EVGA is charging scalper prices for its Advanced RMA service

[midian182]

In context: EVGA was quick to act following news that Amazon’s New World beta was bricking its RTX 3090 cards. The company said it would immediately replace all the flagships killed by the MMO, but customers opting for the Advanced RMA option are paying scalper prices. It is, however, easy to understand EVGA’s reasons.

Last month saw numerous reports of Amazon’s New World beta killing off RTX 3090 graphics cards, most of which came from EVGA. The company was quick to offer replacements, and those who don't want to wait can choose the Advanced RMA program.

Rather than first sending a broken card to EVGA, which is then checked before a replacement is sent out, the Advanced RMA service lets customers pay a deposit to the company. It then sends out a replacement card and fully refunds the money once it receives the faulty product.

Typically, customers would pay the MSRP as a deposit, but these aren’t normal times. Igor’s Lab reports that owners of broken GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra graphics cards, which retail at 782 Euros or 931 Euros with VAT, are being asked to pay a 1,728.20 Euro (around $2,038) deposit—scalper prices.

Not a happy customer

From EVGA’s point of view, the problem is that someone could file an Advanced RMA, pay the MSRP, and then sell the replacement card for a much higher price without returning theirs. The money they’d receive from scalping a new RTX 3090 would far outweigh the lost deposit.

The issue faced by consumers is that not everyone has that sort of money available—even if it is refunded—leaving them with the slower, standard RMA option.

“Due to increased fraud and current market conditions, the collateral amount includes an additional RMA service hold attached, which will be fully refunded upon the return of the original item. As a thank you for our customers, we now include a pre-paid UPS return label in the box,” writes EVGA.

Few companies these days offer Advanced RMA services, though that’s unlikely to appease anyone whose RTX 3090 was broken by New World.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90695-evga-charging-scalper-prices-advanced-rma-service.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Somebody at EVGA should have written a memo that goes "Yeah all just very pro consumer policies and programs we have like advance RMA? Yeah, cancel all of those" as soon as it was clear they couldn't actually handle it, at 9 months after the supply issues started it's safe to say they wouldn't be able to accommodate.

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, this is totally bogus. They could just get a credit card number, get the amount approved, then if the customer did not return their original, make the deposit of the credit card charge. EVGA blaming the customer for current market conditions is just scummy, IMO. I am not saying that there are no customers who might do this, just that EVGA handling it this way is totally scummy even if they refund the money.

Remind me not to get anything from EVGA in the future.

 

[envirovore]

Somebody at EVGA should have written a memo that goes "Yeah all just very pro consumer policies and programs we have like advance RMA? Yeah, cancel all of those" as soon as it was clear they couldn't actually handle it, at 9 months after the supply issues started it's safe to say they wouldn't be able to accommodate.

It'll be 10 months for my notify on a 3080FTW3 as of Aug 6, and still have 12 hrs wait before my time, which as it went public on the 5th I expect it'll be a full year + wait on it.

It's silly at this point.

/Shrugs.
//Will get one eventually

 

[YouShallNotPass]

IMO, this is totally bogus. They could just get a credit card number, get the amount approved, then if the customer did not return their original, make the deposit of the credit card charge. EVGA blaming the customer for current market conditions is just scummy, IMO. I am not saying that there are no customers who might do this, just that EVGA handling it this way is totally scummy even if they refund the money.

Remind me not to get anything from EVGA in the future.

Credit card can be stolen and EVGA could end up not getting a cent for that transaction and also need to pay a charge back fee to the bank.

 

[mctommy]

IMO, this is totally bogus. They could just get a credit card number, get the amount approved, then if the customer did not return their original, make the deposit of the credit card charge. EVGA blaming the customer for current market conditions is just scummy, IMO. I am not saying that there are no customers who might do this, just that EVGA handling it this way is totally scummy even if they refund the money.

Remind me not to get anything from EVGA in the future.

A lot of credit cards companies are very pro-consumer and the scammer will likely just request a chargeback which the cc company will oblige.

Credit card can be stolen and EVGA could end up not getting a cent for that transaction and also need to pay a charge back fee to the bank.

Exactly.

