Since launch, Nvidia’s scarce GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card has been almost impossible to secure unless you’re willing to hand 2-3x the MSRP to scalpers. The same trend extended to other GPUs in the Blackwell family, reminiscent of the pandemic-struck days. A user at r/nvidia has aggregated data on RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPUs sold on eBay into a neat chart, giving us insight into current market trends. After the post-launch volatility, market prices have somewhat stabilized for the past one month, with a slow but consistent downward trajectory.
It’s important to understand this data accumulates listings featuring both used and new GPUs. A week before launch, we already saw a glimpse of Blackwell's horrendous supply woes with scalpers charging as much as $7,000 for “pre-reserved” RTX 5090 slots. Surprisingly enough, attendees at GTC this year were given the opportunity to secure one of 1,000 RTX 5090 units at MSRP and that number apparently surpasses Taiwan’s total reported allocation at launch.
The chart depicts a downward trend in pricing since launch, with average selling prices of completed eBay listings dropping from $6,000 to $4,000. Through closer inspection, the week following launch saw RTX 5090 prices range from as low as MSRP to as high as $10,000, rivaling the listed prices of Nvidia’s ProViz RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell GPU with 96GB of VRAM. From January 30 to March 21, the standard deviation, which indicates the variation from the mean, was $1,121.98. When limiting our scope to just March, the standard deviation sees a sharp decline to $145.60, indicating market stability or, at least, consistent pricing across resellers.
The average price of an RTX 5090 has also dropped in March per the data, in the sense you might not end up paying $10,000 to scalpers… just $4,000 and some change. We found similar results from Camelcamelcamel, a website that tracks prices for products sold on Amazon where after the initial volatility spikes to $9,000, prices have now settled at $5,000. While this isn’t exactly cause for celebration, it is a welcome improvement and could indicate lower prices in the future. Of course, that’s considering if Nvidia and AIBs manage to supply cards in sufficient quantity. Notably, this data does not include custom RTX 5090 models among other RTX 50 series GPUs, it just concerns the RTX 5090 FE.
Price gouging this generation unfortunately also extends to system integrators, who are being offered entry-level RTX 5090 variants for over $3,000. AMD’s RX 9070 GPUs face similar constraints, as you’d be hard-pressed to find even an entry-level model at MSRP.
