I Am Contacting ACCC about Price Gouging on 30 Series Nvidia Cards

Lbishoz on 26/04/2021 - 20:50
Last edited 27/04/2021 - 02:03 by 1 other user

I am going to write to the ACCC about price-gouging on the 30 series (and others) nVidia cards - all of which are selling at many hundreds of dollars above their MSRP.

What do you guys think? Am I wasting my time? I'm going to do it anyway but I thought I would ask for some input.
Some retailers are offering deals for an entire pre-built system for about $200 more than what they are asking for the video card alone. I have always built my own systems and find this unacceptable. I also have screenshots for deals from January for cards at about the thousand dollar mark which, if you now follow the link, the same card is retailing at about $1800. I have only two sets of before/after screenshots as evidence. What do you guys have?

Computing Computer Component Video Card

Comments

  • Mechz on 26/04/2021 - 20:59
    +26

    Market forces dictate prices. Enjoy wasting your time writing letters.

  • tebbybabes on 26/04/2021 - 21:01

    I feel your pain, however, am of the opinion that "price gouging" isn't an illegal act. It's just supply and demand. Since I don't see any regulations or laws being breeched, then I don't see the ACCC taking any action

    • dogboy on 27/04/2021 - 09:56

      Even when there are clear laws against it (E.g. ticket scalping in Qld and the ticketmaster reseller site) the police have no interest in persuing it.

    • Chandler on 28/04/2021 - 12:22

      am of the opinion that "price gouging" isn't an illegal act

      Depends if there's collusion/price fixing amongst retailers (I don't think there is - I think this is all just COVID, shipping, supply/demand - the usual Australia tax)

      Not sure if wholesalers/distributors can get done for collusion/price fixing…?

  • Poppin on 26/04/2021 - 21:01
    +5

    The main issue you'll face is that price gouging is typically not illegal and the ACCC says this themselves.

    https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-response-to-covid…

  • plmko on 26/04/2021 - 21:08

    Yeah nah

  • SF3 on 26/04/2021 - 21:13

    No different when face masks prices when up this time last year…

    • Michael1983 on 27/04/2021 - 09:40
      -1

      Just waiting when Vitalik will empty the pockets of miners like you. He is a friend to Vladimir Putin and will definitely try to strip off money of everyone and put them to sacred Russia.

    • jv on 27/04/2021 - 09:43

      Neg me as much as you want

      Done…

    • dizzle on 27/04/2021 - 10:48

      Wierd Flex, but OK

    • Slippage on 27/04/2021 - 15:38

      won't neg you because it seems like a legit reason for the shortage.

  • original15 on 26/04/2021 - 21:31

    Can you include a PS about individuals trying to sell 3060s (not 70/60ti) for $1400 on marketplace lol

  • spackbace on 26/04/2021 - 21:36
    +9

    The butthurt is strong in this one 😂

  • Charlie Sierra on 26/04/2021 - 21:43

    Not disagreeing with your sentiment but this is the other side nobody really talks about with voting with your wallet - you can get outvoted.

    Hopefully the market corrects itself in the longer term.

    • Kangal on 26/04/2021 - 22:15
      +3

      Sometimes the best move to make is to make no move at all.

      Just like if 8 billion people concurrently did a lockdown for a fortnight, we could eradicate pandemics and a host of diseases. Same applies to economies and markets. If everyone boycotted Nvidia and AMD for a year, these companies would come crawling back and begging the customers.

      The unfortunate part is that The West since the 1980's has been living in a consumerism economy/society. So we may form a strong online committee, but the mainstream sheep aren't going to follow, so companies will continue to rip off. This eventually leads to consumer-friendly companies struggling to stay afloat, getting marginalised into small niches. Or more likely just shutting down branches/business, which then is absorbed by the larger competitors for pennies on the dollar.

      • Krankite on 27/04/2021 - 07:54

        If you have evidence of NVidia or AMD artificially restricting supply now is the time to present it, what is happening is Video Cards cannot be manufactured fast enough to meet demand due to crypto.

        • Kangal on 27/04/2021 - 10:09

          I didn't even think of that… but now that you mention it, it's a possiblity. I was thinking that they could have done much more to stop scalpers, or improve their supply chain, or messaging about availability or prices.

          Maybe the reality is this industry isn't as stable as we once thought? Or maybe they simply need more competitors?

          • Krankite on 27/04/2021 - 14:39

            @Kangal: More competitors would bring the cost down but at $12bn for a factory I don't see many popping up anytime soon since no-one is really certain whether crypto is a bubble or not.

