Whether from the manufacturer themselves or from other retailers and suppliers – the new graphics card RTX 3080 was sold out in no time, in some cases within seconds. However, many of them were apparently snagged by nasty bot buyers. This is what Nvidia is doing about it now.
What is the RTX 3080 all about? In short: It is a brand new, powerful graphics card from Nvidia’s 3000 series. It costs around €699, is very fast, and provides the best conditions for 4K gaming. Accordingly, many wanted to secure the card right from the start.
You’ll learn more about it here: The tests of the new RTX 3080 summarized quickly – Is it worth it?
This is how the launch went: The launch of the RTX 3080 was on 17.09.2020. While it was already expected that you would have to act relatively quickly if you wanted to get this new model, it was certainly not anticipated to be so chaotic. There was chaos similar to that of the PS5.
The demand was apparently enormous worldwide, according to Nvidia, such a thing had never happened before. However, right at the beginning of sales, there was initially a technical problem in Nvidia’s own shop. Due to the massive influx, the site crashed and numerous errors occurred or it simply did not proceed.
But it got even worse. After the problems were managed, the RTX 3080 was sold out in seconds at the Nvidia Store. For many willing buyers, the “Notify Me” button quickly changed to “Sold Out” rather than “Buy”.
Many other retailers and suppliers experienced the same situation. There too, the new card was usually sold out within seconds. Many who wanted to secure a card ended up empty-handed.
And so the reactions looked something like this:
The problem with it: Because the launch was announced exactly with date and time – and it was already supposed to be the biggest graphics card launch in years – there were apparently many resellers who, with purchase bots, snatched up multiple cards from honest buyers right under their noses. In less than a minute, the products were already sold out.
Shortly thereafter, some resellers boasted about large product orders on Twitter and thanked a bot manufacturer. After all, it is a very lucrative business for resellers, as reports about potential supply shortages of the highly demanded 3080 had already circulated beforehand.
And now many RTX 3080 are being offered by nasty scalpers on eBay at exorbitant prices. Even offers exceeding $2,000, almost three times the price, are not uncommon.
Many honest buyers and interested parties are massively annoyed by this. But this problem has not gone unnoticed by Nvidia either. The company has now announced measures against it – at least for its own store – and apologized to its honest customers for the chaos.
This is what Nvidia wants to do against bots and scalpers: To stop botters and scalpers, Nvidia intends to do “everything humanly possible”. This includes, among other things, a subsequent manual inspection of orders.
This is to ensure that the cards end up in the hands of honest customers and not in the hands of bot buyers. In addition, more cards will be shipped to retailers every day. So there will be replenishments.
Finally, Nvidia appeals to potential buyers not to engage with the offers on eBay. While the RTX 3080 is a good card, it is not worth spending $1,000 or even $80,000 for it. And finally, the top model RTX 3090 is already coming next week. Meanwhile, users are also trying to prevent the 3080 from being resold at higher prices:
What about you? Were you able to secure an RTX 3080? Did you encounter any problems or was everything smooth for you? By the way, here you can find out what MeinMMO editor Patrick Freese thinks about the new RTX 3080: The new RTX 3080 from Nvidia is definitely a reason to change my graphics card
