RTX 3080 GPUs sold out instantly & the aftermarket is already out for blood
If you missed the initial wave of sales for NVIDIA's hot new RTX 3080 cards, opportunistic (parasitic) resellers have you covered for exorbitant prices.
The hype of NVIDIA’s new line of RTX 30 series GPUs is proving to be more than warranted. Early looks and testing show a substantial boost in performance over the prior RTX 2080 cards in most environments and settings. And the RTX 3080s come at a very economic cost for the boost in power. Or… at least they should. The initial wave of product sold out instantly and, as you might have guessed, aftermarket resellers are already going to work on trying to take desperate buyers for every penny they can pinch with the RTX 3080 GPUs.
The NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU went on sale on NVIDIA’s website and other retailers on September 17, 2020. If you were paying attention or scanned our preorder guide leading up to the sales day, then you may have gotten your hands on one. Otherwise, they sold out nearly instantly after sales opened up. It’s unknown when stock will become available again (NVIDIA hasn’t said anything on the matter), but resellers saw the opportunity and are now taking to places like eBay to get a dastardly premium cut from people desperately trying to get their hands on the new GPU.
Even secondary sellers of the RTX 3080 GPU such as NewEgg and ZOTAC are showing zero stock for the time being, and without any sort of real preordering available, buyers are pretty much at the mercy of resellers, barring patience while the next supply of cards come in. A glance at the likes of eBay shows absurd range of asks when it comes to the cards, but almost none of the listings are anywhere near retail. A “sponsored listing” on Ebay has even a Founders Edition RTX 3080 that retails at $699 currently priced for $1350. The aforementioned ZOTAC edition RTX 3080 Trinity is also priced at $699 retail, but is appearing anywhere form $930 up to $1500. Perhaps the most audacious of these listings put pricetags of $5000 or higher on the list.
It seems unlikely that NVIDIA will step in and break the rampant aftermarket immediately, but one thing seems perfectly clear. The desire for the RTX 3080 GPUs are real, the parasites know, and they’re out for all of the blood they can get. Our recommendation? Be patient, turn on auto-notify settings on any site featuring the GPU you want, and watch like a hawk for the next stock. The RTX 3080 is cool, but NVIDIA didn’t price it at a crisp $699 for you to pay more than $1000 to some bum for it. That said, if you’re unsure whether the hype is really real, be sure to check out our RTX 3080 review round-up and see what critics around the tech community are saying.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, RTX 3080 GPUs sold out instantly & the aftermarket is already out for blood
