RTX 30XX Online Orders

tschmal
tschmal
Name Dropper First Comment
edited June 2021 in General Discussion

Sorry if this has already been addressed...


Why are you not allowing online orders for the RTX 30 cards? It seems like it would be much safer and more efficient to load the stock online each day they deliver, and allow online pickup orders, rather than having people line up each day in the hopes of just MAYBE getting a card. The current way is not very good for social distancing, and leads to alot of disappointment for those who don't arrive two hours early. You can also easily cancel the order if there are stock issues, but it shouldn't be an issue if you accurately load the stock when they come in.

Comments

  • I'm guessing they don't wanna address this... skipping it and answering other stuff...

  • Apologies for the delay, it's not that I don't want to address this, it's just that I'd like to give you a correct answer.

    I don't have a direct answer for you at this time, but I have inquired with leadership about this.

    I can give you my opinion, but know that this is only my opinion and doesn't reflect the views or opinions of Micro Center.


    My assumption would be that they are doing their best to allow customers who are available in-person to be able to purchase a new card for either their system or their new build. Allowing someone in person over someone who can set up a script to automatically reserve a card.

    I do know that they have taken steps to ensure a safe shopping environment and they have posted the changes on the website.

    I get your frustration with not being able to purchase a GPU, however, it's nearly impossible to purchase a GPU anywhere right now. Not just a Micro Center. Since Micro Center is a brick-and-mortar store, I would think they would prefer local customers in the store over customers who are not.

    I hope my opinions are able to answer your questions.

  • Thanks, I appreciate you trying to answer. My main source of frustration is that the online inventory, in my experience, is not correct. I can drive the half hour to get there and find they're out of stock, and come home to find it still saying in stock (Limited Availability anyway) - several cards still say this now. What does Limited even mean? More than one?

    I certainly understand wanting to prevent bots from buying up everything, but there are some pretty decent bot controls out there now that can be implemented. Sorry for showing my frustration, I know you're just trying to help.

  • I can understand that as well. To my understanding of the way that the system at Micro Center works, they have to add the item to their inventory for it to be sold. When the item is added to the inventory it is added to the website's inventory, as the website shows a live inventory of what is available in the store.

    That website should update about every 15 minutes. The key thing to note here is that it can be askew due to extenuating circumstances, i.e. Customers purchasing items as soon as the store opens, vouchers handed out, or others.

    Hopefully, things will return to some sort of normal as far as inventory goes. It would be nice to have an inventory level that could match the demand.

    I'm sure that Micro Center would love to sell you a GPU if they had them readily available. 😊

  • I'm sure they would! It would just be nice if they made it easier than "come in, maybe we have cards, maybe not!" Online pickup orders from verified customers seems the best way, at least to me. Hell I'd even send them a copy of my ID and a selfie if it made them feel comfortable that I'm not a bot.

  • I'll gladly pass along the suggestions and feedback you've made here but I do believe that they might be working on something along those lines, but I'm not able to confirm anything.

  • This mirrors a post I made about AMD CPUs but Microcenter needs to do a better job of getting highly sought after products in the hands of their customers with 8-5 jobs. The difficulty I'm having finding an RTX 3080 for my son's PC led me to take the morning off work and co stand outside in the cold from 6am (to find myself about 16th in line) until a store employee came outside to tell the 30-40 people gathered with me that there would be no cards today. I can't really afford to do this.


    This mechanism of purchasing gpus/cpus will only work for scalpers, or folks without 8-5 obligations. The core Microcenter customers will literally be left out in the cold if they don't come up with a more egalitarian solution.

  • Hey @Modern

    Thanks for sharing your feedback here about our current processes. I know it's a difficult time for us all right now since there is such a limit on all these CPUs and GPUs. I've recently noticed that we're starting to see ample stock of the 5600X and 5800X CPUs, so I'm hopeful that we'll start to see the same for GPUs in the near future.

    I know that our corporate teams are still working on ways to improve this and other processes in our stores. I'd be happy to pass this along to the correct teams!

  • ZimEatsWaffles
    edited March 2021

    registered just to chime in on this thread. Completely agree with @Modern the way it's set up, having to go to the store, wait outside for 2 hours only to find out there was no new shipment today is unsustainable for the majority of working people. It's not really the fact that the products are hard to find, it's that there is no good information on it other than "you have to go to the store". Many of us cannot just go to the store.

    I had the unfortunate experience of driving out to my 'local' MicroCenter (it's an hour away) on the 3060 launch because the online inventory remained consistent for a couple hours in the afternoon. There's no number to call to verify, I refreshed dozens of times and so I thought oh great, maybe this launch is actually successful. Took the afternoon off, drove over only to find out from the store employee they sold out within the first minute because enough people had waited outside and to not ever trust the online inventory. I've worked computer retail before so.. really shame on me for believing the inventory was accurate, but I figured hey it's 2021 maybe it's right. Would've really appreciated a way to contact the store to check on stock, would've saved me a 2 hour trip.

    /endrant

  • I certainly understand @ZimEatsWaffles, the past several launches have not been the greatest because of the high demand. We try to be fair to everyone by operating on a first come first serve basis. This has the shortfall of those waiting at the store opening getting them first before others can make it in. We are actively working on ways to improve the process but we will continue to pass on any feedback we receive.

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