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Comment by cronix | Hacker News Reader

Off topic, but for those still wanting a new GPU the trick to still buying these cards at MSRP, and actually get one, is to utilize a custom built PC service and buy a new PC. Cheap out on all parts except the GPU. Then keep the good GPU, slap your old one in the "new" computer and sell the machine on ebay. That's how I got my 3090 in November. It was actually a bit cheaper than MSRP as I made a bit more on the PC on ebay than I paid for it and it took less than a week to get the custom pc and 2 days to sell the new one.

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Ah, good advice. That gives me an even better ROI for my eth mining!

But how are the system integrators able to get GPUs at listed prices when nobody else is?

Delivery contracts make them first in line.

Why don't scalpers or miners sign up for the same contracts?

Presumably they (scalpers and miners) are not buying in large enough bulk orders, far enough in advance.

I saw a picture on Reddit of a wall stacked high with 3060’s. In the comments, the poster mentioned he placed a bulk order, the downside was it took a while.

Right - if they're reselling easily for massively over manufacturer price why isn't everyone placing these orders?

It probably took a while for the person on Reddit to get their order because they got it from a distributor who was filling all of their higher priority customers first. I bet Dell isn't even getting theirs from a distributor, I'd guess they get them directly from the manufacturer. There's a hierarchy to retail sales, and I'm sure even large miners aren't near the top of it.

Yup. I imagine it's similar to the inventory shortfalls ledger experienced a few years ago during the cryptocurrency price runup. I made a nice chunk of change placing bulk orders from Ledger, waiting a month for them to ship, and forwarding them to Amazon to resell.

For the same reason anything that's profitable remains profitable for a while: It's risky to enter and there is a barrier to entry.

They get them the same way Alienware or Best Buy does, rather than buying them at retail

This is a market inefficiency. These companies could be reselling the video cards without doing the extra work of putting together a full PC and everyone would be better off - you don’t have to resell parts as “used”, the company doesn’t have to ship you parts you don’t want, both of you don’t have to pay taxes on stuff nobody wants.

There's a 0% chance that Nvidia would allow them resell graphics cards. These cards are earmarked for specific OEM purposes. None of those companies want to bring down Nvidia's wrath on them, either.

They can't actually stop them can they? Right of first sale.

Or is there some custom in the supply chain by which these firms waive that right for priority in sourcing? In which case, this sounds like an unethical buisness practice solely intended to create market inefficiencies...

Or is there something else to it?

They can stop selling to them.

>There's a 0% chance that Nvidia would allow them resell graphics cards.

There is a difference between unilateral refusal to sell, and selling on condition of non resale. As far as I am aware, the practice of conditional sale like that isn't actually backed by any legal teeth outside the realm of a contract. Once you buy the thing, it is yours. Now the contract could cover the primacy of sourcing, but not the item itself, which would have the same badic effect I suppose.

Believe it or not, "we just won't sell to them" is a surefire way to stir up trouble, because then people start asking pesky questions like "why?", and if the answer given isn't satisfactory, leads to going about and collecting data; turning it into a public interest sort of thing. There is no way that blacklisting sales without a darn good reason is ever a good thing.

> Believe it or not, "we just won't sell to them" is a surefire way to stir up trouble

Companies are free to negotiate terms (prices, delivery guarantees, priorities, etc.) for selling things how they like, generally. If it's in their best interest to not sell to someone, or to charge them higher rates / offer fewer discounts, that's what they'll do.

Never said that wasn't the case. What I said was that making that choice has a tendency to get people talking, and people talking effects the brand. Especially if reprters for whatever reason turn it into a public interest story.

They're effectively giving them a price below the going market rate though, and they can choose to raise that price any time. It would be more messed up for the govt to step in and insist they need to continue selling at their arbitrary MSRP well below the resale value, though I suppose anything is possible.

Yeah, no. It'd be laughed out of the court because Nvidia's reputation and brand among gamers would get hurt because of the short supply to them and if Nvidia selling to PC OEMs who are selling the cards at a huge markup or to miners. Thus, Nvidia has both the breach of contract plus public interest on their side.

They can stop selling GPUs to these OEMs or just deprioritize their contracts as a less extreme option.

These companies can earn higher margin by selling complete PC rather than just selling video card.

That’s really solid advice, thanks for sharing it! I’m not in the market for a new card at the moment but I’m sure there will be many other people here who can benefit.

That’s a lot of work. And shipping PCs is pretty risky and expensive. I’ve found buying the cards from Facebook Marketplace for a little over MSRP to be easier - although you’ll likely be supporting a scalper.

Interesting.

You can also do this somewhat risk-free if you either first sell on ebay, before actually buying the computer, or if you sell on ebay within the return period of wherever you bought the computer.

That way if you don't find a buyer at the desired price, you're just back to square one, and not stuck with hardware you don't need.

How does that work with shipping times though?

I bought an art skateboard that had production problems (wont ship out to original buyers TBD) but it's already listed on ebay from scalpers.

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