Scalpers Already Prepare NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Listings, up to $7000 for "Guaranteed Slots"

[AleksandarK]

A day after the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 launch, scalpers are already in action to profit from the hype train. Many of these sellers on eBay claim to have "guaranteed" early access through connections with retailers, while others ask for astronomical prices that dwarf the rumored official MSRP. Currently, the graphics card is not widely available, yet eBay and similar sites list it at up to $7,000. Some individuals go so far as to promise customers "guaranteed slots" to secure the product, often with no refund or return policy. These tactics exploit consumer fear of missing out, especially after repeated GPU shortages and scalper-driven price hikes in recent years. NVIDIA has reportedly taken steps to manage supply, planning to "nitpick" distribution and limit bulk business-to-business sales, at least in some regions.

While these efforts may reduce scalping, other jurisdictions lack similar protections. Rumors from German outlets point to NVIDIA aiming to curb large-volume B2B purchases, but no equivalent strategy has been confirmed for markets like the United States or Asia. Interestingly, there are reports from Vietnam of select shops selling RTX 5080 cards before the launch date, heightening fears of a black market for the entire RTX 50 lineup. Additionally, some sellers have disclaimers that shift blame for any potential defects to manufacturers, leaving buyers with minimal recourse. E-commerce platforms typically permit dispute resolutions for damaged goods, rendering these disclaimers largely ineffective. Buying from scalpers encourages price hikes, and there are no guarantees of the product arriving/working, and there is no warranty for after-purchase care.



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[freeagent]

Line em up, knock em down.

I remember a few guys who were paying massive bucks for hard to come by GPU's during the pandemic and then posting here.

 

[Daven]

If we are going by slots, it should be $2000 for the FE and $4000 for AIB.

 

[GhostRyder]

I am really going to be curious how scalping goes this round. Because the performance jump is not that great (Not compared to the RTX 4XXX series at least) and there is not a major shortage like in the past. I hope this will be the end of scalping cards for awhile.

The only issue is that AI is so hot right now that people may pay it for those purposes like when people bought them for GPU mining.

 

[evernessince]

I laughed at the price. Even with my daily use of my GPU for local AI, there's 0 chance I'd spend anywhere near this much on a card. $7,000 is firmly enterprise level and I can only see business purchasing at this price.

 

[udidwht]

All to easy to shut these down. Just trace them and shut them down. Then provide them a hefty fine (one they'll never be able to pay).

 

[lexluthermiester]

Line em up, knock em down.

I remember a few guys who were paying massive bucks for hard to come by GPU's during the pandemic and then posting here.

Yeah, and they're just as foolish as the lot that will pay these moronic prices..

 

[Tomgang]

Stupid useless idiot scalpers. Hate them with a passion.

Well dosent matter. I'll keep my 4090. So im not in a rush to get a new card

But just a little word of advice. Don't buy a card from these greedy assholes. Don't support these low life scumbags

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well dosent matter. I'll keep my 4090. So im not in a rush to get a new card

You wouldn't benefit much from the upgrade anyway. So no, don't upgrade. I mean, is the 5090 better? Yes, but is it worth $2000+? No. For those who own a 4090, they're still sitting on a great preforming card.

 

[Tomgang]

You wouldn't benefit much from the upgrade anyway. So no, don't upgrade. I mean, is the 5090 better? Yes, but is it worth $2000+? No. For those who own a 4090, they're still sitting on a great preforming card.

Yeah its deffently a good card and less power hungry than 5090.

Further more upgrade to 5090 would also need a new platform. New cpu, motherboard and memory as my current 5950X would be a cpu bottleneck for a 5090.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

A fool and his money…

 

[lexluthermiester]

Further more upgrade to 5090 would also need a new platform. New cpu, motherboard and memory as my current 5950X would be a cpu bottleneck for a 5090

Not sure I can agree with that. Remember, the 5090 was tested with a 9800X3D, which is the gaming CPU king currently, but if you look at the reviews for it, the 5950X was within a few percent of it and not enough to matter to gaming. Either way, you are sitting on a primo system that needs no upgrade anytime soon.

 

[R0H1T]

Line em up, knock em down.

Better still.

Spoiler

 

[Tomgang]

Not sure I can agree with that. Remember, the 5090 was tested with a 9800X3D, which is the gaming CPU king currently, but if you look at the reviews for it, the 5950X was within a few percent of it and not enough to matter to gaming. Either way, you are sitting on a primo system that needs no upgrade anytime soon.

