GTX 1650 – EVGA Charging High Price for GeForce RTX 30 Advanced RMA Requests

Recently, EVGA was under fire for the EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 becoming bricked while playing Amazon’s New World next-gen game. There were a small group of other GPU models that had the same issues, but the specific EVGA model caught most of the spotlight. The company was quick to respond to their customers’ needs by offering Advanced RMAs so that they could send new GPUs to those consumers affected.

EVGA Is Charging Scalper Prices For Users Requesting Advanced RMA For GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs

Igor Wallossek wrote his experience with the Advanced RMA process through EVGA at Igor’s Lab. Wallossek was one of the first users to narrow down the reasoning behind why the EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 was becoming bricked.

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In the process of completing an Advanced RMA from EVGA, there was a high level of criticism brought to light. When EVGA receives an Advanced RMA, they request a deposit so that the user can receive the replacement efficiently. What is in the question of this process is about the costs that EVGA is charging for the deposit.

The MSRP of Wallossek’s GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 is close to 782€ (931€ in total adding VAT costs). He was informed that to process the Advanced RMA through EVGA, the cost for the deposit was not the same cost as the original. In fact, the company was requesting 1,728.20€. The question that arises is why is the price almost twice the original amount? The cost is roughly the same amount that you would have to pay for a scalped GPU of the same model.

Wallossek declined the Advanced RMA due to the cost. In fact, it seems that the practice of up-charging to scalper rates would be a very questionable practice. Tech website Tom’s Hardware has possible reasoning behind EVGA requesting the high deposit.

The possibility of someone making an Advanced RMA request, with EVGA charging normal MSRP rates for the deposit, the question arises of what would stop a user from paying the MSRP cost and turning around and scalping the new GPU and essentially not sending the original damaged GPU to EVGA. Charging a high price for the deposit might warrant a consumer to think twice about placing the request, and adding some financial security for fixing the problem efficiently while saving face.

If you have an affected GPU like the one mentioned, by placing a normal RMA with EVGA, you are required to send them the unit first before they replace it with a new one. The process does take longer but is also the most cost-effective for users.