Yes. I suppose it's why we really need to laws in place to stop this happening. I mean I know it's not really the scalpers to blame for all this, but they sure as heck aren't helping and certainly they are annoying many people.
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Are Scalpers Here to Stay?
- Thread starter pp111
- Start date
Yes. I suppose it's why we really need to laws in place to stop this happening. I mean I know it's not really the scalpers to blame for all this, but they sure as heck aren't helping and certainly they are annoying many people.
As awlful as this sound the only way to stop scalpers is for cunsumers to put their foot down and wait. If scalpers don't get their money back within a refund window you bet they'll return the stock rather than lose out.
Eventually they'd stop bothering - but as long as people are willing to buy, there's money to be made. To a degree, I don't blame people for trying it on.
A tax on their profits would put a significant dent in the number of people trying it on, with most scalpers operating online it would be relatively easy for HMRC to track, as very few sales are cash only.
Paypal could really help here - they could force users who have over x amount of cash coming in to become a business account or something that would require an ltd business. With no F&F payments over X amount.
ebay and paypal don't care. I have raised this sort of thing with them before, as far as they are concerned it's more money for them so why should they care?
I don't know how you can say that with a straight face.Prices on GPUs on the 30x0 launches went up by £50 or more as people were checking out. The prices going up by the minute had nothing to do with the supply costs, which were sunk, and everything about creaming some extra profit off customers.
I mean - it's alright, it's supply and demand, other etailers are doing it, but let's call a spade a spade eh? This mock camaraderie and sympathy towards consumers about "the problem with scalping" is bordering on satire.
i dont know how government can do anything about basic free market mechanics.
this is the same problem as concert/festival tickets. at least with those, banning the ticket touting sites made a massive difference.
the only way to get this scalper stopped is to stop exhcange of GPU second hand. that just aint gonna happen. our government will have very little to zero power to impose anything to the likes of Nvidia/Intel/AMD and their partners without any international consenses. if something gets implemented in this country (that is a BIG IF), then scalper will simply profit MASSIVELY by selling UK stock to a global market.
it is unlikely to be stopped. Scalping has been a thing for a very long time, it just wasnt done on an industrial scale before. the best way to combat it, is to not pay for them and patiently wait for the supply outstrip demand. but people are not patient and a few £££ seems to be small change for some for the sake of a few Frames. it is just one of those things.
If people are stupid enough to buy at higher prices then why stop them? The government shouldn't have to step in and do anything.
And if they do then, let them also clamp down on retailers selling products at inflated prices when their excuse is "supply and demand" .....Yeah.....excalty......
And if they do then, let them also clamp down on retailers selling products at inflated prices when their excuse is "supply and demand" .....Yeah.....excalty......
Soldato
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- 24 Sep 2013
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- Exmouth, Devon
How does the warranty work if you bought from a scalper? Usually the first year of warranty is dealt with through the retailer. Most of these one off scalpers cant offer that service. To activate your online warranties, usually you have to submit the retailers invoice. I imagine many people who bought from a scalper (and by scalper I mean a Joe Bloggs trying to sell one) haven't thought about any warranty issues. Unless I can buy from a proper shop/etailer, for the money these cards cost I'd never entertain buying from a joe bloggs. Maybe at best from the MM here where usually any sellers will help with any warranty.
JUst the message of any issues in the 1st year will be difficult to administrate via a scalper. It would depend on the card manufacturer and I reckon we'll see some soon of cards failing and warranty difficulties.
JUst the message of any issues in the 1st year will be difficult to administrate via a scalper. It would depend on the card manufacturer and I reckon we'll see some soon of cards failing and warranty difficulties.
Depends on the brand of card, who they bought it from and if they can provide the invoice. For example, EVGA should be no bother, MSI on the other hand...
You think so? Because I don't see it that way. While that might be true on the short term, I think manufacturers are losing here as well.
I wanted a 3070. As I couldn't buy one when they were released, I decided a 3060Ti might would be more than enough really... I haven't been able to buy one either, and honestly, after trying for a few days I have decided to stop wasting my time dealing with inexistent stock, bots buying, sotck alerts etc etc... I've bought a cheap second hand graphics card, and I'll buy whatever I want when this madness is over. I suspect the 3050 will be here by then, and I'll probably not be able to buy one either. I am not gonna pay a single pound to a scalper, not to mention warranty issues, driver problems etcetc... So, at the end of the day, there is a customer here who hasn't bought anything yet, and will buy a cheap GPU, rather than the more expensive model he had in mind initially... Customers are not the only losers here in my opinion.
And by the way, I am of the opinion that scaping should be prevented by any means... to all those who say "it's the market", I would say that would be true if scalpers took advantage of the shortage to manufacture more cards and make a profit from it, or if manufacturers would be selling at higher prices, but scalpers just prevent people to access a product so they can make a profit from the shortage they are creating. It's like if I go to all the supermarkets around and I spend 50.000 pounds buying all the toilet rolls aviable, and then sell them at 10 pounds per roll while I keep buying when supermarkets get more...
