As the return window for bought items nears, some Best Buy stores are now selling returned GeForce RTX 4090 cards at significantly discounted prices. It is presumed that at least some of these returned cards were bought for the purpose of reselling, or scalping, and have been returned by the buyers who feared losing money on them. A couple of these cards were spotted by Reddit user “u/n19htmare“, who posted an image of a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4090 Windforce with a $320 discount, and a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC with a $510 discount.
At a time when many are upset over the pricing for NVIDIA’s other recent offerings, the much talked about GeForce RTX 4080 with its $1,199 MSRP, and the recently launched GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at $799, getting the current flagship card at such discounts could be highly appealing. Both of these cards have been spotted sitting on store shelves in various parts of the world, which has largely been unprecedented for NVIDIA’s new releases since the pandemic began. The Reddit poster also noted that many such returned cards are actually still sealed when returned but Best Buy staff must open them for inspection hence why it has to be an “open-box” item. So even though these cards are returned items some could, in fact, be brand new and unused.
Zip codes, more discounts, and good luck
The downside is that such instances are limited to local, or regional stores, so those on the hunt need to plug in a zip code into the Best Buy portal to find them and hope for the best. It is also mentioned how some Best Buy discounts may apply to bring the price down even further. Other members on Reddit commented on how there has been a trend with cards like these appearing and then disappearing as various sales happen as well but they repeatedly remind folks that in order to find deals such as these, it does take work and luck. On a side note, this author was actually lucky enough to be in a Best Buy store and spotted a card being returned not long after the holidays, and was able to purchase it after it had been processed. Other than missing the original shrinkwrap, everything appeared to be brand new once it was home and unpacked.