For well over 2 years, it’s been nearly impossible to buy graphics cards, PS5’s, Xbox’s, and more recently, DDR5. Some of this is attributable to the rise of crypto-currency mining, new technologies coming to market, chip shortages, labor shortages, and a host of other possibilities. But no matter how you slice it, scalpers are buying these up using automated scan and purchase bots. They can often sell these items at double the retail price. And as long as that continues, we can expect to get gouged and have shortages.

There is some hope however.

Queues and purchase opportunity drawings – check your favorite product websites. Many of them are trying to make things more fair

• EVGA has created its Queue system in which users can sign up for a small number of graphics cards they want – and then get 24 hours to buy when they come up in the queue. I did this in 2021, and after about 8 months my number came up to buy a nVidia 3090. The rules for the queue have changed several times, so be sure to read them before registering for the cards you want.
• Newegg now has a daily Newegg Shuffle in which they sell very hard to find items. I bought some DDR5 this way after a lot of trying every day. It took about 2 month of daily attempts to win a chance to buy some DDR5. Unfortunately, they are now bundling many of their offerings with really overpriced additional components (graphics cards with $100 power supplies) – so be sure to check the resell value of the bundled items before buying. Many are grossly overpriced to the point of negating the whole deal. And no, you can’t return just the item you don’t want later for a refund.
• Sony has a registration system to

Stock Trackers – There are Youtube, Twitch, and Discord channels that constantly check and notify you of items in stock. Here’s some examples of the countless ones out there:

• https://www.twitch.tv/falcodrin
• https://discord.com/invite/stockdrops

Stock Tracking Services – Just as scalpers are using bots to immediately detect desirable items being in stock and snatch them up, there are companies now providing this as a service.

• https://www.hotstock.io/us
• https://www.nowinstock.net/
• https://www.stockinformer.com/checker-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-3080-3090

Retail locations:

• BestBuy has been one of the best retailers for getting graphics cards in stock. They have also done customers a huge favor by the website notifying you that a graphic card is in stock, but you must go in person to order and pick it up. While this seems inconvenient, this keeps the bots and auto-buyers from just snatching everything in your area up automatically.
• Walmart Plus gives the first opportunity to buy Playstations/Xboxes to their Plus subscribers. I purchased my PS5 this way. But you have to be there right when the ordering opens. Within 5 minutes the stock sold out.