Bots snap up RTX 3090 cards at launch, despite Nvidia's efforts

midian182

midian182

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Facepalm: After its RTX 3080 cards disappeared from stock at a suspiciously fast rate, Nvidia said it would fight back against the scourge of bots using methods such as manually reviewing orders. That might have brought some level success with its own store but judging by the speed at which the RTX 3090s disappeared from other retailers, the bots were at it again.

Following the launch of the RTX 3080 last week, there were reports of scalpers using bots to bulk buy the cards within seconds of them going live—one reseller bought 42 from Nvidia’s site before they sold out. Most of these are now selling on eBay for several thousand dollars.

Many of the scalpers were using Bounce Alerts, a group that charges members $75 per month for the use of bots that are usually put to work grabbing sneakers at launch for resale. Some subscribers thanked the company on Twitter for helping them buy RTX 3080 units.

Would you really pay this much for an RTX 3090?

“Our job at Bounce Alerts was to ensure our customers were able to purchase the product for their needs,” the group said. “When given the chance, I’m sure most people would purchase more than 10+ units if they have the capital and look to make upwards of $25,000+ in one single day from [the] secondary market.”

Nvidia apologized in advance for the RTX 3090 launch problems. The company said that since the $1,500 product was created for a unique group of users, like the Titan RTX, supply would be limited.

Unsurprisingly, the bots were at it again yesterday. Twitter was flooded with people—including Kyle from YouTube tech channel Bitwit—complaining that as soon as they added an RTX 3090 to their cart, it was removed by the retailer and shown as “out of stock.”

There are now numerous listings for RTX 3090 cards on eBay, most of which add at least $1,000 to the MSRP—one auction for a Founders Edition pre-order went for $79,320, though it’s unclear whether the winner actually paid. We’ve also seen the same thing happen with the PS5 and Xbox Series X (and possibly the One X).

Make sure to check out our review of the RTX 3090 right here.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86880-bots-snap-up-rtx-3090-cards-launch-despite.html

 
Hey, NVIDIA....here’s a novel idea. It’s called a “pre-order” with a credit card hold. It allows you to determine demand far in advance, check for duplicate orders, and distribute on a common-sense first-come, first-serve basis. But I guess Mr. “Here it is, live from my kitchen” didn’t learn that part in Marketing & Sales 101.
 
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There are 256 on ebay.com right now... I hardly call that "flooded with"....this happens with EVERY "hot" item that is for sale with limited stock.

I'm not sure why anyone is angry or surprised. It's simply a fact of life... move on, fake news....
 
All you need to do is resist the urge to pay over MSRP and the prices will eventually drop.

I am so thankful I was able to get my 3080 on launch day and put in my order for an MSRP Founders 3090.

But then I think to myself: the only thing driving this madness is Youtube/social media hype.

No one really needs these things and most don't even have the hardware to use them.
 
Squid Surprise said:
There are 256 on ebay.com right now... I hardly call that "flooded with"....this happens with EVERY "hot" item that is for sale with limited stock.

I'm not sure why anyone is angry or surprised. It's simply a fact of life... move on, fake news....
Click to expand...
You can upsample the 256 to flood level using DLSS. It's actually floodier than a real flood.
 
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Squid Surprise said:
There are 256 on ebay.com right now... I hardly call that "flooded with"....this happens with EVERY "hot" item that is for sale with limited stock.

I'm not sure why anyone is angry or surprised. It's simply a fact of life... move on, fake news....
Click to expand...

256 sounds like a ton for a card with extremely limited quantity.
 
Squid Surprise said:
It might sound like it to you... but it's a drop in the water when even limited supplies were in the thousands...
Click to expand...

Are you sure that's in the thousands? I've read accounts by store employees from locations around the world in the Nvidia reddit and they seemed to suggest that stock was much lower than you are suggesting.

Of course, you could provide your source. Right now I'm only seeing anecdotal evidence on stock levels.
 
Evernessince said:
Are you sure that's in the thousands? I've read accounts by store employees from locations around the world in the Nvidia reddit and they seemed to suggest that stock was much lower than you are suggesting.

