[SOLVED] Scalping Processors: What to do to fight it?

[Jgraves71]

Had a long chat with a service rep at ebay about how to report them all. Any other suggestions? Seems like AMD and other manufacturers should do something to combat it besides limiting sales. Lawsuit vs ebay? Very salty over waiting 2 months on build and not being able to order a minute after launch but ebay is flush with 5000 series processors at double retail...

 

[Math Geek]

why not join in the 10 other "i can't get a new cpu and want to vent" threads instead of making yet another one.

 

[punkncat]

The single easiest thing (that would never happen) would be NOT to buy from them. If there wasn't a market/demand from people being too impatient and having more money than sense there would be no reason to do so.

Either wait some more, or support them by buying from them.

 

[egda23]

A simple way is simply not to buy these overpriced CPU and let the scalpers find out what to do with their unsold stock.

 

[Jgraves71]

why not join in the 10 other "i can't get a new cpu and want to vent" threads instead of making yet another one.

Because this seems like a systemic problem and I genuinely want to know if people have other ideas on ways to combat the ebay scalping issue. I am salty sure but in the end I'm willing to do something about it instead of just complaining.

 

[Math Geek]

if it helps you sleep at night to see the same responses as the others, then go for it. but all you're doing is venting and not gonna make any changes to the system in any meaningful way.

good luck and i hope you change the world

 

[punkncat]

Here I sit, hoping that the 3xxx series goes bargain basement like the other generations did. If I can pick up a 3900X sub $250 that would be greaaaat.

 

[Jgraves71]

if it helps you sleep at night to see the same responses as the others, then go for it. but all you're doing is venting and not gonna make any changes to the system in any meaningful way.

good luck and i hope you change the world

No, what will help me sleep at night is hearing that ebay just banned a thousand accounts for doing this. I also believe that doing nothing is what allows this to persist and that it is possible to make changes if you are willing to fight. I've spent only an hour on this so far and plan to do much more over the coming days/weeks as i have a tendency to beat my head against impossible problems until I find a solution. Believing that nothing can be done is the surest way to keep the status quo.

 

[Karadjgne]

You can't stop Greed. Ever. Whether it's the financial Greed of the scalper, or the psychological Greed of the buyer.

Scalpers know this, and take advantage. Intel/amd sells the product then absolves themselves of any responsibility for what happens afterwards. And some people just 'must have' the latest and greatest to make up for any perceived shortcomings.

It's a good thought to try and prevent it, the Truth has been on the same path with its campaign against tobacco products. People still smoke.

 

[USAFRet]

Had a long chat with a service rep at ebay about how to report them all. Any other suggestions? Seems like AMD and other manufacturers should do something to combat it besides limiting sales. Lawsuit vs ebay? Very salty over waiting 2 months on build and not being able to order a minute after launch but ebay is flush with 5000 series processors at double retail...

As many of my old bosses said:
"Don't come to me with a problem. Come to me with a problem and a solution"

So....how would you "fix this"?

 

[Jgraves71]

You can't stop Greed. Ever. Whether it's the financial Greed of the scalper, or the psychological Greed of the buyer.

Scalpers know this, and take advantage. Intel/amd sells the product then absolves themselves of any responsibility for what happens afterwards. And some ppl just 'must have' the latest and greatest to make up for any perceived shortcomings.

It's a good thought to try and prevent it, the Truth has been on the same path with its campaign against tabacco products. Ppl still smoke.

True scalpers will always exist but it doesn't mean that you can't make it harder for them. Guess I'm just mad enough to fight it and if I only cause a little ripple and that triggers another and on and on maybe things improve a little.

 

[SamirD]

This is just supply and demand at work, and is not unique to just processors--it can happen in almost any industry. I've personally seen it with automobiles, automotive fuel suppliers, and medical supplies such as masks and disinfectants.

There are actually some laws that protect against this sort of thing during times of natural disaster, war, or a pandemic (like the one we are in right now). I would research the regulations and see where these companies are violating these laws. Then I would get in touch with the regulating agencies and report them--not just once but every single day until they're sick of you. If you've done your homework and they're violating the law and you keep pounding on the enforcement authorities to do something, in a few years you will see how these companies got busted. But in the end the companies know how to thwart around these regulations too, so there is a cat and mouse game at work where the companies are getting rich and it will cost you to pursue them. It's the terrible downside of a trusting economic structure that depends on people doing the right thing and third world minded cheaters entering that system and blowing through every loophole and getting rich in the process.

I'm pretty damn salty about this myself because I was once cheated $58k by a company that thrwarted FTC rules and got away with it, harming not only me and my business partner but many people, and to even a much greater extent (most lost well over $150k upwards to $250k+). An environment of regulation with enforcement is the only way to combat this--we've got the regulations, but enforcement is dwindling as the resources are getting overwhelmed. If enforcement isn't brought back in full force soon, it will be the third-world open air 'market bazaar' atmosphere with all these shady people doing whatever they want to. Can you tell I'm mad too?

 

[Jgraves71]

As many of my old bosses said:
"Don't come to me with a problem. Come to me with a problem and a solution"

So....how would you "fix this"?

First, enough bad press for sites that give a platform to the scalpers might force them to create policies that would make it harder for them to successfully scalp. I can't imagine it would be hard to create a script that scrubs listings at >125% retail, harder if sold on forums but that would be the point. Take away the ease of the process and I would think you would slow it down. No possible way to stop all of it but if it were cut in half we'd all be better off.

 

[Jgraves71]

This is just supply and demand at work, and is not unique to just processors--it can happen in almost any industry. I've personally seen it with automobiles, automotive fuel suppliers, and medical supplies such as masks and disinfectants.