 

[DukeJukem]

EVGA just lost all credibility from me. No reason to overcharge. You made a garbage product so fix it. "We gotta charge more because the customer might sell this replacement for scalper prices." So......what part of that gives you the green flag to charge scalper prices? This whole credit card fraud excuse is a joke as well. There's a reason the justice system exists. If something like that happens you'd eventually be able to track down the bad guy and get your money or toss them in a cell. Lastly...in general, a company that messes up loses money to fix their mistakes which is simply the risk you take when becoming a company. This is EVGAS' way of not losing money and trying to justify their behavior.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Folks have probably been taking advantage of the RMA system and EVGA is now covering their own a$s.

To put it into a very plausible example for people to understand:

1) Customer puts in a request for Advanced RMA and allows EVGA to charge them the normal EVGA retail price (we'll say it's $1000).
2) EVGA sends out a replacement card with a $1000 hold on a payment method and customer now has 30 days to return "bad" card to get the credit hold refunded.
3) Customer gets replacement card.
4) Customer flips replacement card for scalper price (we'll say $1800).
5) Customer never sends in "bad" card for RMA and keeps their "bad" card that isn't really bad and keeps using it.
6) Customer gets charged $1000 from EVGA for not sending in "bad" card.
Profit: Customer is $800 richer for selling the replacement GPU for $1800 and only getting charged $1000 from EVGA.

 

[Rdmetz]

It'll be 10 months for my notify on a 3080FTW3 as of Aug 6, and still have 12 hrs wait before my time, which as it went public on the 5th I expect it'll be a full year + wait on it.

It's silly at this point.

/Shrugs.
//Will get one eventually

I've done very well getting cards for myself and friends / family. 2 Fridays ago I got a notify from 3080 ftw3 queue from October 4th I think and gave it to a buddy who I had promised to get a 3070ti I had put in for pretty early on day 1 of them launching.

I figured that come up pretty quick so was best I could do for him but then that lovely email dropped and I had a nice surprise for him. He jumped at the chance to basically pay the same as he was going to and get a very healthy bump in performance / memory.

The 3070ti notify came through yesterday but without anyone at this time looking for a card (I've pretty much gotten everyone I know covered) I let it go after the 8 hours deadline.

In total I've gotten about 20 3080/3090 and 1 3070ti since launch.

All of them have went to worthy gamers I know irl or online.

 

[Rdmetz]

Folks have probably been taking advantage of the RMA system and EVGA is now covering their own a$s.

To put it into a very plausible example for people to understand:

1) Customer puts in a request for Advanced RMA and allows EVGA to charge them the normal EVGA retail price (we'll say it's $1000).
2) EVGA sends out a replacement card with a $1000 hold on a payment method and customer now has 30 days to return "bad" card to get the credit hold refunded.
3) Customer gets replacement card.
4) Customer flips replacement card for scalper price (we'll say $1800).
5) Customer never sends in "bad" card for RMA and keeps their "bad" card that isn't really bad and keeps using it.
6) Customer gets charged $1000 from EVGA for not sending in "bad" card.
Profit: Customer is $800 richer for selling the replacement GPU for $1800 and only getting charged $1000 from EVGA.

With fees and shipping likley only about 250 - 350 richer at best but yes it's still shady af.

Main reason I never really tried to "flip" any cards I got and instead just made sure they found a home with a gamer who actually needed it.

I'm not willing to charge someone double the cost of something and then still only make a couple hundred bucks. The real ones making off like fat cats in all this is the marketplaces that facilitate these scalpers.

Most I've sold a card for was what I paid + shipping and transaction fee to send money for a friend of mine who moved to Atlanta from our home town in VA.

Local friends just paid the retail and picked up from me (or I came to their place to install it for them).

I've helped about 20 people get 3080/3090 since launch and while I know I could have made a pretty decent chunk of change from that seeing my buds I game with not have to always dial everything back or complain about not being really able to play the newest games is worth more.

 

[Bawlsdeep]

What did people expect, a charity? They should just don't offer advanced RMA on GPU's while GPU marked is fcked.

 

[Rdmetz]

For those complaining....

This went into effect weeks before the new world stuff and I know because my recent 3080ti arrived with issues and needed RMA.

It had been delivered one day they made the change the next and I called the day after.

At first I was peeved a bit as when I had originally bought the card advance rma was part of the reason and I totally planned to pay for their EAR service. But when I called they told me it was gone the day before and no longer could even be sold let alone the normal "courtesy" advance RMA they usually provide for a bad card on arrival.

I got off the phone hot and angry but I took the time to think about it and realize that it makes total sense plus the fact that if I had gotten a card from anyone else ANY advance RMA would never have been an option and I finally calmed down.