Of course, you could provide your source. Right now I'm only seeing anecdotal evidence on stock levels.
Click to expand...
Well, they were sold all over the world... and while some stores only had like 10 cards in stock, that's still easily several thousand if you do some basic math... no, there weren't hundreds of thousands (but there will be) at launch... but again, 256 is not a FLOOD...
 
Squid Surprise said:
Well, they were sold all over the world... and while some stores only had like 10 cards in stock, that's still easily several thousand if you do some basic math... no, there weren't hundreds of thousands (but there will be) at launch... but again, 256 is not a FLOOD...
Click to expand...

They weren't sold at all stores though. If you go and look at the Nvidia reddit, many people have reported that their local store had 0 in stock.
 
Nvidia may feel they don't need to care how deeply they are pissing off their regular customers at the moment because they have no real competition for their cards.

But once there is a competitor who can sell functionally equivalent cards through a sane purchase process, it may be a different story.

I am already sufficiently frustrated with the constant check / refresh / rush rush rush the cart process (for the 3080) that I would accept a minor compromise in price or performance to buy from someone else. That gap may grow as the process continues. And, the frustration may carry over into future purchases.

All of which is to say, if I were Nvidia and had a way to improve this situation, I would.
 
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Evernessince said:
They weren't sold at all stores though. If you go and look at the Nvidia reddit, many people have reported that their local store had 0 in stock.
Click to expand...
Yes... but plenty of stores still had stock...

Nvidia themselves claimed that "Over 50 major global retailers had inventory on the day of launch."

So even if just a select few Best Buy or Microcenter outlets only had 10 cards, each major retailer was clearly given hundreds.... multiply by 50...

Check https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/rtx-3080-qa/ for Nvidia's take... now obviously, much of it is self-serving, but reading between the lines, there were still thousands of cards - Nvidia claims they manually cancelled "hundreds of orders" --> this must mean that thousands of others weren't cancelled....
So once again.... 256 isn't a flood...
 
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Squid Surprise said:
Yes... but plenty of stores still had stock...

Nvidia themselves claimed that "Over 50 major global retailers had inventory on the day of launch."

So even if just a select few Best Buy or Microcenter outlets only had 10 cards, each major retailer was clearly given hundreds.... multiply by 50...

Check https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/rtx-3080-qa/ for Nvidia's take... now obviously, much of it is self-serving, but reading between the lines, there were still thousands of cards - Nvidia claims they manually cancelled "hundreds of orders" --> this must mean that thousands of others weren't cancelled....
So once again.... 256 isn't a flood...
Click to expand...



Well first let's discuss that 256 number.

I'm seeing 1,612 RTX 3080s already sold

1601093355659.png

In addition to the 369 currently listed

1601093407588.png

Mind you that's only for the US region and only eBay. It's safe to assume this is occurring in other countries as well as on other platforms. This is a very fair point to bring up given that Nvidia talks about global stock numbers

If there's one thing I know for certain, it's never to trust Nvidia when it says "over" or "up to".

That press statement is overly ambiguous and non-committal to any actual stock numbers. It is pretty clearly a big problem.
 
Yeah just like the super launch...

bots, scalpers oh my? -Nvidia
we now only sell one per cx -Nvidia
a year later....
bots, scalpers oh my? -Nvidia

The do it on purpose people.... more hypertisement
 
NicktheWVAHick said:
Hey, NVIDIA....here’s a novel idea. It’s called a “pre-order” with a credit card hold. It allows you to determine demand far in advance, check for duplicate orders, and distribute on a common-sense first-come, first-serve basis. But I guess Mr. “Here it is, live from my kitchen” didn’t learn that part in Marketing & Sales 101.
Click to expand...
hey Nick, its free market capitalism, communism does not work
 
Faelan said:
As long as you have people with more money than sense, this will happen. Doesn’t help that the 3090 in particular is targeting the crowd that just want the best regardless of the price to performance ratio.
Click to expand...

If people want to blow their money on scalped cards, they deserve it. It's a free country. Let them throw their money down the tubes. The rest of us can wait patiently. Besides, some cards have hardware issues with power delivery. Double down on that laughing track.
 
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