Nvidia RTX 5090 eBay Price Soars to $9,000 as Users Revolt With Framed Photo Listings to Trick Bots and Scalpers

The highly anticipated RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs launched yesterday, immediately becoming a hot commodity. High demand and limited supply resulted in rapid sellouts across most retail channels, leaving many prospective buyers disappointed.

Consequently, both GPUs, particularly the RTX 5090, are experiencing significant price inflation on resale platforms like eBay. Shortly after launch, RTX 5090s were fetching over $6,000, with prices subsequently skyrocketing to a staggering $9,000—a 350% markup over the MSRP of $1,999.

This exorbitant pricing is driven by the RTX 5090's suitability for both gaming and demanding AI workloads. Startups and businesses involved in AI are eager to acquire these chips for local model processing. With Nvidia's datacenter GPUs often out of reach for many, the RTX 5090 becomes a viable, albeit expensive, alternative.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 – Photos

5 ImagesThe gaming community's response to the scarcity and rampant scalping is...interesting. eBay is now flooded with fraudulent listings designed to deceive buyers. These listings offer not the coveted GPU, but a photograph of it.

One listing explicitly states: "Bots and scalpers welcome, do not buy if you are a human, you will be getting a framed photo of the 5090, you will not receive the 5090. The photo detentions [sic] is 8 inches by 8 inches, I got the frame from Target. DO NOT BUY IF YOU’RE A HUMAN.”

Another listing, which sold for $2,457, bluntly advertised: “Geforce RTX 5090 (read description) Picture Only - Not the Actual Item,” with a similar disclaimer regarding non-refundable image purchases.

This situation highlights the lack of competition in the high-end consumer GPU market. With AMD's RX 9070 series unlikely to challenge Nvidia's dominance, and Intel trailing behind, Nvidia holds a near-monopoly. The current shortage and inflated prices paint a bleak outlook for high-end PC builders and enthusiasts.