Evga doesn't HAVE to do advance rma and even with this crazy market and scalpers galore they still found a way to provide it albeit with a bit of a compromise. Yet it's still 100% more than any other company is willing to do.

Double msrp seems like a lot but again if you just use a credit card by the time any bill would come due the charge will have long been refunded.

I know this doesn't work for everyone and that sucks but again it's more than anyone else can do for you so until things get back to normal I think it's a fair trade off for the option to still not have to go card less for weeks. I had my replacement 2 days later and the money was refunded in total 10 days from it being charged.

They'll even take someone else's card as the collateral if need be (say parent or grandparents, gf/bf, friend) basically anyone who would trust you to put temporary charge on one of their cards that has the kind of room for this not to be such a big deal.

This wasn't a response to new world it just happens to be that news of its change hadn't really hit to open media cycle because though it sucks those of us who have run into it have seen it not as then end of the world but just another hassle of buying and owning a gpu in this post pandemic world.

 

[thew118]

No good deed goes unpunished, huh? I’ve always had a lot of brand loyalty to EVGA, and I don’t grant that kind of loyalty lightly. That doesn’t mean I think they’re infallible or that they’ll always bend over backwards to make me happy, but at least I trust them to put more weight on the customer’s needs than any other AIB partner. They could just be printing money like Zotac or PNY, but instead they’ve gone to pretty great lengths to even the playing field and provide a positive customer experience. They’re the reason I got my hands on a 3060.

Yeah, it sucks that people spent a s***-ton of money for a product that they’re now gonna have to wait even longer to use. I’d be pissed too. I certainly spent too much time waiting, even without an added RMA headache. But at least they’re doing their best to make it right without also putting themselves out of business.

 

[Top S]

IMO, this is totally bogus. They could just get a credit card number, get the amount approved, then if the customer did not return their original, make the deposit of the credit card charge. EVGA blaming the customer for current market conditions is just scummy, IMO. I am not saying that there are no customers who might do this, just that EVGA handling it this way is totally scummy even if they refund the money.

Remind me not to get anything from EVGA in the future.

An extra option that other brands don't even provide is never a bad thing.

I agree that 3090 being broken by game is adsurd, but this advanced RMA puts you off while other brands charging much higher "MSRP" in the first place is not scummy? Jeez.

 

[terzaerian]

EVGA just lost all credibility from me. No reason to overcharge. You made a garbage product so fix it.

Correction, Amazon made garbage code which blew out the power management of their garbage product.

I really hope this fiasco is the nail in the coffin of their cursed gaming ambitions.

 

[wiyosaya]

A lot of credit cards companies are very pro-consumer and the scammer will likely just request a chargeback which the cc company will oblige.


Exactly.

Having dealt with CC companies for legitimate fraud, such a transaction would not be considered fraud because the person RMAing gave them the CC number for this explicit purpose. To claim a charge back, the consumer would have to submit proof that they sent the card back - typically - a tracking number on a parcel sent back to EVGA. If the consumer decided that they were going to commit fraud, themselves, and the CC company found out, that would not end well for the consumer. You just cannot legitimately give your CC number to a company and then claim "it was fraud." CC companies investigate fraud claims. Not to mention that a card holder doing this would have committed a felony in the US anyway as anything over $1K for CC fraud is a felony.

But the both of you, feel free to try something like that and keep looking over your shoulder for the Secret Service, yes, the secret service investigates CC fraud in the US.

 

[wiyosaya]

An extra option that other brands don't even provide is never a bad thing.

I agree that 3090 being broken by game is adsurd, but this advanced RMA puts you off while other brands charging much higher "MSRP" in the first place is not scummy? Jeez.

Yup!

 

[Rdmetz]

Having dealt with CC companies for legitimate fraud, such a transaction would not be considered fraud because the person RMAing gave them the CC number for this explicit purpose. To claim a charge back, the consumer would have to submit proof that they sent the card back - typically - a tracking number on a parcel sent back to EVGA. If the consumer decided that they were going to commit fraud, themselves, and the CC company found out, that would not end well for the consumer. You just cannot legitimately give your CC number to a company and then claim "it was fraud." CC companies investigate fraud claims. Not to mention that a card holder doing this would have committed a felony in the US anyway as anything over $1K for CC fraud is a felony.

But the both of you, feel free to try something like that and keep looking over your shoulder for the Secret Service, yes, the secret service investigates CC fraud in the US.

