Graphics card scalpers love Best Buy's $200 GPU paywall
- Thread starter midian182
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lripplinger
Posts: 454 +252
mr5elfd3struct
Posts: 19 +10
Mine is doing a great job....even on Cyberpunk. I'm more interested in decent gameplay than fancy graphics anyway (minus Cyberpunk! )
EchoWhiskey
Posts: 23 +16
Being the advocate of the devil.....
Why are they profiting from the misfortune of other people?
It basically is a matter of demand and supply... High demand, high prices.
I think Covid also has to do something with it...
For the record: Since more than a year now I'm trying to buy to buy a graphics card (at 'normal' prices), but no luck so far.
However I could buy one, if I'm willing to pay a lot of money. (demand and supply)
That’ll never happen, the whole world revolves around $$$. No company would ever make a decision to not make more of it.
Sorry, dude, I can't believe you defend scalping. Scalping should be a fellony, it's not "supply and demand", it's an intermediary who swindles people out of their money and that's what I said, profiting from a crisis, profiting of people's misfortune and in fact, destabilizing a market by amplifying supply issues.
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Adhmuz
Posts: 2,343 +1,186
They tried it this way, people lined up and created self managed mobs, scalpers would just pay/use homeless people to wait in line for them, people were getting into fights, I think people got stabbed even. Honestly it was probably worse publicity than this new scandal, the sad reality is there is no easy solution other than what has already been mentioned by bviktor, it's extreme but would actually work, so long as it applies in your country. The PlayStation Direct program doesn't seem to apply to Canada...
Everyone I knew that wanted a PS5 or an Xbox Series X has one by now and bought one at MSRP. Still can't find a GPU at MSRP. This paywall just made it even harder. I'm no longer going to shop at Best Buy because of this move here in particular. The place looked like it was about to fold the last time I was there, the only register open was the customer service counter.
wiyosaya
Posts: 9,763 +9,646
IMO, with this policy, BBY has become the latest scalper.
True, its only a $200 markup, but it is, nonetheless, a markup over MSRP. It might be different if it were a deposit on a card that was then reserved for the customer when it came in, and it was allocated only to that customer, and then credited toward the purchase of the card; however, I see this as yet another "extended warranty" scam.
I certainly will no longer go to to BBY if I am looking for a GPU or other PC build components, for that matter.
True, its only a $200 markup, but it is, nonetheless, a markup over MSRP. It might be different if it were a deposit on a card that was then reserved for the customer when it came in, and it was allocated only to that customer, and then credited toward the purchase of the card; however, I see this as yet another "extended warranty" scam.
I certainly will no longer go to to BBY if I am looking for a GPU or other PC build components, for that matter.
terzaerian
Posts: 1,517 +2,260
He explicitly stated he was "playing devil's advocate," it was a thought exercise people used to engage in before the internet made the planet insane.
gamerk2
Posts: 971 +985
Don't worry everyone! Those scalpers are merely ensuring that there will be sufficient supply by purchasing all the GPUs and re-selling them at market justified prices, preventing shortages.
Sarcasm implied, but the fact people here have argued exactly this shows how Capitalism has gone off the rails these days.
Sarcasm implied, but the fact people here have argued exactly this shows how Capitalism has gone off the rails these days.
It was a nightmare here locally. When they had one of those releases at a store. It would be the one store nobody ever heard of 2 hours away from anything, and you have to somehow preregister with information that was never shared. I'm sure the scalpers had all the inside info though were registered and there 4 hours early.
dankbot420
Posts: 15 +12
I've gotten 2 cards from the EVGA queue at MSRP 3080 and 3080ti ftw3 models
There‘s a simple solution here. Get with 3 other friends, buy the service and split the cost. Then all of you get a GPU with an extended warranty for minimal markup. There might also be a sizable chunk of change back in Best Buy Rewards depending on the GPUs that you buy.
you could literally get half that fee back in rewards, meaning somebody waits for the next drop to use those rewards on their card and everyone only ends up $25 out of pocket.
Personally, I have the total tech, because it was obvious that many things would be sold as member exclusives and the other benefits would pay for the service. I got my PS5 with it, my Switch OLED, 6 GPUs for myself and friends. Oh and Apple care for free with my 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro.
you could literally get half that fee back in rewards, meaning somebody waits for the next drop to use those rewards on their card and everyone only ends up $25 out of pocket.
Personally, I have the total tech, because it was obvious that many things would be sold as member exclusives and the other benefits would pay for the service. I got my PS5 with it, my Switch OLED, 6 GPUs for myself and friends. Oh and Apple care for free with my 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro.
Bobbydpue
Posts: 669 +517
I thought mining would be dead around the same timeline as the 2018 crypto currency GPU crisis, but that's not what's happened it's still with us and who knows when it will finally end and we'll see old GPU's being sold below their original MSRP again. How is LHR a "cruel joke", ineffective sure, but it's not cruel or a joke. Why bring up Biden? He doesn't have the power to affect significant change to the GPU shortage.
Bobbydpue
Posts: 669 +517
If people didn't buy from scalpers scalping wouldn't exist. Scalpers don't swindle people out of their money they offer a product for sale at an inflated price, people don't have to buy it, people aren't tricked into paying more. Buyers can take the offer or not there is a choice.
Adhmuz
Posts: 2,343 +1,186
Lucky, I've been the their queue for over a year and have heard nothing, recently got notified that the card I was waiting for is no longer available and got moved to the LHR version. Then got another notification about their "Elite" club and Q3.0 which get priority access to new hardware... So in other words I'm probably never going to get a card from them now as I can't join due to not having purchased any recent hardware from them.
dankbot420
Posts: 15 +12
Yeah that happened to me too the 3080 got switched to an LHR model I originally signed up in October 2020 and got one about a year later. The 3080ti signed up on launch day and it took a couple months.
Although I mostly agree with your statement, games DID NOT make either Nvidias or AMDs fortunes. Games are an insignificant part of their profits.
Gaming insignificant for them? You better check their quarterly earnings from last years from gaming cards. It's in the billions of dollars. Also, if it were so insignificant, they would have ended that already. Or maybe you think Intel joined the race because they have nothing better to do with their money. Besides, I didn't say gaming exclusively built their fortunes, but it was a semnificant part of their revenue, especially Nvidia's, since AMD was a CPU company first.
ZedRM
Posts: 1,804 +1,207
No it isn't. Stop over-reacting.
Again, no it's not. Stop over-reacting.
Seriously people, THINK before you type..
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