Will Scalper Bots Driving Up The Cost Of PC Components Ever End?

The price of high-demand PC hardware like Nvidia GPUs is being driven up by sophisticated scalper bots that quickly snap up new products at retail prices for them to be resold at ludicrous markups. Scalping is not a new problem and has affected everything from event tickets to sneakers, but now the focus has turned to computer hardware too. While mainstream retailers can’t keep the products in stock, eBay is flooded components for twice their intended price. It’s a practice that’s costing hardware enthusiasts thousands.

The scalper business has exploded with the pandemic. By some estimates, scalper bot activity has tripled since March 2020. There are a few reasons for that. First is opportunity. People are out of work, at home, and looking for ways to make money without leaving the house. Second is conditions. Supply lines had gotten damaged with the onset of coronavirus, and its scarcity of product that allows scalpers to thrive. Third is effortlessness. Bots are easy to download and can be near turnkey to implement. Then there are scores of user groups to help newbie scalpers get up and running.

Finding scalped products is not difficult. A cursory search for Nvidia’s GEForce RTX 3090 GPU cards found them sold out at a half dozen mainstream retailers like Best Buy and Amazon.com. Meanwhile, dozens of the cards turned up on eBay, where the $1,500 card was selling for between $2,000 and $3,000. Similarly, in a recent survey conducted by Michael Driscoll, cards based on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU that retails for $699 were selling for a median price of $1,315.

Scalped Components: What Can Be Done

While the cost of these products in the secondary market is exorbitant, most have found their ceiling. You don’t see product prices being driven much beyond their current-day levels. Larger governmental action is likely required to knock out the problem once and for all, but retailers and consumers do have it within their abilities to bring it back under control with some basic countermeasures. Retailers need to stop advertising product launches months in advance, work with third-party security firms to shore up their defenses, and use technology to outsmart the scalper bots.

Frustrated at spending twice the retail cost on products, consumers are starting to get creative too. Many have created their own bots that try and beat the professional bots to the checkout aisle. Burner eBay accounts have become prevalent. They flood sites selling scalped products forcing those sites offline. And perhaps the most important measure is a legal one. Already, in the UK, consumer advocates are trying to get legislation passed that would outlaw scalping of game consoles and computers.

Perhaps what’s most needed to slow this problem is simply shining a light on it. After all, these guys are hiding in plain sight. They sell their wares through ads on Google searches. And they run ‘cook groups’ out in the open where scalpers come together to share code and technique for circumventing the retailer’s defenses. The more people are aware of these practices, the more will be done about them and the less incentive there will be for scalpers.

Source: Nvidia, Michael Driscoll

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