EVGA is charging scalper prices for its Advanced RMA service

[dnous]

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.

This should be verified by the writers and added to the article. Pretty sure this is the case and wouldn't make EVGA look like the bad guy here.

 

[godrilla]

FYI new BIOS firmware out, inevitably so.

 

[Syphadeus]

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.

You don't seem to appreciate the economics of it.

EVGA already have a warranty stock of 1080Ti and many other old cards. They have to keep stock of these to honour warranty requests because they don't manufacture them anymore. The cost to EVGA of keeping these is sunk, because it is agreed and considered when they are making them and as products they are not then sold to customers for the going rate, thus no profit is made on them. They cost whatever it cost EVGA to manufacture. Which is going to be a fair bit less than what they were selling for back when they were sold.

I understand EVGA changing a policy with current cards because the difference between the RRP and the actual market selling price is huge. Not only that, but EVGA can't manufacture the cards cheaply enough that they are profitable at MSRP. So with current cards they would be, as you say, LOSING money in actual terms. There would be a COST to them.

With an old card like mine, the actual market price being high is IRRELEVANT. This is because the cost is sunk from 2018. EVGA would stand to lose absolutely no money by setting the collateral at original MSRP. It cost them far less than that to manufacture the unit. What you're saying is that they will lose money because they don't get current PROSPECTIVE market value for the item. That is totally different. That is not losing money, that is instead not obtaining absolute maximum potential profit. My argument is that while a company will obviously do what it can not to lose money on a warranty basis, that's different to not maximising profit.

The collateral payment should be an insurance to EVGA that represents their risk/stake in the transaction and guards against them losing money in the process. That's what is crazy about this. If they asked for original MSRP for my card they and I didn't send one back they would not lose a single penny. If anything they would make a profit from sale of a refurbed 2018 product to me.

You cannot compare the process of warranty replacements for current, in production and extremely scarce products to out of production, sunken cost and available warranty stock. But that is exactly what EVGA have done.

 

[Syphadeus]

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?

Yes, I know I get the money back. My issue is that I don't know... I don't have 1400EUR burning a hole in my back pocket that I can splurge on a collateral payment for warranty service of a 3 year old card that I paid less than half of that for brand new 3 years ago. It's the principle. The card isn't worth anything close to that so I'm not going to put the money down.

I find that your reference to 2 business days and tone seek to trivialise it. I bought the card because EVGA are supposed to have god-tier warranty. I have to ship the card from the UK to their RMA facility in Germany. I chose advance RMA on a Friday and so wasn't aware of the ridiculous cost until the following Tuesday. I then asked them to change it to a standard RMA and they took another day to get back to me only to tell me they can't and I have to cancel the RMA and start the process again. So on Wednesday I submit for the further RMA and get authorisation on the Friday. That's a week just to get permission to send the defective back. An item that I paid £650 for. Please don't try playing it down.

The whole experience has been rubbish. Now it's in Germany at their customs just sitting there and EVGAs own forums are full of horror stories of people waiting months for them to ship back a replacement. Should have gone for the advance RMA right? I don't have the money.

And yes, I am well aware that many companies don't offer advance RMA. But if it was my only GPU then I'd be stuck for the whole time this is going on. And I would firmly argue that with the collateral levels set as they are, EVGA for all intents and purposes, also do not offer advance RMA either. At least not one that is financially viable for the majority of customers.

 

[godrilla]

Yes, I know I get the money back. My issue is that I don't know... I don't have 1400EUR burning a hole in my back pocket that I can splurge on a collateral payment for warranty service of a 3 year old card that I paid less than half of that for brand new 3 years ago. It's the principle. The card isn't worth anything close to that so I'm not going to put the money down.

I find that your reference to 2 business days and tone seek to trivialise it. I bought the card because EVGA are supposed to have god-tier warranty. I have to ship the card from the UK to their RMA facility in Germany. I chose advance RMA on a Friday and so wasn't aware of the ridiculous cost until the following Tuesday. I then asked them to change it to a standard RMA and they took another day to get back to me only to tell me they can't and I have to cancel the RMA and start the process again. So on Wednesday I submit for the further RMA and get authorisation on the Friday. That's a week just to get permission to send the defective back. An item that I paid £650 for. Please don't try playing it down.

The whole experience has been rubbish. Now it's in Germany at their customs just sitting there and EVGAs own forums are full of horror stories of people waiting months for them to ship back a replacement. Should have gone for the advance RMA right? I don't have the money.

