That would never fly. What do people in small towns do? They could be completely out of luck depending on how far out they are, or if they don't drive.
They almost need to give people a needed ID number to buy cards, and you have a set limit based on a set amount of time. Of course, this won't stop people from buying people off to get them cards, or people in stores taking a bit of under the table money to sell someone a bunch of cards. In a way, stores & online retailers should be tracking how many cards they are shipping out to each store, and seeing if the sales match up with the number of purchases, within that ID number GPU limit.
I guess that would mean the store would also have to have an ID number to track.
The problem is real, but the solution (other then to
seriously nerf all types of mining) is harder to find. A 50% drop in mining output would probably do it, but I'm sure customers would scream, and in the end, these companies want to make money. The higher ups really couldn't care less if you
specifically get a new GPU, as long as
someone has bought up their supply of GPUs. $$$
They need to do away with online ordering - that would immediately solve the bot problem.
Then, just take in store pre orders... Problem solved.