Store raffle to make getting GPU's more fair

Mindsdesire13

I'm new here, but when i searched this topic i didn't really see this asked before. I remember when the Nintendo Switch first came out I heard of stores in Japan that would hand out raffle tickets and then on shipment days they would post the winning numbers on twitter or their website and you had until the end of business day to come claim or they would just pull a new number and it would go to the next person the following day and so forth. Last time i went to try and get a GPU there was 150 people in line and the store only got 7 cards that day. Am i wrong to feel like this would be a much better system to implement here with this shortage ongoing? -home store is Overland Park, KS

TSTDavey

Hello @Mindsdesire13 and thanks for posting on the Microcenter Community Forum. A raffle or a lottery system for GPUs, I think would be something to consider.

But unfortunately the Admins on this forum are not MC Leadership who can make\ these types of decisions.

Also MC has certain agreements with GPU manufacturers on how they want MC to provider or sell their products to consumers. I'm not sure if there is something contractually that prohibits MC from doing a raffle. I haven't heard of any other retailers doing GPU raffles (ex., Best Buy, etc.) as of yet. I'm assuming other retailers may have certain contractual agreements with GPU manufacturers as well.

But we can certainly shoot this suggestion up the chain to leadership and have them take it from there.

Thrax

I know this a month old now but I thought newegg was doing a similar raffle where a majority of their options where gpus or gpus bundled with motherboards or power supplies? It's probably like Davey said though, the contractual details... it would be nice if someone atop at MC could make this happen too though. That or stock/prices normalize

Pripri

I was wondering, how exactly do I apply for the gpu raffle? 

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/34202#Comment_34202

Hello,

You can view the information about this process for your local store in our official thread here:

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/8756/random-selection-process-and-faq

Mount_Russmore

Go to BestBuy, they have not raised their prices on GPU's because they are not GREEDY like Micro Center. You can get a 3060 for $399 when they come back in stock. Don't waste your money on these idiots at Micro Center.

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/34407#Comment_34407

Greetings, thank you for your feedback. I understand the frustrations of finding a video card for purchase at this time. Our current processes are always a work in process and we do look over any feedback posted here and make adjustments as available. Currently, we offer a raffle system in which you can view information for each store's specific process at https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/8756/random-selection-process-and-faq#latest Our pricing is competitive to the current market conditions.

We do ask that you please be respectful of our community in your posts. Thank you!

Kozakura

@Mount_Russmore

Which 3060 from Best Buy are you looking at? The EVGA one? EVGA has been the cheapest 3000 series cards as they aren't tarrifed as they ship from Taiwan.

Micro Center is also selling the EVGA 3060 for $399 as well; https://www.microcenter.com/product/634181/evga-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-xc-gaming-dual-fan-12gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card

Micro Center ROG Strix 3060 for $529.99 and Best Buy's ROG Strix 3060 for $529.99

Micro Center Tuf 3060 for $509.99 and Best Buy's Tuf 3060 for $509.99

Micro Center Gigabyte Gaming Rev 3060 for $459.99 and Best Buy's Gigabyte Gaming Rev 3060 for $459.99

Micro Center Gigabyte AORUS Elite Rev 3060 for $499.99 and Best Buy's Gigabyte AORUS Elite Rev 3060 for $499.99

The only 3060 I found to be a price difference between Micro Center and Best Buy was the MSI Ventus series which both goes in favor of Best Buy at 489.99 vs 504.99 on the dual fan and the triple fan being 499.99 vs 519.99. This is only tied to the MSI brand as well as the same patterns show in the 3070 series cards with matching prices on all other brands but MSI. This doesn't sound like Micro Center is being greedy unless they really wanna upcharge MSI but maybe they are paying more for MSI cards than Best Buy is or Best Buy is taking a hit at MSI cards if they are buying at the same price.

I think pricing for cards is insane yes, but using EVGA Pricing vs ASUS/MSI pricing clearly shows how the impacts of Chinese tariffs impacts the cards. EVGA 3080 Tis are 1400 while ASUS and MSI are nearing 2k.