And yes, I am well aware that many companies don't offer advance RMA. But if it was my only GPU then I'd be stuck for the whole time this is going on. And I would firmly argue that with the collateral levels set as they are, EVGA for all intents and purposes, also do not offer advance RMA either. At least not one that is financially viable for the majority of customers.

I personally was gpu less from August to November of 2020 so I understand from selling my 2080 ti hybrid to actually getting the 3090. I ended up using the integrated graphics on my 9900 ks during the wait. I know waiting is a bummer but I can imagine that it is probably the norm for everyone else who doesn't have this rma type service outside of EVGA.
Update waiting for a card personally is usually a almost every other generation phenomenon and I am pretty sure I am not the only one.

 

[0dium]

I don't understand why they are charging scalper prices. Customer can sell it and get profit? Who cares, EVGA are not loosing money because they are selling cards to retailers at prices that are even lower than MSRP, right? Right?

 

[tancabean]

I don't understand why they are charging scalper prices. Customer can sell it and get profit? Who cares, EVGA are not loosing money because they are selling cards to retailers at prices that are even lower than MSRP, right? Right?

It’s not just about money. Presumably EVGA want to service real customers with valid RMAs not people trying to game the system for a quick buck.

 

[Bobbydpue]

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.

It's not overcharging it's a deposit to make sure people don't claim their working card is faulty so they can get two video cards at or near MSRP and then sell them for double or triple the MSRP. EVGA is pricing these card fairly and people are likely taking advantage of their honesty.

"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" That's not how it works and do you think EVGA has an investigation division that tracks scammers down and somehow gets money from them? Do you think local law enforcement has the resources to track down people who broke an agreement and extract money from them? People run scams on generous companies all the time, which forces these companies to change their policies to be less generous just like this one. EVGA didn't change their rules for no reason people scammed them and that caused EVGA to change their policies.

"This is EVGAS' way of not losing money and trying to justify their behavior." Somehow it's wrong for a company to create policies that protect their business while not hurting the customer?

EVGA has likely the best customer service in the tech industry. I've had nothing but good experiences with them. I've had terrible experiences with MSI, however, they sold me a faulty motherboard then replaced it with an RMA'd motherboard that wasn't repaired. Both motherboards ruined 3 kits of RAM MSI refused to investigate to see if it was their motherboard that caused them to stop working and refused to replace them.

I don't understand why they are charging scalper prices. Customer can sell it and get profit? Who cares, EVGA are not loosing money because they are selling cards to retailers at prices that are even lower than MSRP, right? Right?

EVGA sells video cards at or near MSRP to people who signed up for a card. EVGA wants people to get their 1 card per household and not taking more than their fair share.

Yes, I know I get the money back. My issue is that I don't know... I don't have 1400EUR burning a hole in my back pocket that I can splurge on a collateral payment for warranty service of a 3 year old card that I paid less than half of that for brand new 3 years ago. It's the principle. The card isn't worth anything close to that so I'm not going to put the money down.

I find that your reference to 2 business days and tone seek to trivialise it. I bought the card because EVGA are supposed to have god-tier warranty. I have to ship the card from the UK to their RMA facility in Germany. I chose advance RMA on a Friday and so wasn't aware of the ridiculous cost until the following Tuesday. I then asked them to change it to a standard RMA and they took another day to get back to me only to tell me they can't and I have to cancel the RMA and start the process again. So on Wednesday I submit for the further RMA and get authorisation on the Friday. That's a week just to get permission to send the defective back. An item that I paid £650 for. Please don't try playing it down.

The whole experience has been rubbish. Now it's in Germany at their customs just sitting there and EVGAs own forums are full of horror stories of people waiting months for them to ship back a replacement. Should have gone for the advance RMA right? I don't have the money.

And yes, I am well aware that many companies don't offer advance RMA. But if it was my only GPU then I'd be stuck for the whole time this is going on. And I would firmly argue that with the collateral levels set as they are, EVGA for all intents and purposes, also do not offer advance RMA either. At least not one that is financially viable for the majority of customers.

I don't think this is a fair assessment. You aren't EVGA's only customer, they are in a 8-9 hour different time zone and they got back to you within 24 hours of contacting them.

"The card isn't worth anything close to that so I'm not going to put the money down." Not everyone is an honest person and just because you are doesn't mean others are. At least once someone has claimed and RMA and have EVGA ship them a replacement card only to never have gotten the replacement card if it ever existed.

"But if it was my only GPU then I'd be stuck for the whole time this is going on. " So you are upset about a situation that doesn't exist for you?

