Here's another story of a 'blunder' by Amazon, where the user ordered the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, only to receive a brick worth $1,000.
Imagine Spending $1,000 On Purchasing a GPU From Amazon, Only To Receive a Brick; Well, It Could Happen to You As Well
The retail segment certainly has exciting stories and incidents for us, and while they do indicate the 'mishaps' present in the supply chain, it is often pleasant (pun intended) to report them to our viewers. Similarly, a Reddit user, GlassHistorical5303, reported last week that he ordered PNY's GeForce RTX 5080 from Amazon, which was worth around $1,000. Interestingly, he received a brick in return, wrapped around the anti-static bag. This caused a whole new debate at Reddit, questioning Amazon's retail policies, but it was kind of the tech giant to issue a refund.
If you are still confused, there's a reason why the packaging had a brick rather than the actual GPU onboard, and it is the aftermath of Amazon's FBA logistics. Now, imagine if you ordered the GeForce RTX 5080 instead of the Redditor. As the retailer, Amazon would search for an entirely different seller with the same stock and then ship the product out without checking its contents apart from the weight and desired packaging. This is an emerging problem for the retailer, and there have been many cases where buyers have seen bogus items being sent out instead of the actual ones.
The other possibility is that someone ordered the same GeForce RTX 5080 SKU, removed the actual GPU, and then returned it with a brick inside. Amazon's refund services probably didn't evaluate the contents of the packaging and had put it back into the inventory, which meant that the next buyer would have to suffer. Either way, there are precautions that consumers must take to ensure that they get the correct item, even while buying through one of the most trusted marketplaces, such as Amazon.
- Prefer 'Sold and Shipped by Amazon' items to ensure complete transparency.
- Evaluate package contents at the very beginning by recording the unboxing process. This will allow for a stronger refund case if a mishap happens.
- After unboxing, check the GPU's serial number against the AIB vendor's official database or warranty site (e.g., ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte). This ensures the product is brand-new and not previously registered, refurbished, or tampered with.
It's fortunate for the Redditor here to have his purchase refunded, although he claims it was a hectic process. But he managed to save $1,000 instead of keeping a brick, which was a win-win situation for him.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
