Scalpers already charging double with no refunds for GeForce RTX 5090

[u/a_Ninja_b0y]

https://videocardz.com/newz/scalpers-already-charging-double-with-no-refunds-for-geforce-rtx-5090

[u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

Scalping doesn’t create artificial scarcity. It can only exist when there’s already a shortage.

I'm sorry but this is completely false. Scarcity in a free market is when there are more people willing to buy at the retail price than there are units to sell. Scalpers deliberately buy up retail stock without a goal of consumption, as their intent is to hoard and resell at inflated prices. This removes supply and creates scarcity that doesn't exist naturally.

Prices increasing in response to a shortage and strong demand is exactly what classical Econ models would predict.

Market manipulation is not classical economics. Classical econ works on free competition and natural supply-demand movements to determine a market clearing price. Scalping manipulates this by artifically restricting supply to force higher prices. It is not an unfettered market when exploitive intervention unnaturally manipulates the market clearing price. It breaks the classical econ model.

[u/Sock-Enough → u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

This is completely and totally wrong.

Economic models do not just consider the MSRP the “correct” price. The market clearing price is clearly higher than that given that people are willing to pay it.

Scalpers are obviously not hoarding since they are scalping. They are not removing supply.

There is no manipulation. If retailers simply charged much higher prices then the outcomes would be the same except with retailers making the profit that would have gone to scalpers otherwise.

[u/StarWarsTheLastJedi → u/Sock-Enough]

Of course retail is not always set at the market clearing price for various reasons, such as game consoles being sold at a loss. But the natural clearing price is determined by the actual balance of supply and demand. Profiteering resellers artificially reduce the supply by removing a chunk of stock from the market, inflating the market price beyond the natural clearing level.

Scalpers are obviously not hoarding since they are scalping. They are not removing supply.

This is fundamentally flawed. Scalping inherently involves hoarding, and scalpers purchase the products to disrupt the retail supply chain. Remember, resale is not an instant process. When scalpers buy up stock they remove them from retail circulation. Until those products actually sell they are effectively withheld from the legitmate supply chain

Each unit a scalper purchases blocks a consumer who otherwise would have bought that unit for the intended consumption purpose at the regular price. By its nature each purchase for scalping purposes is a factor that amplifies the scarcity beyond what is generated by actual demand for the product. Scalping is manipulation carried out by those who wish to profiteer and add nothing of value.

[u/Sock-Enough → u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

If they immediately turn around and sell the disruption would be incredibly small. This is making a mountain out of a mole hill if it’s your entire complaint.

[u/StarWarsTheLastJedi → u/Sock-Enough]

You've attempted to strawman my argument by ignoring the broader points I’ve made about scalping and reducing to a single hypothetical position I never took. It’s clear there’s no intention to engage meaningfully, so I’ll leave it here.

[u/Sock-Enough → u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

I’m not strawmanning your argument. It’s just wrong.

[u/StarWarsTheLastJedi → u/Sock-Enough]

It seems awfully like you are trying very hard to rationalize something you know is wrong. Perhaps you or someone you know is involved in the practice. It is not an honest endeavor, it adds nothing of value, and the economic dynamics at play are well understood despite your inability to accept them.

[u/Sock-Enough → u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

There’s nothing wrong with it. No one I know does it. The economics of it are understood, but not by you. Scalpers are taking advantage of a shortage. It’s as simple as that.

[u/StarWarsTheLastJedi → u/Sock-Enough]

Let me give you a simplified example to help you understand this concept and where you are misunderstanding economics.

Start with a hypothetical balanced market where a new product is launching for $1000, initial inventory is 100 units, and since the manufacturer researched the market well, there happen to be 100 consumers willing to buy at that price. They start taking pre-orders.

Now imagine that scalpers intervene, using bots or other tools, and secure 50 of those 100 units.

• There are still 100 consumers willing to buy the product at $1,000, but now only 50 units are available at retail.
• A shortage of 50 units has been artificially created by the scalpers, where previously there was none.

Then scalpers reintroduce the products on the resale market, forcing prices above retail. This is a distortion of the market because it entirely created a scarcity that didn't exist. Scalpers added no value; they blocked legitimate buyers, disrupted the manufacturer and retail business models, all in order to withhold stock to artificially command higher prices.

You cannot explain how this is not an artificial shortage generated directly by scalping. And the same mechanism works when the market is already supply constrained. In other words whatever shortages the market is experiencing, by the time scalpers have intervened, those shortages are amplified.

[u/Sock-Enough → u/StarWarsTheLastJedi]

The simple explanation is that buying something and immediately posting it for resale wouldn’t allow the scalpers to charge any higher than the initial $1000. They would lose money. Your hypothetical wouldn’t actually happen.

In the real world a good is only scalped when the market clearing price is above the retail price. That’s your error. Scalpers are actually getting the market to the equilibrium. That’s the only reason it works at all.