It's certainly a crime but I think the part you might have missed is that this "person" wouldn't be using their own credit card per se and could just in fact be stealing someone else's THAT person not connected at all files a fraud claim.. It's legitimately fraud (for them) and then evga is out a card and no money for it.

Yes the person doing it either way is a criminal and SHOULD be prosecuted but it doesn't change the fact from evga's perspective that they've been ripped off with no recourse really available.

This could happen really either way but that's just part of the risk you take when doing business with credit cards.

I think again ultimately evga has to do this not for charge backs or credit card fraud but just the guy who would use evga rma process as another supply line for their scalping business.

Getting a card a retail today is a huge win and not many of these types WOULDN'T use this as a "legitimate" way to obtain more inventory.

Evga has to adjust the rules to make the whole program even viable.

That's all they've done is just make it so they can still offer it without having scalpers rob them blind (and have even less to go round for ACTUAL legitimate buyers)

 

[kiwigraeme]

I was a visa merchant - I never did the following - but if you want to prank someone whose overseas on holiday - do a large pre-authorisation on their card - if reduces their credit available . So they will panic when their card is declined.

Off course VISA might revoke your merchant a/c

People use to give false c/c numbers over phone - you get a sense for it - what you have is not exactly what they want - or they are just covering their options over a busy celebration time.
I just say - I will check you c/c details ( normally don't say this ) and if no good I will cancel your booking - "oh I have another card , or they phone back in 5 minutes - just to check they gave the right details "

I didn't do pre-authorizations - except for cards not present ( eg parent paying ) . Now someone can give their c/c details - yet it's hard to charge - as the have it turned off in the banking app - and only turn on for transactions - 2 of my cards are permanently off - none can do ATM transactions- so only one works online or overseas - still limit low limit

 

[YOUDIEMOFO]

Good then. Keeping the losers at bay and the right individuals in the in...

Can't stand me a scalper and this is a great way to take care of them.

Oh and this is cross ship.

If one wants to wait for their card to be "inspected" by EVGA before a shipment of theirs can go out then there is no need to pay for the card up front. As it will be taken care of by EVGA after their assessment is done of their hardware.

People who can't afford the cross ship anyways need not even comment. Because it obviously doesn't pertain to them ...

EVGA is top notch in customer service and representation. Why I always will deal with them for my hardware needs.

 

[godrilla]

The ones complaining don't realize the current situation of the market. Reminder until this point evga is still charging MSRP through notification system. Please point me to a direction where a Ampere card can be purchased at msrp? Hence why the back log is 8 months old. They also do not understand you don't need to pay that fee, you can simply wait for the card to run the full rma process and for evga to mail you the replacement obviously once they have the damaged card. They only charge scalpers price if you didn't send out the card in their possession and will at this point own 2 cards in their hope for ( MSRP? really) That the consumer claims underline the word claims is defective. If everyone would claim RMA then people would cheat the system to get another card at MSRP if they charge MSRP. That would cheat the people waiting in line even further. Mostly everyone in the community understands EVGA for doing so. At least I do!

 

[Syphadeus]

They wanted 1400EUR collateral to advance RMA my 1080Ti that is close to 3 years old. It’s ridiculous. That isn’t the scalper price for my card. So I don’t buy their reasoning.

I will never purchase from EVGA again because of this. A 1080Ti doesn’t have an RRP anymore and you can’t buy them new. All of them that were produced were done so at a time when the production costs were much lower. EVGAs risk is a sunk cost because they won’t be sending me out a “new” 1080Ti, it’ll be a refurb unit from warranty inventory, which probably cost them EUR400 back in 2018 to produce and sell for profit the first time.

l sort of understand the concept with new cards, but this is 3 years old and I’ve had to upload my original invoice before they’d even accept any RMA at all. It’s really pathetic and a totally scumbag anti consumer move.

 

[Syphadeus]

The ones complaining don't realize the current situation of the market. Reminder until this point evga is still charging MSRP through notification system. Please point me to a direction where a Ampere card can be purchased at msrp? Hence why the back log is 8 months old. They also do not understand you don't need to pay that fee, you can simply wait for the card to run the full rma process and for evga to mail you the replacement obviously once they have the damaged card. They only charge scalpers price if you didn't send out the card in their possession and will at this point own 2 cards in their hope for ( MSRP? really) That the consumer claims underline the word claims is defective. If everyone would claim RMA then people would cheat the system to get another card at MSRP if they charge MSRP. That would cheat the people waiting in line even further. Mostly everyone in the community understands EVGA for doing so. At least I do!

