The RTX 5090 is available early — if you’re willing to spend $4,000
Nvidia's RTX 5090 is still a week away from being officially released, but you can already try your luck on eBay -- at twice the price.
Aliver
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
It’s a brand new generation of Nvidia’s best graphics cards, but it still feels like déjà vu. The RTX 5090 comes with a recommended list price (MSRP) of $2,000 and it’s set to hit the market on January 30, but some scalpers are already selling the card on eBay. We’re no strangers to scalper prices, what with the GPU shortage we’ve all witnessed during the RTX 30-series, but the RTX 5090 is truly hitting new heights here, with some models priced at a whopping $7,000.
As spotted by VideoCardz, some people have already gotten their hands on the RTX 5090, and they took to eBay to sell those cards at a premium. Many sellers don’t actually have inventory right now, which is not surprising, given that the card isn’t available yet; only reviewers got their GPUs early. Some listings say that the cards won’t ship until February 5, which is a week after the release date, at which point it makes little sense to already buy an RTX 5090 at such a huge markup.
And when I say huge, I mean huge. Scalper prices are never fun, but these cards are being sold for up to $7,000. Those offers don’t have any bids — wonder why — but there are some listings ranging from $2,750 to $3,950 which have up to 30 bids each. This means that people are out there, buying these cards at nearly half the price, from sources that are often pretty dubious.
svtech2007 / eBayThe listing I shared above, which is currently at $3,950 and has a shocking 10 bids, was posted by a person who claims to be “an employee of a certain technology retailer.” They claim that they have a few guaranteed slots for the RTX 5090, which means that they’ll be able to snag them early. The store expects to receive a shipment of RTX 5090s around January 30, and the seller warns that there’ll be a minimum waiting period of ten days between the retailer getting the cards and the buyer receiving their GPU.
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What’s worse, this $4,000 GPU comes with no refunds or returns. The seller notes: “Any potential faults with the product cannot be attributed to me, the seller. Any lack of functionality is considered a manufacturer defect, and as the seller, we cannot be attributed to fault. By purchasing this item, you agree to these terms. We do not provide refunds or accept returns.”
Needless to say, we don’t recommend buying the RTX 5090 at scalper prices. It does seem like the RTX 50-series might have limited availability at first, which means that these cards will be sold in this manner, but it’s almost always better to wait it out — even if it takes a few months.
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
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Nvidia is giving away the RTX 5090 — here’s how to win
Nvidia's insanely powerful RTX 5090 is right around the corner. Priced at $2,000, the GPU is far from cheap -- but Nvidia is hosting a sweepstakes where you can try your luck at winning one. Here's how to participate and attempt to win Nvidia's best graphics card.
Nvidia has already been giving away some GPUs, as well as a whole custom PC, in the lead-up to the launch of the RTX 50-series. Now that the cards are no longer a secret, the sweepstakes have moved on from the classic GeForce 256 to the GeForce RTX 5090, which is bound to be a beastly card (although perhaps not as beastly as the benchmarks would have you believe).
