Are Scalpers Here to Stay?

[pp111]

With parts shortages for the 3080 the launch has been yet another NVIDIA fail really ( failing to get cards to customers when the customer wants them ). I was reading yesterday that someone in the US added up all the sales of the card in the US ( and the 3090 ) on ebay, sold by scalpers. He then decucted ebay fees, postage, paypal fees and the RRP of each of the cards sold. The total scalper profit since the release of the cards is $18,000,000.
There's nothing like the smell of money! To me this seems like the scalpers now are here to stay and are going to use bots to snap cards for future releases and sell them at pretty much whatever they want.
My question is really, should governments introduce legislation, similar perhaps to ticket touts, to stop this sort of behaviour?
And why don't NVIDIA care? I am sure they could do something.
I am sure we all know why the likes of ebay don't care, but should they be more responsible? It seems almost predictable that they need laws to pull them in to line.
Should Newegg have controlled sales? Once again, they just don't care?

 

[Gibbo]

With parts shortages for the 3080 the launch has been yet another NVIDIA fail really ( failing to get cards to customers when the customer wants them ). I was reading yesterday that someone in the US added up all the sales of the card in the US ( and the 3090 ) on ebay, sold by scalpers. He then decucted ebay fees, postage, paypal fees and the RRP of each of the cards sold. The total scalper profit since the release of the cards is $18,000,000.
There's nothing like the smell of money! To me this seems like the scalpers now are here to stay and are going to use bots to snap cards for future releases and sell them at pretty much whatever they want.
My question is really, should governments introduce legislation, similar perhaps to ticket touts, to stop this sort of behaviour?
And why don't NVIDIA care? I am sure they could do something.
I am sure we all know why the likes of ebay don't care, but should they be more responsible? It seems almost predictable that they need laws to pull them in to line.
Should Newegg have controlled sales? Once again, they just don't care?

Governments are looking to step in, but the simple reality is that even if they take action nothing will get implemented soon, it will take time so they will be here to stay for at least another 12-18 months.

The main issue is simply supply though, its massively down and with BTC surging mining farms around the world are expanding which won't be helping matters either.

 

[rolypolyman]

The only loser in all of this is the customer/consumer. Either they cant get a card or they have to pay scalpers prices. Greed has always been the biggest of the evils.

 

[FoxEye]

Governments are looking to step in, but the simple reality is that even if they take action nothing will get implemented soon, it will take time so they will be here to stay for at least another 12-18 months.

The main issue is simply supply though, its massively down and with BTC surging mining farms around the world are expanding which won't be helping matters either.

12-18 months. You're even more pessimistic than me

That would mean that by the time many of us are able to get hold of a new GPU (somewhere near RRP), the next gen will be just around the corner

I sincerely hope this doesn't turn out to be the case.

 

[G J]

Its taking for mass scalping for people to finally wake up but its okay when retailers jack up the prices and the excuses that come along with it nobody cares or the distributors that tuck away stock in a wherehouse till the demand goes up and they make £££££.

Its the same with the mining craze people where complaining about pricing before and people where told along the lines of stop being poor, stfu and dont like it dont buy it etc... mining craze goes into full swing and now these people only start kicking off when they where now priced out the market/ the stock they now cant buy and now start compaling about pricing etc.

 

[nikoliath]

scalpers will exist where there is high demand and short supply.

 

[Mesai]

Scalpers only exist because people are stupid/desparate(why?) enough to buy from them.

There will always be a way around the rules unless the government actually criminalise the act.

 

[henson0115]

Governments are looking to step in, but the simple reality is that even if they take action nothing will get implemented soon, it will take time so they will be here to stay for at least another 12-18 months.

The main issue is simply supply though, its massively down and with BTC surging mining farms around the world are expanding which won't be helping matters either.

says one of the bigger retail scalers for gpu's atm sorry couldn't resist

 

[nikoliath]

Scalpers only exist because people are stupid/desparate(why?) enough to buy from them.