How do you explain my issue then? And how is it fair to blanket change the policy and have it apply to old cards that are long time EOL?

Admittedly, if I sold a 1080Ti I could get around £400 to £500 for it, which isn’t bad considering I paid £650, but who the hell can get EUR1400 for a 1080Ti? Show me where they’re being scalped for that please. I can show you ebay links to them for much less than that.

Defending EVGA on this only makes sense for current new cards, not old crusty ones. If they had asked what I originally paid for it as collateral I might well have considered it. But who in their right mind is going to opt for that at that price?
Even worse? They don’t tell you what the collateral will be until you’ve decided to choose advance RMA. So if you don’t like it, you then have to cancel the advance one, and request a standard one, which delays everything by 2 business days.

 

[Rdmetz]

How do you explain my issue then? And how is it fair to blanket change the policy and have it apply to old cards that are long time EOL?

Admittedly, if I sold a 1080Ti I could get around £400 to £500 for it, which isn’t bad considering I paid £650, but who the hell can get EUR1400 for a 1080Ti? Show me where they’re being scalped for that please. I can show you ebay links to them for much less than that.

Defending EVGA on this only makes sense for current new cards, not old crusty ones. If they had asked what I originally paid for it as collateral I might well have considered it. But who in their right mind is going to opt for that at that price?
Even worse? They don’t tell you what the collateral will be until you’ve decided to choose advance RMA. So if you don’t like it, you then have to cancel the advance one, and request a standard one, which delays everything by 2 business days.

I went through the process and have a few things to say....

1. My agent absolutely explained to me BEFORE I accepted anything that EAR advance RMA was gone and that cross ship though still available came with this need for a full charge (not pre Auth) for 2x msrp.

It was not something I learned about after the fact thru gave me the choice right there on the phone.

2. YOU may not be able to get what you say they are asking and maybe not but you also can't sell a 3080ti ftw3 ultra for 2900+ I had to authorize mine for.

The whole point of the system is to deter scalpers and the ONLY way to do that is to make it ABSOLUTELY clear they will NEVER make a dime from ripping evga rma process off.

While you say a 1080ti is only with 400-500£ I know personally when I auctioned off my rx 580 back in May it sold for almost $600.

I didn't set the price I let the market do that with a starting price or $1 (it was a 2 year old 2018 card I paid $179 got in 2019).

I was floored but that's what the market decided to spend now I know it's not apples to apples but evga has got to be sure it wouldn't be remotely possible to benefit so making it well above is the only way.

If your 1080ti which was a roughly $700 card from 2017 got into a similar situation it could end up going for more than you say not a huge amount more but still.

Let's say at the end of the day they did charge just msrp well there's a pretty significant risk that at this point SOMEONE might be willing to pay thag for a 1080ti even the customer himself may be in need of a extra card and willing to pay that to get one (maybe for a friend or some other important system in need of something).

Charging 2x retail is just the cleanest solution that fixes almost all scenarios and while I agree in yours it's a bit much but expecting a company to somehow Jude the "value" of every card across all that may still be covered under warranty and price the service according to the current market is asking ALOT!

And at the end of the day youre not losing a dime and in fact in the long run save not only money but TIME as well.

They pay to ship it to you AND now include the shipping label back. In other situation you're paying to ship to them and then WAITING....

It's not something everyone needs to take advantage of and most would likley be best served just shipping the card normally but if it's important again at least evga gives you the OPTION cause no one else does whatsoever.

 

[godrilla]

How do you explain my issue then? And how is it fair to blanket change the policy and have it apply to old cards that are long time EOL?

Admittedly, if I sold a 1080Ti I could get around £400 to £500 for it, which isn’t bad considering I paid £650, but who the hell can get EUR1400 for a 1080Ti? Show me where they’re being scalped for that please. I can show you ebay links to them for much less than that.

Defending EVGA on this only makes sense for current new cards, not old crusty ones. If they had asked what I originally paid for it as collateral I might well have considered it. But who in their right mind is going to opt for that at that price?
Even worse? They don’t tell you what the collateral will be until you’ve decided to choose advance RMA. So if you don’t like it, you then have to cancel the advance one, and request a standard one, which delays everything by 2 business days.

But you get that money back though. I agree with the last statement they should tell you the differences more clearly for new customers or new policy standards up front. You said 2 days delay? So we are complaining about waiting an extra 2 days?