The farce of graphics cards with tens of thousands of dollars is over?
No one could have imagined that after a year, high-end graphics cards were once again on the hot search, and it was because of the "cliff-like" price reduction.
Since March, there have been media reports that due to the increase in production capacity supply, coupled with the superposition of factors such as the cold "mining" of virtual currency, the global graphics card price has "dived" and reduced. Including NVIDIA and AMD and other large manufacturers are increasing investment, and some manufacturers' high-end graphics cards are suspected of falling below the guidance price, which also makes the majority of "waiting for the party" cheer.
Indeed, since January, the supply of the RTX30 series has increased by 15% compared with the end of 2021, and with the return of some high-end used graphics cards, the market price has indeed fallen overall. However, many people in the industry have analyzed that the price has not yet bottomed out, and high-end graphics cards will continue to dive, what is the reason for this?
Graphics
Consumers are polarized
Recently, Huaqiang North's graphics card merchants told the notes that the RTX3080 graphics card once appeared to have a "break" phenomenon, in just one week, the price of high-end graphics cards fell by 10 to 35%, and the largest drop of 3080Ti was 2,000 yuan cheaper than a week ago. However, the price of most high-end graphics cards is still higher than the guide price.
"Although the price reduction is quite large, I still plan to wait."
Ah Hao, who lives in Nanhai, Foshan, is a post-00 gamer, and he seems to want to continue to wait and see for the current high-end graphics card diving. Last June, he had planned to buy a 2K monitor and an RTX 3070Ti graphics card to upgrade the overall game quality. At that time, the monitor was bought, but he was unable to sell it because of the soaring price of the graphics card.
He told Him that the price increase of high-end graphics cards in the past six months has always exceeded his budget. As a last resort, he temporarily gave up the card purchase plan and turned to continuous wait-and-see, "The original price of the card of 4500 yuan has risen to 7000 yuan, how to start?"
Last week, after hearing that the price of high-end graphics cards "dived", Ah Hao asked the merchants he knew about the price of 3070Ti for the first time, and was told that the cheapest one still cost 4800 yuan, and the 3070Ti graphics cards of mainstream brands such as Rainbow and MSI were also priced at more than 5300 yuan.
"Compared with the price in the middle of last year, the price reduction is very large, but it is still hundreds of thousands more expensive than the guidance price." Ah Hao believes that since it has run on the 2K display for nearly a year of 1080P game quality, it is natural not to care about waiting to see if the graphics card has the possibility of further price reduction.
In a well-known game forum post on the price reduction of high-end graphics cards, understanding the notes also found that there are not a few "waiting parties" that hold the same view as Ah Hao. After all, in the nearly one year since the price of high-end graphics cards has soared, everyone has survived and does not care about waiting for more than a few weeks.
"You don't buy, I don't buy, tomorrow the graphics card will drop by three hundred", this sentence seems to have become the "ultimate belief" that firm consumers often hang on their lips. However, some people can't sit still in front of this round of price "big diving".
"I took a piece, although it is 600 yuan more expensive than the issue price (guide price), but I really don't want to wait." Last week, Li Ming (pseudonym), who lives in Longhua, Shenzhen, heard the news and rushed to check the latest prices on e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Taobao. He found that the price of Jingdong 3060Ti graphics card has not changed much, and some Pinduoduo merchants sell the same model of graphics card, which has been reduced by 400 yuan compared with last month. The offer of Huaqiang North graphics card merchants is even lower than about 600 yuan.
"Last Friday, I took advantage of Futian's side to lift the epidemic control and bought a graphics card in Huaqiang North." Li Ming told him to understand the notes that he bought a piece of 3060 Ti from a merchant he knew for 3520 yuan, although it was 521 yuan more expensive than the official guide, but he felt that it was already worth it. In the several online game exchange groups he joined, there are also many "waiting parties" who can't stand up and take advantage of the recent price loosening to buy the graphics card they have wanted for a long time. Some people sell the reason, and even worry that the price of graphics cards will rise again in the future.
It can be seen that after the high-end graphics card experienced a "big dive" in price, the consumer group seems to be polarized. Some people continue to wait and see, waiting for "total victory", some people see a good "just receive", enjoying the high-end picture quality experience that is late for nearly a year.
For many graphics card merchants, it is also slightly relieved.
Sky-high graphics cards don't go a long way
"Ordinary consumers can get started, and the price of graphics cards is already very real."
When talking about the topic of "big diving" in the price of high-end graphics cards, Huang Ge, who has operated graphics cards in Huaqiang North for many years, is slightly helpless. He told understand the notes that since the end of last year, due to the decline in the demand for graphics cards caused by the cold mining of virtual currency mining, the price was once slightly lower, but at that time, there were still some powerful agents who continued to raise prices in secret.
Entering March, due to the gradual recovery of graphics card production capacity, coupled with the ultimatum issued by graphics card manufacturers - so that agents had to put volume. Therefore, the price of high-end graphics card terminals has finally dropped significantly, which has also made the physical merchants who do retail a sigh of relief, "You know, everyone has not made much money on the 30 series (graphics card), and this year will release the 40 series." ”
Huang Ge revealed that after the release of NVIDIA's 30 series graphics card and AMD's 6000 series graphics card in 2021, due to mining fever and insufficient production capacity under the epidemic, the price has risen sharply. The original price graphics card has never even appeared in the terminal, and the 3060Ti, priced at 2999 yuan, once rose by more than 8000 yuan.
Sky-high graphics cards have triggered consumer dissatisfaction. A large number of gamers announced that they were "watching on the wall" and became the "party of graphics cards and so on" until the appearance of price cuts. In the past six months, although the price of graphics cards has been slightly loosened several times, more and more people continue to wait for the price of graphics cards to be reduced, which has also invisibly strengthened the ranks of "waiting for the party".