There will always be a way around the rules unless the government actually criminalise the act.

aside from whether people are 'stupid' for paying the going rate for items in short supply ~ I think passing legislation to prevent essentially the simply most basic rule in any economy, supply & demand, could prove difficult.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Yes, so much so that nVidia are considering throwing away their scientist naming convention, next series is rumored to be named Scalpwell.

 

[montymint]

Governments are looking to step in, but the simple reality is that even if they take action nothing will get implemented soon, it will take time so they will be here to stay for at least another 12-18 months.

The main issue is simply supply though, its massively down and with BTC surging mining farms around the world are expanding which won't be helping matters either.

What can they do really? Once a person buys an item - it's theirs to do as they see fit. The free market dictates the current value on items, at the moment with supply being so poor the market trends upwards.

 

[willhub]

Rumor has it scalpers are targeting toilet roll and are going to mass buy and sell a single toilet roll for £10

 

[Mesai]

aside from whether people are 'stupid' for paying the going rate for items in short supply ~ I think passing legislation to prevent essentially the simply most basic rule in any economy, supply & demand, could prove difficult.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for a government to protect its people by implementing legislation for fair pricing, which only really works for businesses; you can't really stop an individual from listing something on Ebay for triple retail.

Again, they only exist because people are willing to pay inflated prices, but those same people then cannot complain as they're encouraging the act. I'd feel like an absolute fool if I paid 3090 money for a 3080.

 

[Durzel]

Governments are looking to step in, but the simple reality is that even if they take action nothing will get implemented soon, it will take time so they will be here to stay for at least another 12-18 months.

The main issue is simply supply though, its massively down and with BTC surging mining farms around the world are expanding which won't be helping matters either.

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.

 

[XeNoNF50]

says one of the bigger retail scalers for gpu's atm sorry couldn't resist

The retailers fuel it. If they sell to scalpers the availability decreases and price of the available products increases. This allows the retailers to then scalp for themselves. This ecosystem benefits the retailer and gives them more profit per item. There is no incentive for them to fix it.

 

[rolypolyman]

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.

That sir was very well put.

 

[XeNoNF50]

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.

+1 I agree

 

[FoxEye]

aside from whether people are 'stupid' for paying the going rate for items in short supply ~ I think passing legislation to prevent essentially the simply most basic rule in any economy, supply & demand, could prove difficult.

New user who continuously posts in defence of scalpers since joining.

How's the eBay business going then?

 

[pp111]

What can they do really? Once a person buys an item - it's theirs to do as they see fit. The free market dictates the current value on items, at the moment with supply being so poor the market trends upwards.

No it's not. If HMRC deem that it was sold for profit then they can tax the profit. With a company it is of course already taxed but many individual scalpers don't realise that they could be faced with a tax bill from HMRC at any time. Course HMRC can just slap you in court for tax avoidance if they really want to be miserable. And HMRC do troll places like ebay, especially if ebayers report the scalpers to them.

 

[montymint]

No it's not. If HMRC deem that it was sold for profit then they can tax the profit. With a company it is of course already taxed but many individual scalpers don't realise that they could be faced with a tax bill from HMRC at any time. Course HMRC can just slap you in court for tax avoidance if they really want to be miserable. And HMRC do troll places like ebay, especially if ebayers report the scalpers to them.

I did have a think about this.

Lets get one thing straight first - I do hate scalpers, merely poitning out you can't stop people scalping.

I agree wholeheartedly that scalpers should pay tax on items sold for profit, they're acting like a busniess after all. It's why I don;t take too much offense to store upping prices. I bought a 6800XT from OCUK for £80 over RRP and I'd do it again. OCUK (in this example) pay their fair share of taxes in the form of pay to staff and in corporation taxes. Jimmy the scalper flogging everything he can get his hands on does no such thing and offers me zero customer protection as it is a private sale.

I guess the only problem here is that scalpers lookign to avoid taxes could end up setting up an ltd and basically spending the profits as 'business expenses' or some other b/s.