." The convenience is the markup. The padding is camouflage.
The auditor exists to strip the camouflage. You enter five numbers; it shows you the bullshit markup — the exact dollar amount you would be paying over honest MSRP. Below 5% is a fair deal. Up to 25% is a Minor Markup — defensible if you've been hunting for stock for weeks. Anything above 25% gets flagged as a Predatory Bundle. The verdict is arithmetic, not editorial.
How to calculate the total cost of a gaming bundle with tax
Most bundle listings show a sticker price. They do not show what the contents are actually worth or what tax will add at checkout. To calculate the total cost of a gaming bundle with tax, the auditor builds the honest comparison number from the ground up.
- Console MSRP — the manufacturer's published retail price, hardcoded in the dropdown. Picking PlayStation 5 Slim Disc fills in $499. PS5 Pro is $699. Xbox Series X is $499, Series S is $299. Switch 2 is $449. Steam Deck OLED 512GB is $549. The full list covers current-gen, Nintendo handhelds, PC handhelds, and the retro Mini consoles.
- Included games and accessories — each new AAA game is valued at $60, each accessory at $60. These are first-party retail rates, not third-party discount-bin rates. The auditor gives the bundle the benefit of the doubt: if the math still says you're being gouged at $60 per item, you're being gouged.
- Sales tax — your local rate, applied to the same expected retail value. The comparison stays apples-to-apples: tax hits both sides equally. Without it, the bundle would appear more reasonable than it is, because the asking price already includes tax pressure.
The result is the expected out-the-door cost — what the bundle should cost if it were priced fairly. The auditor subtracts that number from the asking price you typed in. The remainder is the markup. The percentage version of the same number is the rate at which the retailer is taxing your inability to find the console anywhere else.
How to use the Bundle Bullshit Auditor
The intended workflow is under thirty seconds. The tool is built to audit the value of items in a gaming bundle at the moment you are about to click "Add to Cart" — keep it bookmarked on your phone for the next time the only listing in stock is wrapped in $200 of padding.
Pick the console first
The dropdown is grouped: current-gen home consoles, Nintendo handhelds, PC handhelds, retro Minis. The MSRP appears next to each entry so you can sanity-check the sticker price before you even type a number. Selecting a console immediately fills in the True Retail Value baseline on the results card.
Type the asking price exactly as listed
Type the dollar amount the retailer or scalper is showing you. Do not pre-deduct the games or accessories — the calculator handles that on its own. The whole point is that the listing's bundled price is what you have to evaluate against the honest baseline.
Be honest about what's actually in the box
Count the new AAA games separately from older catalog filler. A 2024 Game of the Year edition counts as one game. A 2017 budget re-release pretending to be one does not. Same logic for accessories: a real DualSense controller counts. A no-name third-party headset that retails for $19 does not. If the bundle is padded with junk, drop the counts. The verdict will recompute instantly and the markup number will get bigger — which is what was always actually true.
Read the verdict, then read the dollar number
The headline on the results card is the markup in dollars. Below it is the verdict band — green for Fair, amber for Minor Markup, red for Predatory Bundle. A Below MSRP verdict shows up if the asking price somehow comes in under expected; that is rare and usually means the listing is refurbished, used, or short on contents. Verify before you trust it.
What counts as a predatory bundle?
The auditor uses three thresholds, designed as a checker for fake sales and inflated retail prices with mathematical (not editorial) cutoffs:
- Fair Deal — within 5% of expected price. Tax rounding and small retail differences eat the rest. There is no hidden bundle tax.
- Minor Markup — between 5% and 25% over expected price. Defensible if you have been hunting for stock for weeks and the dollar gap is small. Insulting if you have time to keep looking.
- Predatory Bundle — more than 25% over expected price. The convenience tax with the mask off. Walk away unless the console is genuinely impossible to find solo and you have decided the wait is worth more than the gouge.