EVGA's customer service is by far the best I've experienced. EVGA replaced a used 1060 6GB I bought that was faulty after the warranty had expired after they spent their time trying to help me make it work. MSI replaced a brand new, but faulty motherboard with a "refurbished" motherboard that was never fixed and they refused to replace the RAM ruined by their two faulty motherboards. It took between one and never days for them to get back to me each time I sent them an email.

 

[Rdmetz]

You don't seem to appreciate the economics of it.

EVGA already have a warranty stock of 1080Ti and many other old cards. They have to keep stock of these to honour warranty requests because they don't manufacture them anymore. The cost to EVGA of keeping these is sunk, because it is agreed and considered when they are making them and as products they are not then sold to customers for the going rate, thus no profit is made on them. They cost whatever it cost EVGA to manufacture. Which is going to be a fair bit less than what they were selling for back when they were sold.

I understand EVGA changing a policy with current cards because the difference between the RRP and the actual market selling price is huge. Not only that, but EVGA can't manufacture the cards cheaply enough that they are profitable at MSRP. So with current cards they would be, as you say, LOSING money in actual terms. There would be a COST to them.

With an old card like mine, the actual market price being high is IRRELEVANT. This is because the cost is sunk from 2018. EVGA would stand to lose absolutely no money by setting the collateral at original MSRP. It cost them far less than that to manufacture the unit. What you're saying is that they will lose money because they don't get current PROSPECTIVE market value for the item. That is totally different. That is not losing money, that is instead not obtaining absolute maximum potential profit. My argument is that while a company will obviously do what it can not to lose money on a warranty basis, that's different to not maximising profit.

The collateral payment should be an insurance to EVGA that represents their risk/stake in the transaction and guards against them losing money in the process. That's what is crazy about this. If they asked for original MSRP for my card they and I didn't send one back they would not lose a single penny. If anything they would make a profit from sale of a refurbed 2018 product to me.

You cannot compare the process of warranty replacements for current, in production and extremely scarce products to out of production, sunken cost and available warranty stock. But that is exactly what EVGA have done.

The fact is its not something they want to spend a bunch of time examining with each and every product and a blanket policy is easier to implement and enforce then having "profitability" discussions around every rma situation.

I'm sorry their policy effects you more negatively than you would prefer.... But at the end of the day you won't lose anything by using it.

It's an OPTION not forced upon you and you're not going to be affected by it in any long term way.

So either accept it or move on.

 

[Syphadeus]

The fact is its not something they want to spend a bunch of time examining with each and every product and a blanket policy is easier to implement and enforce then having "profitability" discussions around every rma situation.

I'm sorry their policy effects you more negatively than you would prefer.... But at the end of the day you won't lose anything by using it.

It's an OPTION not forced upon you and you're not going to be affected by it in any long term way.

So either accept it or move on.

Either accept it or move on.

Erm, this a comments section where people have these things called OPINIONS. You don’t have to share the same ones or even agree in any way, but I’ve reasoned my opinion.

My new opinion is that you’re some EVGA die hard who feels for some reason that you have to defend them from criticism.

It would not be time consuming to charge a rate based on which product is being RMAd, dont be ridiculous. They already decide on product based values. It’s a little thing called PRICING! And guess what else? They do it pricing for every single different product they have ever sold and it even differs from region to region. Mind blowing I’m sure!

 

[Rdmetz]

Either accept it or move on.

Erm, this a comments section where people have these things called OPINIONS. You don’t have to share the same ones or even agree in any way, but I’ve reasoned my opinion.

My new opinion is that you’re some EVGA die hard who feels for some reason that you have to defend them from criticism.

It would not be time consuming to charge a rate based on which product is being RMAd, dont be ridiculous. They already decide on product based values. It’s a little thing called PRICING! And guess what else? They do it pricing for every single different product they have ever sold and it even differs from region to region. Mind blowing I’m sure!

Being realistic doesn't make me a die hard evga fan (in fact I was at first quite annoyed with it and told them so) then I used my head and came to conclusion I discussed above again like you said this is you know "my opinion" and I'm expressing it same as you. Mine just happens to align with reality if the situation.

I don't set their rules neither do you I only expressed you either accept them or go elsewhere.

I choose to be reasonable and hahd my replacement card in 2 days and never even had to think about the charge outside of providing them my credit card number one time.

Never got a bill never paid a dime.

Again I get that they COULD do what you stated but they haven't you might think it's easy enough but they found the blanket 2x msrp is even easier.