A Reddit user has shared a troubling experience involving an eBay transaction where they sold an RTX 4090 graphics card. Upon receiving the returned item, the seller discovered that the GPU and VRAM chips were missing, leaving only the heatsink, PCB, and, for a while, a hole in the seller’s wallet.
A couple of weeks ago, Reddit user piscian19 sold a working RTX 4090 graphics card on eBay. To their surprise, the buyer initiated a return procedure the same day they received the card, claiming the product was defective and not showing any video output. According to piscian19, the card was in pristine condition and barely used.
After receiving the returned card, piscian19 went into testing and disassembling the card while waiting for the complaint procedure to finish. BAM! Another bad surprise; removing the cooler revealed the deception, as both the GPU and VRAM chips were missing. But that’s not all, because the mounting bracket was apparently bent and the RGB wires were crossed. I guess the scammer was in a hurry to scavenge the next GPU in line.
Thankfully the seller was prudent when preparing the shipment by taking evidence of the card’s original condition. piscian19 recalls that something about the buyer set off alarm bells. Allegedly, it was a huge eBayer with tens of thousands of feedback plus a storefront. Thus, they took all the necessary steps, including pictures, insurance, and trackable shipment tier. All of this meant that when the time came to fight the buyer’s claim, piscian19 was well prepared, resulting in a positive outcome.
With that in mind, we also don’t see a reason for the owner of such a big eBay account – which takes a lot of time – to risk getting banned for one item, even if it costs a pretty penny. Chances are, their account may have been hacked. But regardless of who sat behind the screen, someone was nearly deprived of a large sum of money.
This incident highlights a worrying scam trend where buyers strip valuable products before returning them, leveraging the return policies to their advantage. Similar scams have been reported previously, such as the one involving a Hong Kong buyer who purchased an RTX 4090 through a second-hand marketplace, only to find it non-functional due to missing GPU and VRAM.
eBay is known for its rules that favour buyers over sellers, which is understandable since those are the ones bringing money in. Unfortunately, some bad actors use this privilege to scam buyers, especially ones unfamiliar with the recommended selling and shipping procedures. Not to say that there are no shady sellers, because there is good and bad on both sides.
I personally had bad experiences with such unscrupulous individuals who claim defective or not-as-described products after receiving them because they know most sellers won’t bother pursuing legal actions for low-value items. Tough luck for today’s antagonist; the value of the RTX 4090 is nothing to brush off.