Real-world examples that come back as Predatory: a $799 Switch 2 bundle with two old catalog games and a charging stand (true retail roughly $570 with tax in most US states; markup of about 40%). A $600 PS5 Slim Digital bundle with one new AAA and a third-party headset (true retail roughly $545; markup hovers near 10%, edges into Minor Markup, gets called out for fake-sale framing because the bundle is positioned as a discount). The math is the same in every case: contents at honest retail, tax applied, asking price compared, percentage shown.
The padding is camouflage. The convenience is the markup. The audit removes both.
Frequently asked questions
tool to see if a bundle price is bullshit
The Bundle Bullshit Auditor is a free, browser-based tool to see if a bundle price is bullshit. Pick the console, type the asking price, list how many games and accessories are in the box, and the calculator returns the exact dollar markup over MSRP plus a verdict — Fair, Minor Markup, or Predatory Bundle. No account, no download, no API. Each new AAA game is valued at $60 retail and each accessory at $60 — the most generous reasonable baseline. If the bundle still comes out hundreds over expected price, the markup is the bullshit, not the math.
calculate the total cost of a gaming bundle with tax
To calculate the total cost of a gaming bundle with tax, the auditor takes the manufacturer's MSRP for the selected console, adds $60 per included new AAA game and $60 per included accessory, then multiplies the total by your local sales tax rate to produce the expected out-the-door cost. That number is what the bundle should cost if it were priced fairly. The auditor then subtracts the expected cost from the asking price you typed in. The remainder is the markup — the dollar amount you would be paying over what the items are actually worth at retail.
audit the value of items in a gaming bundle
To audit the value of items in a gaming bundle, count what is actually in the box and value each item at honest retail. The auditor uses $60 per new AAA game — the standard sticker price for a recent first-party release — and $60 per accessory, treating extra controllers, headsets, and charging docks at full first-party retail. Most padded bundles include older catalog games or off-brand accessories worth a fraction of that. If the bundle is bulked out with junk, drop the count down. The audit will instantly recompute and show how much markup the retailer is hiding behind the filler.
checker for fake sales and inflated retail prices
The Bundle Bullshit Auditor is a checker for fake sales and inflated retail prices on console bundles. Retailers and scalpers pad the asking price by stacking low-value extras on top of an in-demand console, then advertise the package at a premium framed as a "limited bundle." The math is the only honest defense. Type in what they are charging, and the auditor returns the true retail value of the contents at MSRP. Anything more than 5% over expected price (with tax) is a markup; anything more than 25% is the auditor's threshold for a Predatory Bundle. The verdict is mathematical, not editorial.
browser extension to find actual msrp of gaming consoles
The Bundle Bullshit Auditor is not a browser extension to find actual MSRP of gaming consoles, but it solves the same problem with no install required. The console MSRP dictionary is hardcoded into the page — PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, Switch OLED and Switch Lite, Steam Deck OLED, ASUS ROG Ally X, and the retro Mini lineup. Pick the console from the dropdown and the manufacturer's published price is filled in for you. No extension permissions, no third-party data, no tracking — just the actual MSRP in front of you while you shop.
extension that shows original retail price on scalper sites
There is no extension that shows original retail price on scalper sites built into this tool, but the Bundle Bullshit Auditor delivers the same outcome from a separate tab. Open the scalper or eBay listing in one tab, open the auditor in another, copy the scalper price across, and the calculator immediately tells you how many dollars over MSRP the listing is. Inputs save to localStorage so your last audit stays put — useful when you are checking five listings in a row and want to compare scalper prices on the same console without retyping the MSRP each time.
stop amazon from showing out of stock search results
The Bundle Bullshit Auditor cannot stop Amazon from showing out of stock search results — that is a search-result problem, not a pricing problem. What the tool does address is the related frustration: when Amazon, Walmart, or GameStop only stock the in-demand console as part of an inflated bundle. If the only listing that says "in stock" is a bundle priced hundreds over MSRP, that is a forced bundle, and the auditor will quantify exactly how much you are being asked to pay for the privilege of buying right now. Sometimes the correct answer is to keep waiting; the audit makes that call easier.
Run your own audit — free, no account needed
No account. No download. Enter your bundle price and see the markup number in under 30 seconds.
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