author: Michael Kulakowski
MSI Scalped Its Own RTX 3090 GPUs on eBay
Gamers discovered that MSI scalped its own GeForce RTX 3090 and 3080 models, selling them at increased price on eBay. The highly sought-after GPUs were offered by one of the company's sales divisions.
The GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 GPUs are currently among the hottest and most sought after devices on the computer hardware market. These extremely attractive chipsets are currently very difficult to find in normal sale and, as we already know, this situation will not change quickly. The extraordinary interest in Nvidia's new GPUs is exploited by all sorts of scalpers trading in auction websites. However, few would expect the chipset manufacturers themselves to be engaged in such a practice.
A Reddit user discovered that MSI sold RTXs they themselves had produced on eBay through the account of their partner Starlit Partner. This account belongs to a branch of the company of the same name, which deals in direct retail sales of computer hardware.
Shortly after the whole thing became known, MSI published an official statement. According to the company, there was an error in the storage system. As a result, Starlit Partner was given access to an inventory of new cards, which it promplty used, putting them up for sale at significantly increased prices. All affected customers are to receive a refund.
How much truth is there in MSI's statement will certainly remain unresolved. One thing is for sure, the RTX cards sold through Starlit Partner's account have been selling like hot cakes, and customers have been eager to pay for them. The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio card was available for $1359, which is $600 more than its normal retail price.
One of the models put up on sale by Starlit. All RTX 3000 cards have already disappeared from the retailer's catalog.