Production hurdles aside, scalpers have made it especially difficult for enthusiasts to find this season’s hottest processors, graphics cards, and next-gen gaming consoles. While the incentive for this immorality is obvious, Oracle data engineer Michael Driscoll has shared a report that provides an idea of just how much bank scalpers are making.
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Processors
An analysis of listings and pricing trends for AMD Ryzen 5600X, Ryzen 5800X, Ryzen 5900X, and Ryzen 5950X “Zen 3” processors revealed total profits of $576,737 and total sales of $1,628,521.
| CPU Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Scalper/eBay Profits | Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5600X | $299 | 728 | $428 | $413 | $375 | $304 | $96,454 | $314,126 |
| 5800X | $449 | 633 | $589 | $545 | $558 | $457 | $93,715 | $377,932 |
| 5900X | $549 | 533 | $873 | $825 | $682 | $558 | $190,756 | $483,373 |
| 5950X | $799 | 322 | $1395 | $1275 | $987 | $812 | $195,812 | $453,090 |
AMD Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards
An analysis of listings and pricing trends for AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 “Big Navi” graphics cards revealed total profits of $201,694 and total sales of $477,930.
| GPU Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Scalper/eBay Profits | Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RX 6800 | $579 | 263 | $859 | $850 | $720 | $589 | $81,044 | $233,321 |
| RX 6800 XT | $649 | 191 | $1277 | $1247 | $807 | $660 | $120,650 | $244,609 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Graphics Cards
An analysis of listings and pricing trends for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3080, and GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards revealed total profits of $9,606,076 and total sales of $22,385,052.
| GPU Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Scalper/eBay Profits | Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3060 Ti | $399 | 112 | $649 | $649 | $498 | $406 | $22,948 | $67,636 |
| RTX 3070 | $499 | 4141 | $786 | $809 | $623 | $507 | $1,254,754 | $3,321,113 |
| RTX 3080 | $699 | 7222 | $1315 | $1250 | $869 | $711 | $5,278,707 | $10,326,885 |
| RTX 3090 | $1499 | 3749 | $2250 | $2017 | $1849 | $1523 | $3,049,667 | $8,669,418 |
Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S Consoles
An analysis of listings and pricing trends for Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles revealed total profits of $10,091,369 and total sales of $23,586,474.
| Console Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Scalper/eBay Profits | Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series S | $299 | 6863 | $469 | $500 | $385 | $304 | $1,481,654 | $3,533,691 |
| Xbox Series X | $499 | 22932 | $865 | $895 | $639 | $507 | $8,609,715 | $20,052,783 |
PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition Consoles
An analysis of listings and pricing trends for Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition consoles revealed total profits of $19,036,493 and total sales of $34,753,329.
| Console Graph | MSRP | Total Sold | Median Price | Past Week Median Price | Casual Scalper Break Even | Sophisticated Scalper Break Even | Scalper/eBay Profits | Total Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS5 Digital | $399 | 7322 | $937 | $1025 | $516 | $406 | $4,294,061 | $7,215,539 |
| PS5 Disc | $499 | 25642 | $1021 | $1101 | $642 | $507 | $14,742,432 | $27,537,790 |
“In short, scalpers have made $82 million in sales, $39 million in profit since September on just these 14 products on eBay,” Driscoll summarized. “But let’s not forget eBay and PayPal, taking in $6.6 million and $2.4 million, respectively, in fees for providing the platform and payment options.”
The Verge also conducted a similar exercise to ascertain the true cost of AMD, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Sony’s latest tech. The most expensive item is NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090, whose street price is $2,076, followed by AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT at $1,232.
PS5, Xbox, GPU Street Prices: Holiday 2020
| Item | Retail Price | Street Price |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 (disc) | $499 | $1,024 |
| PS5 (digital) | $399 | $990 |
| Xbox Series X | $499 | $835 |
| Xbox Series S | $299 | $471 |
| Nvidia RTX 3090 | $1,499 | $2,076 |
| Nvidia RTX 3080 | $699 | $1,227 |
| Nvidia RTX 3070 | $499 | $819 |
| Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti | $399 | $675 |
| AMD RX 6800 XT | $649 | $1,232 |
| AMD RX 6800 | $579 | $841 |
Recent News
These people are scum.
I wonder how long until people start ordering scalped cards just to get the scalpers addresses and then vandalize their homes…
…or worse.
[QUOTE=”Zarathustra, post: 25184, member: 203″]
These people are scum.
I wonder how long until people start ordering scalped cards just to get the scalpers addresses and then vandalize their homes…
[/QUOTE]
That’s a horrible ([I]great[/I]) idea
[QUOTE=”Brian_B, post: 25191, member: 96″]
That’s a horrible ([I]great[/I]) idea
[/QUOTE]
To be clear, I’d never do such a thing.
(I’d laugh if it happened though)
It’s ebay buyer protection. Order scalped card. Return current card and claim that isnwhat was shipped. Profit?
Those big companies should just make a deal with E-bay and the likes to not allow sales of new tech products for 3-6 months after release and the problem will become a lot smaller
There are 8.4 million reasons why that will never happen.
This article says a few things…..
7200 3080 sold by D-Bags vs 190 6800 XT. Either AMD didn’t make any stock or actual customers bought them…….or no market for them in D-Bag land.
[QUOTE=”magoo, post: 25243, member: 244″]
This article says a few things…..
7200 3080 sold by D-Bags vs 190 6800 XT. Either AMD didn’t make any stock or actual customers bought them…….or no market for them in D-Bag land.
[/QUOTE]
No the markup on 6800 xt’s is like 3-4x where as the markup for the 3080’s is like 50%. I have NO CLUE why but that’s just looking…
Ok not that bad I’m seeing them for 1050 now. I suppose once Cyberpunk 2077 came out hype died down as people were not in a hurry to get one once they realized the 20 series played the game fine.
[QUOTE=”magoo, post: 25243, member: 244″]
This article says a few things…..
7200 3080 sold by D-Bags vs 190 6800 XT. Either AMD didn’t make any stock or actual customers bought them…….or no market for them in D-Bag land.
[/QUOTE]
Or, you know, Nvidia had a 2 month headstart, but yeah, AMD availability is even worse here then Nvidia’s was.
I don’t know why if the manufacturer has limited supply they don’t just have a pricing structure similar to what scalpers are doing. First week they are rediculous priced, second week it comes down some, etc, etc until it’s at MSRP. AMD/AIB’s profit, scalpers have no room left the buy, if you really want one, you can get one with warranty albeit at a price. Sure people will be upset as those with money will get them before those without, but that’s the world and that’s how it’s going now anyways.