News Best Buy Locks Nvidia RTX GPUs Behind Obscene $200 Paywall

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
First, 15-25% EU VAT taxes are a huge contributor ... There are several other reasons that cascade down from the above, and it all adds up to why you, being in an EU nation, pay outrageous prices for your computer tech hardware ... So saying we are spoiled is a completely non-starter for the discussion. I hope this helps clear things up for you.
Probably the confounding factor when comparing prices between the US and EU is the inclusion of taxes in the headline price in the EU, but not in the US. Looking at the prices on PC Part Picker, the excl-VAT UK prices for the i5-11400 and i5-12400 are broadly in line with the US prices (around $5 higher). However, looking at the prices for RTX 3080's, there is substantially more variance, with some models being $500+ cheaper in the UK and Germany than US, whereas others are $200+ more expensive than in the US.

Historically speaking, multi-national companies have "taken the mickey" with pricing in past - when £1 was worth $2, it wasn't uncommon for companies to just switch the currency symbol from $ to £, making them more-or-less twice the price here compared to the US (yes they have some additional costs, but nowhere near the difference seen - this was debunked in detail by the LSE) - this probably explains some antipathy towards the tech companies and perceived pricing differences.
 
Last edited:

Heat_Fan89

Reputable
Jul 13, 2020
440
211
5,090
Listen either except these games or do something. This" who cares about the consumer mentality" is something companies have been doing a while, from unfinished games, to bugs etc., quality issues, from straight up lies in marketing. The consumer who has no patience & wants instant gratification is why it will continue chipping away at the og gamer model. There is no honor & people cannot stick together. All it takes is enough people to band together & take back the direction of gaming, but it won't happen because the new batch of gamers, just don't care about any of it. All these companies are only in it for money first, very rarely is the consumer the first to please. Only mass action will change all of it, so either start fighting back these soul suckers or tuck the jewels in and throw the Vaseline away because these companies are only going to drill it in more.
I agree and what's worse is that the laws are there to protect these types of practices. Go and purchase an unfinished, buggy game from a store and try and take it back. Chances are they won't because it's been opened. I remember there was a Tennis game that was pretty bad because it was unfinished and buggy. The Publisher just laughed it off saying those units (hundreds of thousands) were already sold to retail and they could not be returned.
 
Feb 14, 2022
2
1
10
And this is where people who are writing articles other people should read really should be doing their homework.
For anyone who has been trying to get these graphics cards in the last year and a half, they have probably become familiar with a repeating frustration. They came into stock, they were sold out in a single day, and maybe 20% of the people in line were legit costumers. My roommate and I know this story all too well. We have been following it for months trying to get our own.

My roommate is a computer builder with lots of connections and follows a lot of the news in what is happening surrounding tech. And he has seen first hand where those graphics cards are ending up. The vast majority are going on eBay and other such sites for sometimes twice their market value because scalpers are paying off mules to stand in line and buy the graphics cards first.

We have been to various Best Buys in our local area, and it has been the same for all of them. We have talked to many different employees at different locations. The vast majority of their cards are being flipped by scalpers, among other things. Most of their legitimate customers don't ever see one. And they are one of the companies who have been trying to find a means to push back. Some game companies are going back to selling in bundles only for ticket items, some are talking about setting up proof of legitimate playtime accounts for digital content, and even selling platforms have been discussing limiting certain kinds of items to market resell values only.
Best Buy has been trying to figure out their own ways to nip the issue in the bud. So far the idea seems to be hoping scalpers will not want to pay an additional membership for every single one of their mules to be able to get the cards.

If you have been following these kinds of issues at all, you should know this problem has grown exponentially in the last few years. It was bad before, but there has been a major surge in product unavailability in recent years despite product being delivered to sellers. It has also been effecting the sells of games and systems at the department store I work at, and all of our local game sellers in the area. The newest Switch models have been one of such items. PS5s were last Christmas.

Before you go making a damaging report, try to find out more of the story. I for one have no problem paying for Total Tech with all of the incentives it offers to a legitimate customer if it means customers can get the products they are after. I am not angry at Best Buy for this, I am angry at the damn scalpers who are forcing companies to have to change how they do business.
 
Feb 14, 2022
2
1
10
Or better yet, DON'T require TT and require people walk into the store and buy a card in person, limit one per customer. No one would object to that and they would sell out of cards in an hour.
The problem is, they were already doing this for ticket items. Do you know what happened? Most of the items were bought by scalper mules and showed up listed at huge mark ups on eBay and the like the next day. My roommate knows, he's a computer builder who's been watching this stuff like a hawk.
Happened with all of the Oculus Rift S the first year they came out.
Despite employees best efforts to try and guess who is a mule, you can't get them all without potentially denying a legitimate customer.

The department store I work for has been having the same problem and so has every Game Stop in our area. They are talking about selling future systems in bundles to discourage mules from buying them. Remains to be seen if they will pony up the extra cash and just toss the lower selling games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: digitalgriffin

bigdragon

Distinguished
Oct 19, 2011
1,107
547
20,160
The vast majority are going on eBay and other such sites for sometimes twice their market value because scalpers are paying off mules to stand in line and buy the graphics cards first.
Can confirm. This has been observed in Maryland at Best Buy and Microcenter. At Best Buy, they're so brazen as to have the mules all drop their loot into the same vehicle sitting in the parking lot -- usually a luxury SUV. It's a complete and total waste of time to try and acquire any sort of gaming equipment from these retailers if you're an individual user wanting a source of entertainment.

Before you go making a damaging report, try to find out more of the story. I for one have no problem paying for Total Tech with all of the incentives it offers to a legitimate customer if it means customers can get the products they are after. I am not angry at Best Buy for this, I am angry at the damn scalpers who are forcing companies to have to change how they do business.
That's not how this works. There's even someone earlier in this thread saying they signed up for TT and didn't get one of the exclusive GPUs. Then you have others on Reddit and Twitter boasting about buying several GPUs -- all different models -- as part of the Best Buy sale. TT is as useless as Amazon Prime is when it comes to trying to route gaming products to gamers. Zero effort is made to separate the gamers from the scalpers, so the scalpers just get hit with a relatively minor tax on their purchases while gamers face a huge markup by way of the membership requirement.

Everyone I know who wanted a PS5 now has one because they were able to sign up through Sony direct with a PSN account. Apparently Sony is using PSN account gaming history, friends lists, trophies, and other data to discern gamers from scalper accounts. Sony did it right. Best Buy and Amazon are just taking advantage of the situation by layering on a membership fee. Then we have scam companies like Newegg who think it's totally fine to charge $1000+ for a 3070, but that's a different beast.

Best Buy's TT is not a solution. The only solution right now is for gamers to hold on to or fix the GPUs that they have, and for game developers to stop pushing for improved graphics.
 
  • Like
Reactions: digitalgriffin