"In March, before the big price reduction for graphics cards, we were able to sell four or five high-end graphics cards a day in our store. In May and June, when the price of graphics cards was the highest last year, the store could not sell four or five yuan a month, which was too bleak. As for the reason, he determined that it was because the price of the graphics card was inflated and the user "gambled" to boycott (wait and see).
Obviously, even if the sky-high-end graphics card premium, profits are considerable, but for retailers, compared to agents to grasp the pricing power, scalper hoarding, these retailers who sell a piece to get a piece (profit) must be shipped, it is difficult to make money without going, "the previous generation of 20 series, 5000 series graphics cards, when the fire can sell dozens of hundreds of dollars a day." ”
Seeing that the first quarter of 2022 has ended, in the second half of the year, Nvidia, AMD or the release of a new generation of high-end graphics cards, many "waiting parties" began to focus on a new generation of products.
If the high-end graphics cards on sale are not significantly reduced in price, with the passage of time, the user's consumption demand will gradually decrease, which will eventually lead to a large number of products rotting in the hands of agents. Therefore, there is this round of price reduction tide.
"At present, the price of high-end graphics cards is reduced, and the party of waiting is already very attractive, and the sales in our store are also increasing." He admits that as some consumers who can't help buying high-end graphics cards, the business in the store has now improved significantly, "in the past week, almost every day can sell sixty or seventy yuan."
As for whether the price of high-end graphics cards still has room to fall, Huang Ge said after careful consideration: "It is very difficult, and it is not recommended that the party continue to wait and see the price reduction of high-end graphics cards." "After all, despite the release of graphics card production capacity, the virtual coin mining fever does not know when it will make a comeback and push up the price of high-end graphics cards again."
According to these statements, has the price of high-end graphics cards fallen to the bottom? How far is the "Wait party" from a total victory?
Scalpers will fall after dumping stocks
In addition to the physical stores of Taobao, Pinduoduo and Huaqiang North, the price of the new graphics card on Idle Fish is lower. ”
On a game forum, some netizens compared the current price of new graphics cards in some channels, and found that on the second-hand e-commerce platform Idle Fish, some of the so-called new graphics cards and inventory graphics cards sold by my merchants had the lowest price, and even 100 to 200 yuan lower than the quotation of Huaqiang North merchants.
According to the clues provided by netizens, I understand the notes on the idle fish platform to search for some graphics card models + "new" keywords, and indeed found a large number of merchants who are selling new high-end graphics cards: taking the RTX1060Ti graphics card as an example, the quotation of the same model Huaqiang North is 3500 yuan, but the merchant only reports 3300 yuan.
Carefully check the detail page of the product, it is written "new graphics card, 300 pieces, can not be sold without selling", which makes people very confused. In the comment area of the product, many users pointed out the identity of the merchant in a ridiculous way - scalpers.
"Let you hoard goods, self-inflicted sins can not live", "continue to sell at a high price, 1060Ti ten thousand pieces", "300 I 800 (yuan) received" and other messages, you can see the anger of netizens and players towards scalpers. More buyers commented that they resolutely do not buy scalper goods and let the graphics card rot in the hands of scalpers.
"The scalpers who were the first to sweep the goods from the hands of large agents at the original price and at low prices now do not dare to cover the goods." Digital geeks and review bloggers "Dayuan" told me to understand the notes that at the beginning of the listing of 30 series and 5000 series graphics cards, some big scalpers put a large number of high-end graphics cards at the original price, slightly higher than the original price.
Their purpose is to wait for the market to run out of stock and the price to rise, and then sell it to retailers and ordinary consumers at a high price to make more substantial profits. How to be more than half a year consumers, gamers "gamble" to boycott the sky-high-end graphics card, resulting in many big scalpers still have a lot of inventory.
In the case of high-end graphics card prices continue to rise, big scalpers are not afraid of resistance, can continue to hold the plate, high prices are not willing to sell. However, nowadays, mining is cold, the production capacity of manufacturers is released, and the large agents have taken the lead in putting the volume, so that the price of high-end graphics cards has fallen sharply, and scalpers naturally cannot sit still.
"At present, the price of most high-end graphics cards, although it is hundreds or 1,000 higher than the original price, has fallen a lot." Dayuan said that the reason why scalpers began to sell graphics cards is that as the supply of graphics cards recovers, the price of high-end graphics cards may continue to decline until it falls back to the guide price - or even "break".
In this way, a large number of graphics cards purchased at high prices are bound to rot in the hands of scalpers. In order to avoid blood losses, scalpers can only take advantage of the fact that the price of the graphics card has not yet fallen back to the guide price, at a price lower than the retailer's home, attract the unstable "wait party" to pick up the leak and quickly clean up the inventory in their hands.
"There are real scalpers who sell graphics cards at low prices on idle fish, and there are also some 'exercised' mining cards." Dayuan stressed that since the sharp price reduction of high-end graphics cards, a large number of bad merchants have also appeared on the Internet, peddling mining cards packaged into inventory graphics cards at low prices under various banners.
Therefore, he suggested that consumers who intend to buy high-end graphics cards may wish to wait a little longer, and after the retail price of graphics cards falls and stabilizes, they can buy their favorite graphics cards from formal channels to avoid buying mining cards (losing mrs. and folding soldiers): "Now that the virtual currency is cold, there will soon be a batch of mining cards retired, which is likely to flow into the renovation market." ”
Compared with the high-end graphics card with tens of thousands of yuan a year ago, the current graphics card price "big dive" does make the majority of "and so on" see hope, with the further decline in the price of graphics cards, the sky-high graphics card farce that lasted for nearly a year is also expected to come to an end.
Will the future high-end graphics card market return to rationality?