Sell GPUs like Steamdeck - limit scalping and AI gobbling

[Cray]

Buy graphics cards in bulk and offer 1-2 per steam account over a certain age and level. This won't solve scalping and the market constraints, but it could reduce the problem for those of us just wanting to buy a good card.

Now let me preemptively deal with the mandatory flood of naysayers, pessimists and people with nothing better to do than shooting down every idea they see to feel better about themselves instead of having an actual discussion:

Of course this is far fetched. Of course it wouldn't be easy. Of course it would be expensive. Of course the problem is bigger, more complicated, and can't be solved by this alone. Of course it's almost guaranteed they can't pull this off, or are even interested in dealing with it.

..but wouldn't you like to buy a good graphics card without breaking the bank? Don't you want to be able to afford maxed settings without spending half a year's worth of savings? Do you want to delegate all rendering to some cloud service with subpar security, privacy and latency?

We do need something, because the fact that I can sell a 10 year old, used card for over the price I bought it for in 2014 says a lot about what's happened.

So, just an idea, I'm sure someone somewhere has an even better solution. Lofty thought, but give it some thought :)

ps: valve, if you by any chance pulled this off, I demand a place in line to buy <3

[Haruspex]

So, sort of a "reverse scalping"?

There are a couple of things wrong with that:

GPU scalping isn't so much of a problem in 2024. You can pretty easily buy a powerful GPU at MSRP or below right now.

What's in it for Valve? And would it be worth it to Valve to do it? They would be stepping into a whole new market, and that comes with it's own challenges. First they would have to acquire the GPUs, and there's a cost associated with that. Then there's storage of the GPUs, another cost. Distribution, another cost there, and they're only just able to stay on top of distribution of their own hardware, and the Steam Deck still isn't available in some global markets. Then there's returns/exchanges and support. If they don't sell through all their stock, now they have a ton of outdated GPUs they have to offload, and I assume you think they would be selling them for cheap. This represents a pretty substantial expansion of their business into a realm they're not entirely comfortable with at huge cost with a huge amount of risk. It would have to make business sense to do. It wouldn't be a charity case where they're just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Would this really make sense for them?

I don't think so.

[Mad Scientist]

Escrito originalmente por Cray:

It wouldn't be cheaper. I mean in theory it could if they buy in bulk.

It's just that the whole AI boom has not only sent prices skyrocketing, but also driven availability way down for normal users.

They would pay an identical price to everyone else that buys units in bulk, which is likely going to be the same price if not more for not being partnered.

Also GPU manufacturers are making some series perform poorly for anything other than their intended purpose, which will make them less desirable for tasks like crypto & ai.

Escrito originalmente por Cray:

More than anything I'm spitballing ideas for how we can avoid everything good being bought up by the AI industry and the remains being heavily tagged by scalpers.

Some of the sub-vendors already take additional steps in attempt to ensure people are limited in quantity based upon payment method & billing address. This can especially be true for newer models so their more loyal customers remain around compared to those just trying to hoard to scalp/resell/ctypto/ai etc. Some will even ban people if they try too often as the loss of customers wanting the GPUs for their intended purpose get angry when they keep getting beaten by purchase bots, which is another thing many companies have started combating.


Your idea isn't new, people have suggested this before but they're not a pc parts shop, they're specifically a digital storefront that sometimes sells their own branded, very specific use hardware. This would just add a potential more costly, slower shipping point of sale for something they don't need to be involved in.


Remember, this is not an everything store, nor an everything client, and they don't exist to try solving everyones unrelated to the store problems.

[Satoru]

Literally IBM can't even buy enough cards from Nvidia or AMD at this point. They're not even on the top 10 list

If you think nvidia is going to sell cards to Valve you're really not understanding the market right now

[[N]ebsun]

Escrito originalmente por Cray:

Buy graphics cards in bulk and offer 1-2 per steam account over a certain age and level.

Buying bulk does not have any price down... they are sold at a set price - that's why they are the same price from every store.
Buying in bulk would actually probably increase the price, since they do not have enough supply to really just sell them off like that - cards are expensive because supply cannot keep up with the demand already... adding more demand is not going to reduce the price.

This idea is like trying to solve the toilet paper shortage by having someone buy up all the toilet paper...

[Start_Running]

Escrito originalmente por Satoru:

Literally IBM can't even buy enough cards from Nvidia or AMD at this point. They're not even on the top 10 list

If you think nvidia is going to sell cards to Valve you're really not understanding the market right now

That much was obvious when they suggested that another entity gobbling up the available stock would making it easier for ANYONE to get a card.. And its not like ultra high settings actually look that much better. It's been shown that for many games, most people can't tell the difference between max and medium.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

The margin on GPUs is slim and being able to source enough for limited availability would be difficult, knowing Valve.

Plus, they won't be able to sell them worldwide. They'd be as limited to select countries as Valve's other hardware or worse.

[no154370]

OP's suggestion is seriously very flawed

here are the reason(s)

1) all the graphics card drivers companies, computer companies, console companies, handphone companies will make huge losses and they will ended up going bankrupt in the end

why should these companies go sell their items on 3rd parties and what, earn a commission that reduce their overall revenue

when they can just directly sell it as part of the entire CPU and/or to users.

it is also the same for iphones, ipads, androids, xbox, playstation, laptops............etc.

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if every single company go and implement like what OP suggested, how much $$$$ can they earn every single year.

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this thread is no longer a suggestion anymore.

this thread is more talking about earning $$$ and business which is violating the Steam Rules and guidelines.

especially since it looks more like violating Steam Subscriber Agreement.

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(iii) exploit the Content and Services or any of its parts for any commercial purpose, except as expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use).