RTX 3080 Graphics Cards Are Sold Out Minutes After Release

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition product images
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Nvidia’s RTX 3080 launched earlier today, but unless you woke up as soon as the sales went live or, perhaps, had a bot that bought it for you, you wouldn’t know. We did our best to guide potential customers on where and how to buy the RTX 3080 yesterday afternoon, but the new holder of the Best Graphics Card crown is already sold out at every website we listed. 

B&H’s entire site is down right now, in fact. And, according to customers, the cards sold out so fast that no amount of preparation would have let them get one.
 

“Sold Out” is also trending on Twitter right now, and it applies to exactly what you think it would. Some would-be RTX 3080 owners are saying that the cards sold out before the Add to Cart button even worked for them, while others claimed the Ampere cards sold out in 15 seconds.

None of this is surprising for a major graphics card launch without pre-orders, but it is upsetting for folks who were hoping to get a card at launch without paying a premium to RTX 3080 scalpers, who already had their $1,000 - $1,200 listings up before the card even launched.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 suffered a similar fate at launch, so it’s not like the company didn’t know this could happen. Other industries have also been dealing with this for a while. Ticketmaster even sued an alleged scalper group for using a bot army to snatch up 30,000 Hamilton tickets at launch back in 2017. And the PS5 pre-ordering process is also on fire as we write, with listings quickly flickering between available and not available.

Online retail is more important than ever right now, with many unable or unwilling to enter brick-and-mortar stores in the midst of the pandemic. And, unfortunately, that means we’re also more vulnerable to bots than ever, as well. As with the 1080 launch, we’d expect stock to start reappearing anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months from now. Though we could also see the shortage lasting into next year, given the card's stark jump in performance and the potential for cryptocurrency miners to start adopting it as a new standard.

In the meantime, our friends over at PC Gamer reached out to Nvidia, which reportedly said the following:

Other companies, like Newegg, are also starting to address the RTX 3080 stock shortage, and we've compiled their responses to the situation here.

Michelle Ehrhardt

Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom's Hardware. She's been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master's degree in game design from NYU.

  • hotaru.hino
    Okay, I was expecting something like +$200-$500

    But not +$1200: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZOTAC-Gaming-GeForce-RTX-3080-Trinity-CONFIRMED-ORDER/284015019700?hash=item42209d46b4:g:5pcAAOSwOb5fY3ct
    EDIT: Okay, +$4600 is ridiculous: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-RTX-3080-XC3-BLACK-GAMING-Order-Confirmed-Presale/193667997005?hash=item2d17831d4d:g:J94AAOSw89BfY3TY
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    This is what i expected
    Reply
  • King_V
    I was actually trying to look up something from my NewEgg order history this morning, and I kept getting "service unavailable" when clicking on products in my order to get details.

    I guess maybe a rush on the RTX 3080 must've been behind that.

    I still don't get the need to buy this on release day.


    @hotaru.hino - +$4600? That's beyond insane! NOBODY is going to pay that. I would doubt people will pay +$1200, not to mention almost 4x that amount.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    I found a listing that was going for $11,000. After 22 bids.

    Whyyyyyyyyyyyy

    (I can only hope that people are doing this to troll the seller, but still)
    Reply
  • King_V
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    hotaru.hino said:
    Okay, I was expecting something like +$200-$500

    But not +$1200: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZOTAC-Gaming-GeForce-RTX-3080-Trinity-CONFIRMED-ORDER/284015019700?hash=item42209d46b4:g:5pcAAOSwOb5fY3ct
    EDIT: Okay, +$4600 is ridiculous: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-RTX-3080-XC3-BLACK-GAMING-Order-Confirmed-Presale/193667997005?hash=item2d17831d4d:g:J94AAOSw89BfY3TY

    Yes, this is what is otherwise known as the "Early Adopter's Tax".

    I can understand wanting to get the new cards the first day but usually it's best to wait until there's a steady supply of them and more varieties of cards are available.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    If people pay these stupid prices to scalpers... They will do it again and again and again... Don`t feed scalpers!

    I did see the same with Pascal release... prices at the beginning were... well full robbery. I did wait and wait and when I did see them again at msrp, i did my order. And did get my 1070 OC model at desent price. There is limit how long those scalpers can hold those prices!
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    At this rate, I may just buy pre-builts. Remember that time when you could buy a system with a 2080 for the same cost as a 2080 on the market?

    (okay, you may have to put in a bit more elbow grease to make the prebuilt better, but that sentiment is growing strong)
    Reply
  • k0vy
    I waited overnight at Microcenter, was about 25th in line. Manager comes out at 8am and says there is only going to be 11 cards available today. We got home at about 8:45am and logged into all of the sites smashing refresh over and over, only for them to literally go from "notify me" to "out of stock" with no inbetween. This was an absolute joke of a launch. Nvidia giving no stock to actual in store consumers (Microcenter) is the biggest joke of all, literally sold them to bots w/ zero barrier so they could scalp them for 3x+the cost(which I honestly hope is a joke, cause anyone willing to spend $1500+ clearly should wait a week for 3090's). Most likely on purpose so they can inflate the cost past MSRP in a month but seem like a savior when they come in cheaper than the scalpers.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    k0vy said:
    I waited overnight at Microcenter, was about 25th in line. Manager comes out at 8am and says there is only going to be 11 cards available today. We got home at about 8:45am and logged into all of the sites smashing refresh over and over, only for them to literally go from "notify me" to "out of stock" with no inbetween. This was an absolute joke of a launch. Nvidia giving no stock to actual in store consumers (Microcenter) is the biggest joke of all, literally sold them to bots w/ zero barrier so they could scalp them for 3x+the cost(which I honestly hope is a joke, cause anyone willing to spend $1500+ clearly should wait a week for 3090's). Most likely on purpose so they can inflate the cost past MSRP in a month but seem like a savior when they come in cheaper than the scalpers.
    Stores have to order from the manufacturer in order to sell parts. NVIDIA or other board manufacturers don't simply "give" them cards to sell.

    Also considering NVIDIA went through two generations of launch-day scalping with no officially sanctioned increase in MSRP, I doubt it'll increase. I mean, we can come back in a month and see if NVIDIA themselves raised the price, but whatever happens on storefronts is their own doing.
    Reply