  • DemocracyManifest on 26/04/2021 - 21:49
    +4

    I must say, I'm enjoying offloading old shit at ridiculous prices, people are snapping up and fighting over whatever they can get their hands on. Sold a 600-series card for about $100, would have been worth almost nothing beginning of last year. Most people don't 'need' these new cards, having a PC used to be all about getting slick budget builds that would outlast consoles and do everything, now we are basically at a stage where people aren't blinking twice about spending $3k plus on a PC…

    • wannagrababargain on 27/04/2021 - 14:23

      I agree! (But also guilty as charged in spending too much on a PC recently.) I remember back in the day spending hours trying to optimise the best price/performance ratio over a matter of $20 difference. Don't get me started on the price of peripherals these days. The lowest cost "gaming" keyboard will set you back $120 and you're lucky if you get the full 101 keys for that price. I remember always forgetting to account for a keyboard and then having to scrape together $12 for the most basic generic branded keyboard that the computer shop had. The thing is those $12 keyboards were made of decent plastic and actually worked well for many years where as a basic keyboard/mice today are real flimsy garbage.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/04/2021 - 21:55
    -3

    I got negged, I love it. Truth be told, that's why it happens :-)

    P.S. To make sure I get the NVIDIA or AMD card I want, I am $50 - $100/order just to have someone's name on it.

    Yes, it's that bad!

    • Michael1983 on 27/04/2021 - 10:31

      Just got those 2 ordered for 25k
      Antminer E9 Ethereum - will be equal to 64 RTX3080 gpus…
      Suck it up

      The times when ex-miners will be begging to get 300-400 bucks for their 3070-3080s are coming… and quick service comes as a bonus

      • [Deactivated] on 27/04/2021 - 12:41

        Yup, it is what it is.

        P.S. I don't believe you with the Antminer. I can see you are very upset. Difficult times for you.

        • Michael1983 on 27/04/2021 - 13:34

          Not really, I'm strugling to finish AC3 at the moment and then it is AC4 and Unity plus Watch dogs 1,2… after that I might get a bit frustrated but it will take me at least another year to finish these games.
          I set aside 2grands and dump another 250 every month so it is about 5k budget for early 2022… but hope the cost of gpus will settle and I can build something decent in 2.5-3k budget

          • [Deactivated] on 27/04/2021 - 15:17

            @Michael1983: 1559 is coming so that might bring upon some price reductions.

  • TChalla on 27/04/2021 - 00:43

    Lol

  • PensionerXXL on 27/04/2021 - 07:13

    the card i have was listed @ PLE for 1200, i got it for 1400, its now 2k

    i see it as a win as i can sell to upgrade at a higher price unless more stock floods the market and drives prices down

    anyone wana buy a 3080 thats got liquid metal on the die and a 240m aio attached? sale starts and ends when 3080 ti's land 😂😂😂

  • Krankite on 27/04/2021 - 07:56
    +1

    Unless you have evidence they are colluding with other sellers to drive up prices or that they are artificially restricting supply you are out of luck.

  • Topdog on 27/04/2021 - 08:02

    ACCC wont care, supply and demand, its legal. Video cards do not sustain life. So they can charge what they like

  • Muzeeb on 27/04/2021 - 08:23
    -1

    Ok.

    Please post their reply here for the communities benefit.

    [INSERT ACCC REPLY HERE ON RECEIPT]
  • jv on 27/04/2021 - 09:42
    +1

    I am going to write to the ACCC about price-gouging on the 30 series (and others) nVidia cards - all of which are selling at many hundreds of dollars above their MSRP.

    LOL.

    They can sell at any price they like. As long as they are not misleading you in their advertising.

  • Bid Sniper on 27/04/2021 - 10:58

    Add cars, houses, lumber, PS5 to the list.

    Got my msi 3070 in Nov last year for $1100 and thought it was a rip off, not anymore.

    Supply and demand br0

  • tsunamisurfer on 27/04/2021 - 10:59

    Does the OP also write to the ACCC about price gouging in :

    • Property.
    • Shares.
    • Cars.
  • Porker on 27/04/2021 - 12:12

    I get OPs intention, but it's not going to achieve anything. I assume it's like PS5 supply, just because they're hard to get doesn't mean that stores have justification to increase their RRP.

    But OP, 30xx cards aren't sold at the likes of Target and BigW, but rather independent computer stores that set their own prices. PC stores are probably a more competitive market too with minimal profits.

    Please don't waste ACCC's times on this.

    Similarly, at some point the market will presumably be flooded with 30xx cards such that price drops. It's likely they'll be cheaper than when you paid for it. Would you complain to ACCC at that point too about overpaying? It's just how the market goes.

    • wannagrababargain on 27/04/2021 - 14:28

      I don't think the market will ever be 'flooded' with 30xx cards, basically supply will be constrained until 40xx comes out and they stop making 30xx. Even then 2nd hand 30xx prices, at least 3070 and above, will continue to command high prices well into 40xx release. Exact same thing happened with 10xx series and as far as I can tell it's worse this time around because there is both a demand (crypto dbags) and supply (TSMC can't make enough chips for everyone) constraint.

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