MSI subsidiary co. scalped RTX 3080 and 3090 cards

Overheal

https://www.pcmag.com/news/msi-subsidiary-caught-scalping-rtx-3080-3090-cards-on-ebay

MSI admitted fault after it "found an error"

https://twitter.com/msiUSA/status/1313734160582803456?s=20

There's got to be a lot more to it than this. The subsidiary was clearly up to intentionally unethical activity. From what I gather, Starlit is their subsidiary for selling off old and refurbished inventory on eBay and Amazon storefronts. Starlit was given/had access to the new RTX 3080/3090 inventory, and then marked it up on these storefronts, which was only 'discovered' by reddit users the other day but these have been listed for weeks.

To make matters a bit saltier, the people who bought the scalper cards are getting full refunds or the scalped price difference over MSRP. They pretty much had to offer this option (otherwise it would have been plainly illegal) but it also does nothing to dissuade future scalpers and scalp-buyers from pushing market inflation.

It sounds like they got caught and there may be a United States investigation since both MSI and Starlit are US HQ'd.



Apparently the CEO of MSI had also committed suicide earlier in the summer. So something is really foul going on here.

TheValeyard

It's a real shame. I've bought MSI products for years now and always found them to be of very high quality

Overheal

I've never made the plunge but theyre always very pretty on the shelf. I never would have pegged them for behavior like this.

Fitz II

Overheal wrote: »

I've never made the plunge but theyre always very pretty on the shelf. I never would have pegged them for behavior like this.

I have to wonder why taking the relatively small scalping profits would interest MSI or a subsidiary, its a billion dollar company? Wonder was this a rogue individual? Certainly reputational damage is real. I would avoid their products as this scalping issue with the 30 series card has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overheal

It could be advantageous for consumers though, depending on what MSI does to manage its PR I may end up with a discounted motherboard for my next build

Wonda-Boy

Overheal wrote: »

I've never made the plunge but theyre always very pretty on the shelf. I never would have pegged them for behavior like this.

If you look at MSI as a company they have been doing shady ****e for years....its well documented (not to mention the CEO committing suicide from the 7th floor of the HQ a few yrs ago)

I never liked them as a company and this only re-enforces my position. Whatever about normal Joe Soaps scalping thats one thing but a huge billion dollar company like MSI is a pure scummy move. And that pathetic statement they released which did not even include an apology was even more of an insult to the thousands of genuine gamers who had placed an order with the company for 30 series cards and were not getting delivery because they were running a side hussle.

Gamers really are too loyal.

Reddit blew up with people saying the statement was not factual and that thousands of people bought 10 series and 20 series cards DIRECTLY from Starlight in the past so they do indeed have access to new stock. MSI are just pissed they got caught.

Very bad day for the PC hardware. Would love them to lose the AIB status even for this series of cards, with a bit of luck the feds in the US will be on this.

K.O.Kiki

If the US feds don't care about their own politicians/president doing dodgy deals, what makes you think they'll give a crap about a few thousand in profit gained through scalping? :pac:

Overheal

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

If the US feds don't care about their own politicians/president doing dodgy deals, what makes you think they'll give a crap about a few thousand in profit gained through scalping? :pac:

They only care when wall street investors get hurt

L1011

Never liked MSI after electrolyte issues in the early 00s; and also rather patchy BIOS updates at the time (needed specific firmware updates for onboard kit); but this is basically emulating Ticketbastard/Seatwave in terms of scumminess which I'd never have pegged them with.

ED E

L1011 wrote: »

Never liked MSI after electrolyte issues in the early 00s; and also rather patchy BIOS updates at the time (needed specific firmware updates for onboard kit); but this is basically emulating Ticketbastard/Seatwave in terms of scumminess which I'd never have pegged them with.

They sold 4 units. 4.


LTT discussed on WAN show, likely one muppet in the ebay dept trying to improve his numbers for the month. No great conspiracy. MSI don't want daddy nVidia taking away all their toys.