About the author
–
–
Last week in the United States, not only players had a problem with booking a PlayStation 5, but also new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards. As it turns out, in the latter case it was a big “contribution” to the bots. The manufacturer decided to apologize to all dissatisfied consumers.
The demand for “Greens” ‘new graphics systems was gigantic. Moments after the sale went live on September 17, 2020, Nvidia’s online store was literally flooded with web traffic, and within a minute regular consumers could no longer buy the product.
The American corporation apologized for the inconvenience that occurred. She also identified the cause of this – bots.
The practice of “scalping” using bots has cut off honest consumers from Nvidia cards
Scalping is a popular practice of mass-buying of products that are expected to be in high demand. People who do scalping tend to buy a product on a large scale expecting it to sell out, and then sell it themselves at an increased price. You don’t even need to think too much to understand how honest consumers like this practice. It is also illegal in 15 states in the USA (where, in addition to fines, there is also jail).
The quick wipe of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 card stock was due to the use of bots and other automated buying tools that helped aggressive pseudo-traders gain an edge over normal people.
To minimize the effects of this chaos, Nvidia decided to analyze each order itself to determine which were made by humans and which were made by bots.
This is part of a bigger problem. In theory, there is a legal mechanism in the US to prevent this type of action (Better Online Tickets Sales Act), but its enforcement is the other side of the coin. The phenomenon, of course, is not unique to the United States, as we see it everywhere. Some European countries such as the UK and Sweden also made it illegal. It seems, however, that much more initiative on this subject is needed worldwide.
– .
