Scalping at retail - The UK Retailer that tried to charge £3000 for an RTX 3080 Ti...

looz said:

I don't see the point in actual outrage over PC components, they're essentially a luxory item. This behaviour will continue as long as there's more demand than supply. I see scalpers more as an option for people with more money than sense (or patience). Nobody is forced to buy GPUs, and there's a massive backlog of games which don't require current generation hardware.

Then again, I'm quite happy with my current setup, I guess I might be more miffed if that wasn't the case.

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looz said:

I don't see the point in actual outrage over PC components, they're essentially a luxory item. This behaviour will continue as long as there's more demand than supply. I see scalpers more as an option for people with more money than sense (or patience). Nobody is forced to buy GPUs, and there's a massive backlog of games which don't require current generation hardware.

Then again, I'm quite happy with my current setup, I guess I might be more miffed if that wasn't the case.

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But from the way I see it, that logic only takes you so far. An inability to control spending can be considered a mental disorder by some psychologists. 5.8% of US citizens are reported to have a form of this. Obviously not all desperate gamers have a mental disorder, but the point is, taking advantage of desperation is like charging $5 for 100ml of water during a drought to impoverished children. To a hypothetical 'first world person', a new GPU might be all that they have to feel happy, even for a moment. Someone works gruelling office hrs and is in debt to an Audi dealership and to the bank for their £300k flat in London. They take steroids to look better and drink caffeine to stay awake. He's miserable until he gets a dopamine rush after buying. Or you've got streamers who are desperate for the a new GPU in order to wow their dwindling audience and garner a few more subscribers. Or you've got people who do nothing but play video games. They live off social welfare in their parent's house and save every little penny they have on gaming. It's all they have and all they are.

All these scenarios could be considered cases of extreme unhappiness and desperation. These are potential candidates for buying a GPU for £3k. CCL and others are taking advantage of that. Maybe it's a bit extreme of me to say, but it feels like we're approaching the stages of selling a model phone to a kid with autism in the corridor at school. Or selling water at exorbitant prices in drought. Sure, there's a shortage, but selling it at a gross profit causes desperate people to do desperate things. It then becomes a social issue. It's not JUST "people with more money than sense (or patience)". There's more to it than that I think.

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looz said:

I don't really get that point of view. If GPUs were all reasonably priced, they'd probably buy mechanical wrist watches - when Quartz watches are objectively better. With today's economy there will always be a way for such spenders to scratch their itch. What they need is professional help instead of the whole market to turn its course to become unhealthy spender safe.

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WYP said:

Have been hearing on Twitter that CCL is calling OC3D clickbaiters over this, claiming that they don't have stock to sell and that their prices were placeholders and wouldn't have been used.

Doesn't explain them hiding the prices on their site, and how they have RTX 3080 Ti product in their pre-builds. That means that they have product.

https://twitter.com/tinytomlogan/status/1400424280408707084

Shortly after TTL posted this, all of CCL's RTX 3080 Ti "Coming Soon" listings disappeared. Presumably to move product to pre-builds. If they need to save face by not selling at extortionate prices, they may as well use the cards to sell a whole system' worth of components.

These are my opinions based on how I saw things go down earlier this week. \

CCL is sending DMs to folks that ask saying bad things about us. The fact that they are not doing so publically is telling, as it prevents us from responding.

Anyways, I think that is enough insider talk for now.

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Dawelio said:

Haha I love it, simply put - You caught them with their pants down for not being morally correct to their customers. Now they act like children, trying to get back at you for catching them on their act. How low, immature and unprofessional of them.

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NeverBackDown said:

You're saying this as someone who has a RTX 3080 in their signature... little ironic tbh :huh:

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looz said:

That's a fair point to make - I got it at near MSRP (870€). I wouldn't pay more.In fact I felt like an ass for paying that much for a GPU.



I don't find today's prices reasonable.

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TheF34RChannel said:

Used to be a respectable shop, now they're shamelessly scalping: www.alternate.nl €2700+ euro.

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Dark NighT said:

Almost all shops in the netherlands have insane high pricing, check Tweakers.nl, Alternate isnt just the only one and given the nature of supply and demand we all know rare stuff gets more and more expensive, not defending any of the shops, just plain and simple truth, its disgusting, i hate it but thats where we are now.

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Warchild said:

We wouldnt be there if consumers actually had some form of willpower. Its turning pathetic how weak willed some are these days in the race to have the latest and greatest at any cost.

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