Edit: Bloody hell, this guy can read my mind:
Associate
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- 6 Dec 2013
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- 2,158
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- Nottingham
not arguing against your points here at all because i agree, but business get vat back hence pay less tax than consumers. just thought its worth pointing out. business get loads of benefits like this from the government already.
What is your problem? I do not scalp, buy, sell or any of it. Where have I defended scalpers? I can't help the way supply and demand works. I guess when you joined the forum you weren't a new user, what a moron.
Associate
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- 3 Dec 2020
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- 21
tbh im abit ****** @overclockers They basically scalped me on my 6800 non Xt for £610 i feel like returning it Knowing that 70 pound more would get me an 6800xt with a lot better performance shouldent the rrp of the 6800 non XT be £500 so overclockers are scalping themselves i might return or unless anyone else is interested im pretty ****** about it
Soldato
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Why on earth would you sell on eBay unless it's one of those £1 fees offers? Can't see the HMRC having much luck tracking people down on the myriad of social apps and market places that now exist.
I don't know how you can say that with a straight face.
I mean - it's alright, it's supply and demand, other etailers are doing it, but let's call a spade a spade eh? This mock camaraderie and sympathy towards consumers about "the problem with scalping" is bordering on satire.
Because I know the facts.
The launch price on 3080 was basically our cost or just under, as such the add in board partners funded a quantity of stock to hit the MSRP pricing, and capped those quantities and so we launched at MSRP's thinking all would be well and the prices would remain for at least a few hours, maybe even a day.
However all was not normal, the demand for 3080 was unprecedented and the supported MSRP quantities had sold out and thus over sold within seconds, so prices were moved otherwise we would be losing money and as such the prices went up minutes after launch and thus caused people to see prices in their basket going up as ordering causing a lot of upset.
We oversold massively on MSRP product, all of which shall be honoured irrelevant of us making nothing or losing, but we had to act fast as within minutes thousands were sold and each manufacturer was typically only willing to support upto 100 cards, so the cards arriving now on MSRP product we actually lose money on due to that support/rebate not being there and the cost price increasing further.
The proof is out there you won't find a single add in board partner card at MSRP today or even close, because the MSRP was funded, then since then the add in board partners have further increased the cost as their margins were simply to slim, as such hitting the MSRP is no longer possible unless a loss leader for a board partner/reseller. Also this was not an OcUK thing, every single reseller put prices up within 24 hours of launch with the big resellers like ourselves putting prices up within minutes/hours.
So without the support to hit launch price, and the general cost of them increasing around $30-50 per unit, the cost is near as dammit $100 more expensive now than the funded stock was at launch.
That is why we have stopped launching product on GPU's and stopped hitting MSRP as the MSRP is very miss leading as it fails to exist a day or two later, apart from the manufacturers own shop which very rarely have any stock availability.
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Because you've posted in all the threads about this issue defending people who buy at current prices, and defending people who sell at current prices, and practically encouraging people to buy rather than wait.
"Supply and demand" indeed. Patience can also be applied and customer resistance to increasing pricing can be a thing, but people like your good self just encourage people to get it when they want it and not use any kind of restraint.
That you've posted in multiple threads with your "buy it now" message just makes me suspicious
Price controls for physical items never work however, there is a real issue that has been there for many years with regards to money laundering on ebay - the two issues are separate.
I do agree that there was/is a problem with ticket touting simply because the supply is so small.
In terms of stock shortages, this is not a new thing to me, i see whats happening here with GPU's and online ordering and nothing compares to the pain of having to physically walk from store to store looking for an item.
1980 - Star Wars At-At and figures
1984 - C64 Power-supplies
1985 - Transformers Decepticon Soundwave
1993 - SNES Street Fighter 2 Turbo
2010 - Iphone 4 & Wii U.
2014 - Elsa Doll.
I was there for all of those
The main difference being that all these items, as hard to find as they were, we all mass produced items. The system we have now where you can buy things off auction sites for inflated prices for mass produced items is better than not having any options at all.
The question is therefore, whether GPU's fall under the description of 'mass produced items', as AMD and Nvidia sell approx 8-12 million GPU's per year into a market in structural decline (PC), i think that yes they are mass produced items and this is just a temporary blip, when the stock correction comes it will be brutal for the scalpers.
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That right there is a shady as hell business practice that both nVidia and AMD need to face a backlash over.
Advertising these fake-as-hell RRPs to get positive reviews, knowing that there's no way those prices will last more than a week.
I hope reviewers go back and alter their reviews to reflect the actual prices and not some fantasy land RRP.