I can deffently tell you that 5950X would be a cpu bottleneck. Heck it some times bottleneck 4090.

I will go as far to say, if any one wants to use a RTX 5090 on a AM4 pc. They should not combine RTX 5090 with any other cpu´s than 5700X3D or 5800X3D

 

[Hyderz]

i wonder who's the real idiot?
the scalper charging 7k or the one buying it for 7k

 

[Tomgang]

i wonder who's the real idiot?
the scalper charging 7k or the one buying it for 7k

Good point. I´ll says they a both an idiot. For doing so and to pay so much.

 

[Random_User]

The reason why these RTX cards became such expensive, is due to prosumers, designers, content creators, AI crowd and other folks who were cheating, by buying gaming oriented cards for the work loads, for "cheap", instead of the ones designed for these specific workloads. Just because they wanted to avoid the nVidia premium tax.

Spoiler

And also helped nVidia to hypocritically substitute the sell of the gaming cards to the enterprise/miners/AI, and still report these as the gaming cards sold to gamers. The same applies to AMD as well, but this is not the point, as the AMD's amount of cards sold compare to dominant nVidia, is like drop in the ocean. Still AMD is as scummy.

Now these guys buy the nVidia already artificially overpriced cards, with cut down silicon for twice-several times over MSRP. At this point, they could buy the better Quadro/Tesla full die counterparts for not much more money.

 

[N3utro]

i wonder who's the real idiot?
the scalper charging 7k or the one buying it for 7k

It's just perspective. Some people in third world countries would call you the same for spending $30 in a restaurant or movie theatre as it's the equivalent of twice what they earn in a month.

Does that mean you are an idiot? No, because you earn enough money to make it unsignificant for you.

It's the same for people buying 7k GPUs, when you win 200k+ a year it doesnt matter.

 

[Denver]

It's just perspective. Some people in third world countries would call you the same for spending $30 in a restaurant or movie theatre as it's the equivalent of twice what they earn in a month.

Does that mean you are an idiot? No, because you earn enough money to make it unsignificant for you.

It's the same for people buying 7k GPUs, when you win 200k+ a year it doesnt matter.

It doesn’t matter whether I earn U$ 2,000 or 2m a month, I would never spend $7,000 on a toy unless it generates income for me. Any extra money I have goes toward building passive income streams and investing in healthier hobbies. Next question.

 

[tpuuser256]

kekw, can't believe scalpers even make a profit
to level the playing field should everybody use buying bots ? wtf

 

[lexluthermiester]

I can deffently tell you that 5950X would be a cpu bottleneck. Heck it some times bottleneck 4090.

I will go as far to say, if any one wants to use a RTX 5090 on a AM4 pc. They should not combine RTX 5090 with any other cpu´s than 5700X3D or 5800X3D

We're getting off topic, but I'll just say something isn't right. Your 5950X should not at all be bottlenecking your 4090, nor a 5090.

 

[Readlight]

Line em up, knock em down.

I remember a few guys who were paying massive bucks for hard to come by GPU's during the pandemic and then posting here.

Where is COVID now?

I think Germany is definitely buying them and gaming them with their green energy.

 

[Tomgang]

We're getting off topic, but I'll just say something isn't right. Your 5950X should not at all be bottlenecking your 4090, nor a 5090.

well it depends on what resolution and game engine used. I say exsample stalker 2 that is based on unreal engine 5. There my cpu is a botleneck. Specially at 1440P

in some areas i deep as low as 67 FPS. UE5 is notorious cpu heavy.

i will still reccoment using a 5700X3D/5800X3D with a rtx 4090 and speciallty a rtx 5090. If 5950X3D was a thing. I changed cpu.

it´s a mixed bag. some games cpu bottleneck and in others the GPU bottlenecks most.

 

[trsttte]

the scalper charging 7k or the one buying it for 7k

Obviously the one buying it, the scalper is just exploiting the rules of supply and demand lol. It's an awful practice but one can hardly be called an idiot for exploiting the market.

cheating, by buying gaming oriented cards for the work loads, for "cheap", instead of the ones designed for these specific workloads. Just because they wanted to avoid the nVidia premium tax

Cheating!? How is it cheating to use a product you bought in the way you want?!

 

[_roman_]

Those AM4 processors will cost you a lot of frames. Feel free to recommend AM4. I realised that already early 2023 and ditched my AM4 setup.

Gaming FPS - Numbers do not lie from a recent review: https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Benc...iste-Index-Gaming-2025-Fps-Vergleich-1464279/