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In a few mins you will have a chance to grab a 6800 or 3060Ti

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Associate
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So are the prices we're seeing now, which are another £100-£200 on top of those AIB rrp's, completely opportunistic? Whether that is the AIBs, the distributers or the retailers taking that opportunity, who knows. I think its more likely to be distributor or retailer side though, but there is probably competition between retailers and distributors to get stock so the AIBs might be taking advantage of that who knows.

If the price increases we're seeing represent genuine increases to costs, for example more expensive shipping, then its justifiable. BUt if they don't, then really its exploitation, because the margins were perfectly fine for those businesses to make a profit on before, and now they've upped them just because they can.

Good points well written and I suspect its a combination of both in different places. I'm still surprised to see at least one store with what I feel are respectable prices ( for now ), but they rarely get stock ( like most places ) and it seems in my experience very hard to actually buy from them. I'm wondering just how much longer they stick with those prices when its clear you can charge more. It will be interesting to monitor a couple of places to see what happens to the prices, and see if some are just ahead of the curve or if there really is gouging going on.

Also thinking about it, what will happen a couple of years down the line. I think its clear current prices are inflated for various reasons and demand is high, so will the current gen of gpu's be a glut on the second hand market in a few years, probably holding their value very badly compared to previous gens?
 
Associate
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Well I cracked and bought a Sapphire Rx 6800 Pulse after telling myself that I wouldn't pay over Msrp and wait until later in the year to see if the prices settled down. :D

I reckon its not to bad for a more premium model after Sapphire hiked up their Msrps in Europe.

The other thing is that I will probably get a better price for my Rtx 2080 on the bay so it should balance out the extra for the Rx 6800.

No more struggling on 45 fps in Assassins Creed!
 
Soldato
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While I respect those who are commenting about getting MSRP or not buying and that up until yesterday I was one of those, it dawned on me that it is highly likely we will never see MSRP prices for these cards and that the current mark-ups are here to stay. I'll explain my reasoning below, but the main point i'd like to make is that if you were like me and playing the waiting game because cards were £50-£100 more than your personal limit ( either morally or financially ) then I'm afraid you'll not going to be getting a card for at least 3-6 months maybe longer, maybe not even this generation, with the one exception of being lucky and bagging a FE or finding a store that isn't marking up and beating the bots. Though honestly if you were going to get lucky, wouldn't that have happened already?

Please note i'm not telling anyone to buy at inflated prices, just a word of caution that I realized waiting another month or two or more for the sake of saving £50-£100 was just no longer worth it as i'd easily get back that value in use of the card for that period. For other people that point will be at different prices and this really only applies to 3060ti as other cards are even more inflated!

For example, yesterday I begrudgingly purchased the Zotac 3060ti for £500, way over what my limit was when these cards were first released, but that limit was from two months back. While you can find some stores selling at £50-£100 cheaper than ocuk, I actually tried ordering two at 5am this morning when they popped up and was still beaten to them by other people or bots. Sure if i'd got them i would have been unhappy paying the price for the Zotac, but as I didn't and have never even got close to buying any card in the last 3 months it just seems like i'm wasting more of my time, which can easily add up to be worth more than the premium I paid here ( not that i'm happy about the premium ).

This morning I also had a look at a famous auction site and to my surprise i'm finding average price for a 3060ti is about £650!. There are some items for less but they have days left of bidding on them and of course there were a whole bunch of photo's being sold too! I didn't watch anything specific so no idea if they are actually 'sold' at those prices, but point is for 3060's at least second hand market is still way more than the prices here and shows just how high the price can go.

The problem is we are in a perfect storm we have so many new consumer electronics coming out at the same time, in a year where global manufacturing and shipments have taken a hammering due to pandemic. I keep reading about companies complaining that a container of goods used to cost £1700 and now costs £10,000. In the UK we've of course had Brexit and that has led to all sorts of problems, increased costs, delays etc and since they never bothered to sort it out before the problems I don't see them sorting it out too quickly now. Not to mention the mining boom and other demands on supply. Then there is actual demand, driven in gpu market i'd say be lacklusture 2000 series and people holding onto old cards for longer, mixed in with some people having more disposable income as they haven't gone on holiday and all the money saved not going out over the last year.

This in my mind means extremely high demand, coupled with greater amount of disposable income, yet with less stock being manufactured and shipped. Sadly this will only be addressed once supply increases or demand drops and its here that I've come to realized we are in for many more months of this as there is no signs of it changing. At this point i'd even argue that its likely not going to happen before the end of the year at least in the UK as there are too many factors to resolve quickly. Sure we might all be vaccinated come late summer, but that will only be the start of the process back to normality it will take months to actually happen.

I mean prices seem to go up quickly in high demand/low supply situations, but i get the feeling they wont drop back anywhere near as quick, not unless supply grows massively and manufactures/distributors/shops need to clear there warehouses.

So sure if you want or need to hold on to a MSRP or lower limit go ahead, you might get lucky, but to do so you'll have to invest a large amount of your time. I just realized my time is worth more than the premium we are currently seeing and that I suspect we will not see any changes back to normality for many months if at all.

I will add whilst i'm impressed with how well ocuk apparently managed to distribute these cards to genuine customers due to holding onto stock, it has left a sour taste in my mouth that they seem to have added a premium on top of the price they would have paid to get them as they have had many 100's or 1000's of cards for weeks even a month. They are of course free to do what they want but its definitely lowered my opinion.

Nice post, totally agree with what youre saying. And I think you're right about all the factors underpinning this. Ultimately its easy to say "well its 'only' another £100". Most people earn enough that that is not really a problem, and most people here are adults with jobs, not kids with pocket money.

