Just as Nvidia warned it would happen, the GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards have all effectively sold out online. The next inevitable step is for the scalper bots to swoop in and offer these already expensive GPUs for astronomical prices. However, instead of finding the normal slate of resellers on eBay, the most prominent 5090 listings are trying to screw the bots by selling them a photo of the cards instead.
While the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 is in hot demand, the $2,000 5090 is taking the biggest beating. Some in-person and online stores reportedly only had a few cards on hand to sell, and these went fast. Micro Centers across the U.S. gave vouchers to the first few people to get in line in person. Online, RTX 5090 stocks are even more dire. On the popular components site Newegg (via PCWorld), every AIM card for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 is listed as out of stock. That includes everything from the $1,000 cards to the $2,500 Gigabyte Aorus RTX 5090.
Nvidia previously warned that RTX 5080 and 5090 stocks would be low. Either way, the scarcity has caused mass confusion for prospective buyers. The limited Jan. 30 launch created mass consternation among customers worldwide. Images on the r/Nvidia subreddit show prospective customers lining up in the U.S., UK, Japan, and elsewhere to get their hands on the new GPUs despite the January cold.
The next step would be the scalper’s listings, but the first page of RTX 5090 on the reselling site is full of RTX 5090 listings. One RTX 5090 sold for $6,000 the same day of the cards’ launch, Jan. 30. However, there is a spot of light in the void that is RTX scalping. Gizmodo found that the front page of RTX 5090 listings is full of fake 5090 cards meant to scam bots. Some of these listings implore prospective buyers to “Read the Description” or ask any “Humans” to check the listing before hitting buy.
Some listings include the description, “You will receive a photo of the RTX 5090. You will NOT receive the product.” Another reads, “Do not buy if human; this is for bots only!… You will only receive a printed paper picture of the 5090.”
Gizmodo reached out to some of these eBay accounts. The eBay profiles, who asked to remain anonymous, told us their listing wasn’t a concerted effort on behalf of any specific PC gamer community. They said they individually hoped to beat back the scalper rush that seems more and more inevitable with every major hardware release. One account holder told us it was “disgusting what scalpers do and their control over consumers.”
It’s unclear how well this works. One eBay seller noted that a person placed an order and then asked to cancel, indicating that it wasn’t a bot who bought one. We strongly suggest people don’t follow in these eBay sellers’ footsteps. You’ll likely fool a naive or desperate GPU buyer rather than any scalper bot.
If anything, anti-scalpers’ work indicates how terrible the bot situation has become with every new hardware release. Companies’ attempts to beat scalpers have largely failed, especially if the product has limited quantities. When Sony released limited quantities of the special PS1-styled PlayStation 5 Pro, it tried to force customers through a website attached to their PlayStation account. Unfortunately for Sony and hungry PS5 customers, scalpers sold the devices at enormously inflated prices.
The only consistent way to beat the scalpers is to have enough supply at launch to meet demand. Nintendo has promised it won’t suffer the same fate with its upcoming Switch 2, but we’ll have to see it to believe it. Nvidia could have avoided this SNFAU by delaying the cards’ release to improve the stock. However, it’s too late, and the genie is out of the bottle. We suggest you not spend $6,000 or more on a graphics card. The RTX 5090 sure looks like fun, but we all still need to wait for CPU hardware and gaming software to catch up before we see the true capabilities of these latest GPUs.