There are actually some laws that protect against this sort of thing during times of natural disaster, war, or a pandemic (like the one we are in right now). I would research the regulations and see where these companies are violating these laws. Then I would get in touch with the regulating agencies and report them--not just once but every single day until they're sick of you. If you've done your homework and they're violating the law and you keep pounding on the enforcement authorities to do something, in a few years you will see how these companies got busted. But in the end the companies know how to thwart around these regulations too, so there is a cat and mouse game at work where the companies are getting rich and it will cost you to pursue them. It's the terrible downside of a trusting economic structure that depends on people doing the right thing and third world minded cheaters entering that system and blowing through every loophole and getting rich in the process.

I'm pretty damn salty about this myself because I was once cheated $58k by a company that thrwarted FTC rules and got away with it, harming not only me and my business partner but many people, and to even a much greater extent (most lost well over $150k upwards to $250k+). An environment of regulation with enforcement is the only way to combat this--we've got the regulations, but enforcement is dwindling as the resources are getting overwhelmed. If enforcement isn't brought back in full force soon, it will be the third-world open air 'market bazaar' atmosphere with all these shady people doing whatever they want to. Can you tell I'm mad too?

Love the idea of reporting it to government agencies. Who would you say to report it too on a national level? I know where to go if it's a local issue as this happens every Hurricane that hits down here in South Louisiana with all sorts of basic needs (water/gas/generators/tarps) but i've never seen where to go on a national level.

 

[USAFRet]

First, enough bad press for sites that give a platform to the scalpers might force them to create policies that would make it harder for them to successfully scalp. I can't imagine it would be hard to create a script that scrubs listings at >125% retail, harder if sold on forums but that would be the point. Take away the ease of the process and I would think you would slow it down. No possible way to stop all of it but if it were cut in half we'd all be better off.

What is the incentive for ebay to do this? Bad press?

Given that fleabay sells blatantly false/counterfeit items, some real item at +125% of retail MSRP is not even a blip on their radar.

 

[SamirD]

Love the idea of reporting it to government agencies. Who would you say to report it too on a national level? I know where to go if it's a local issue as this happens every Hurricane that hits down here in South Louisiana with all sorts of basic needs (water/gas/generators/tarps) but i've never seen where to go on a national level.

That's the hard part--you'd have to find out about this, and it's a lot of digging.

Back when I was researching how to report violations to the FTC, I spent over a week on the phone and Internet and ended up with nothing. FTC would point to another agency and that agency (can't remember which one) would point back to the FTC. The current FTC complaint system didn't exist (which I plan to fill out at some point because I still have all my hard data showing how they ripped people off). If you find a regulatory agency with a complaint/reporting system, you've struck gold. But before you utilize these, read the actual law and statutes and make sure you're not wasting their time--they aren't getting to the actionable cases when they are having to go through cases that can't be pursued.

Don't give up. You're absolutely right that this will continue unless someone puts their foot down. And the people that are benefiting will continue to do more and more if you don't limit them.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Even if the scalpers got none of the processor's, it's still not a sure thing you would have gotten one anyway. Reason is demand just outstrips supply on day-one of anything that's popular; it did with Zen2 release too.

Three big reasons for that are the usual...supply chains in the pandemic are simply unreliable.

And then AMD can only get so much allotment of 7nm wafers which they have multiple product lines to feed, including the upcoming BigNavi launch.

And lastly, even if AMD could ship at will retailers avoid overstock situations like the plague...which just puts more strain on the pandemic weakened supply chain as they try to resupply.

That means they'd have run out again in launch week...just like they did in July of last year, before the Scalper thing was the problem it is now.

And lastly, I wonder whether most scalpers each have no more then two or three of their overpriced CPU's, so a lot of scalpers but really very few CPU's overall. I buyers just wait they'll wind up selling them at...or below...retail in the end.

 

[Flayed]

Hopefully it will just sort itself out in a few months and prices will come down a little at etail.

 

[Jgraves71]

I just want to build my system by the end of the month and that now seems impossible. Oh well i'll be sitting online before the big navi launch since the cpu and processor are all i'm waiting on.

 

[xravenxdota]

Just wait it out.I for one are not really keen on getting a new cpu maybe i upgrade my 2600 to a 3600 because i am using unity.I won't go 8 core on my board it can handle it but vrm will get a little toasty.Even a branch company of msi were scalping gpu's.I will wait a couple months and then buy it rather than paying double the price for it.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I just want to build my system by the end of the month and that now seems impossible. Oh well i'll be sitting online before the big navi launch since the cpu and processor are all i'm waiting on.

I know it's dissappointing, but you really should have taken notice of how things have been recently with the pandemic slowing shipments all over the world. That would have tempered expectations somewhat. Even something as banal as motherboards have taken a long time from launch to sufficient stock availability in this pandemic shuttered world. Only recently has my Microcenter gotten decent stock availability of PSU's.

Last year the same sort of thing happened with Zen2 launch...it took several months for that one to level off and it had no pandemic effect.

 

[curley81]

I dont think retailers are against scalping in fact i think they like it, it means that their previous generation unsold stock will hold its value longer and people will continue to buy it.
they are still selling RTX 2080s for £600 - 700 in the UK if the RTX 3070s were available then they would be worth less than £400 i think there is a bigger con happening than people think and retailers and manufacturers know what they are doing
wpuld not surprise me if there is stock being sat on to make it happen

 

[kingbowcat]

Found a 5600x on ebay but it was £400 seems a little expensive.

 

[curley81]

£100 more than pre orders off retailers

 

[kingbowcat]

Well more for me I got one on pre order for £235 with no VAT.

I would never fall for the scalpers don't worry I have to wait for the new Bios update for my B450 anyway.