But where does it stop? Some people will say it will naturally stop at the point the market will tolerate, and that is true. However, because some people can pay more, this obviously prices out a lot of others. In terms of margin, a retailer has to balance its reputation and long term morals with current pressures and desires for more returns. Its easy to say also that GPUs are not an essential product and therefore it doesn't matter so much if people can't afford them then just don't buy them. But there is a bigger question of equal opportunity in this as well, because computing availability is one of the things that defines quality of life and poverty I believe. Its not good for products such as computing equipment (generally) to only be available to the elite. Take mining as an example of this. The more miners earn, the more capital they have, the more GPUs they can buy up to earn more crypto, the more that dries up supplies and raises prices for others who then won't have that opportunity to do the same. When the barriers to entry are too high, that is not good for society generally.

For example, if OCUK were taking advantage of inflated GPU prices right now from people who do have the cash, but at the same time they were helping to supply charities and schools with old gear, then you could say its a bit of a Robin Hood scenario going on, which is ok. People wouldn't want to pay more, but you could at least take heart that the company was giving something back. This whole social value thing is going to become a bigger part of companies in the future, its already gaining traction in utilities.

Its easy to say Im overthinking it and it just is what it is, fair enough, but it is possible to make parallels from what's happening here to other types of commodity. Ultimately, no matter what the product, its not good for it to be available only to the elite.
 
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Soldato
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Chances of getting one is still slim after some dumb **** keeps posting gibbos updates on Facebook groups

Mate all the main sites have the info before Gibbo puts the cards on. Many desperate people justify the purchase in their minds so they sell out quickly. Once more retailers start getting stock then things might settle down but that could be a couple of months away.
 
Associate
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At least with a retailer you're not buying second-hand and getting no warranty. Still insane markup but it is what it is, and I'd rather it go to retailers than to scalpers
 
Caporegime
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At least with a retailer you're not buying second-hand and getting no warranty. Still insane markup but it is what it is, and I'd rather it go to retailers than to scalpers
Yeah, scalpers *remove* value in that you lose consumer rights, right to return, etc. In some cases lose the manufacturer warranty (100% if the scalper doesn't give you the original receipt, etc).

If prices were the same, you'd buy from the retailer every single time. Not because you like the price, but because at least you have consumer rights! And are protected from defects, faulty cards, etc.

Scalpers just make everything worse in every conceivable way.
 
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Mate all the main sites have the info before Gibbo puts the cards on. Many desperate people justify the purchase in their minds so they sell out quickly. Once more retailers start getting stock then things might settle down but that could be a couple of months away.
Don't know where you're coming from.
Gibbo told us first, then it was leaked.
A purchase is justified if you have the money and the need to have the item.
Prices will stay high for a while before retailers reduce the price. Stock will have to hang around for at least two weeks before any reduction.

My two cents on the whole thing: When it comes to mining, having a slightly overpriced card is better than nothing.
 
Associate
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Nice post, totally agree with what youre saying. And I think you're right about all the factors underpinning this. Ultimately its easy to say "well its 'only' another £100". Most people earn enough that that is not really a problem, and most people here are adults with jobs, not kids with pocket money.

Thanks and you're right about the 'only' part, hence emphasizing that it was personal price point for me, in fact as its for my business its not even really 'my' money, but the companies, though that doesn't mean I don't like to try and get good value. But as you go on to say the problem is for those who don't have that option. Though gpu inflation has been happening for almost a decade now (IMHO) and this last year has just escalated it to silly levels, that i'm honestly not even sure we'll return from, not unless demand dramatically drops of next gen and manufactures over-produce.

Ultimately this has no limit, i've known people who've invested more than the cost of a new car into their PC/simulator setups, more money than sense, or more money than they can spend. However they are a tiny segment of the overall market, so realistically there is going to be a limit, and think currently that will be dictated by miners. When miners can no longer easily turn a profit from a new gpu purchase that will be a hard limit. Sadly for most of us enthusiasts or just simple gamers that limit likely massively exceeds what we are comfortable with. At this point I would not be surprised to see prices stabilize at the point they are now for several months and that is going to price way too many people out and even prevent new comers from even getting a new PC. The fact nvidia are re-introducing last gen cards at apparently close to next gen prices makes a mockery of everything!

Ultimately, no matter what the product, its not good for it to be available only to the elite.

Indeed, but sadly I don't see there is anything that can be or will be done at this point, maybe next year will be better.
 
Soldato
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Glad I bought my Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT NITRO+ OC yesterday at £859.99 because tonight its up to £899.99 and that would have pushed me out. Cant wait to get it now.

I actually cancelled mine and also put my 5700XT up on the auction site. It's already got a £440 bid and will probably go for over £500. Reverting back to my old R9 390 for now.
 
Caporegime
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I had my vega 56 on ebay (for £300 as they were going for £350+) but pulled it to sell for a lesser amount here. Ultimately for the sake of £80/100, it wasn't worth the potential hassle of an ebay scammer wanting to claim money back down the line. Sadly ebay will always side with the buyer even if you have put down no returns :(

Can't complain though, bought the vega 56 in Dec 2018 for £250 and sold it for £225 in the end and put that towards a £650 3080 fe so essentially the 3080 only cost me £406 (sold cod on for £19)
 
Soldato
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Nice! What you upgrading from?

Im going from a Power Color 5700XT Red Devil its still a cracking card, but I want something thats a bit more capable at 4K as I game on a 55" LG CX Oled. The 5700XT is great at 1440p alongside my Ryzen 5600X mind, solid. So that card will be going in my second PC wich has a B450 msi tomahawk max and a Ryzen 3600 in it so im going to have two cracking systems. And out of the 2nd pc comes a Sapphire RX570 8gig Nitro+ card still a great card but i may sell on.
 
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