Graphics Card Manufacturer Apologises After Subsidiary Is Caught Scalping RTX 3080 and 3090s

Graphics card manufacturer MSI has issued a statement after its subsidiary company, Starlit Partner, was caught selling MSI GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 graphics cards on eBay at inflated prices. As noted in a report on PC Mag, Starlit Partner has sold at least four RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio cards for $1,359 - $1,399, and between eight and 11 units of the RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio, sold for up to $2,599. These prices are far above the RRP of $759 and $1,589 respectively. The sales were seen and discussed on Reddit, with users realising that Starlit Partner is a registered trademark with MSI. The reveal of the situation has prompted MSI to post a tweet apologising for the situation.

Regarding Starlit Partner/eBay: pic.twitter.com/QqRDBNRdVa

— MSI Gaming USA (@msiUSA) October 7, 2020

According to the statement, Starlit Partner is a subsidiary of MSI that deals with excess inventory and refurbished items. Through an "error", Starlit were able to acquire the new - and very out-of-stock - Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series cards, which it then sold on eBay at vastly inflated prices. “Starlit Partner has been instructed to contact the individual customers who purchased these graphic card products and offer two options—return the product and receive a full refund, or a partial refund of the amount paid over MSI’s MSRP,” said MSI. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/16/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-founders-edition-review"] “Moving forward, MSI will enforce a stricter policy to avoid situations like this happening again,” the statement concludes. Nvidia’s RTX 3080 and 3090 cards launched in September, and have already proven a monumental success. Cards made by Nvidia itself - known as the reference version or ‘Founders Edition’ - are sold out entirely, and the situation is the same for third-party developed cards, such as MSI’s variants. Scalpers have been selling cards on auction sites at huge prices, meaning only those willing to pay extraordinary prices have been able to get their hands on an RTX 30-series since stores sold out. For more on Nvidia’s latest batch of cards, take a look at our RTX 3080 review and RTX 3090 review. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

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