New hardware launches regularly experience the difficult combination of low stock supplies and extremely high demand. Along with the recent PlayStation 5 pre-order process, Nvidia's new high end RTX 3080 graphics card is completely sold out across the country and the world, as gamers clamor for the latest performance boosts. The unfortunate side effect of this situation is that scalpers are now trolling gamers while also trying to rip them off.
Third party sites such as eBay and Amazon Marketplace are unfortunately home to a number of scalpers who are offering Nvidia RTX 3080 cards at staggering prices, and using the notification systems to promote their outrageous offers. Instead of being notified of real stock, gamers are seeing "deals" where the $699 graphics card is being sold for $5000, just $503 less than the price for three RTX 3090s.
The issue was so severe on eBay that many gamers took action to combat the scalpers, including selling "RTX 3080 Paper Edition" pieces of paper to obscure scalper listings, and using bots to artificially inflate prices and prevent them from selling their stock. While some listings have been impacted, the odds are that many scalpers are still profiting at the expense of real gamers.
Following the bot afflicted launch of the RTX 3080, Nvidia announced it would manually review orders to try and reduce the likelihood of those made by bots successfully obtaining stock. The company has already apologized for the launch, stated that several hundred bot orders have already been cancelled, and promised more stock to be delivered each week. It is of course difficult to manufacture new hardware in large numbers, but it does appear that companies are happy to take the positive publicity of selling out stock rather than wait for sufficient stock to be produced. In this case however, the significant negative publicity from the RTX 3080 launch may prompt Nvidia to reconsider its approach for its next major launch.
Some gamers are simply want to be the first with new technology that they accept paying inflated prices as part of the deal, fueling scalpers and making hardware launches a nightmare for gamers simply trying to buy a product. People are of course entitled to pay the price that they feel appropriate, but by giving big returns to scalpers they will inevitably put themselves in the same position for the next big hardware launch.
While the situation would be reduced if manufacturers such as Nvidia ensured that launches have decent supply levels, the only real way to end scalping is for gamers across the world to hold strong, and refuse to pay ridiculous prices to people who have no actual interest in gaming whatsoever.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is available in limited numbers now.
Source: The Verge