As we all know altcoin mining has led retailers to completely sell out their GPU stock. With decreasing supply and an ever increasing demand, re-sellers took advantage of this and began marking up the prices for GPUs. Here are some examples of the crazy prices
| Name/Model | MSRP Price | Marked Up Price |
| AMD Radeon RX 570 | $170 | $349.99 |
| AMD Radeon RX 580 | $230 | $399.99 |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
| $250 | $369.99 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 | $500 | $729.99 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | $700 | $1199.99 |
These marked up prices are ridiculous and will cut into mining profits. Luckily, there are multiple ways to get GPUs at or near MSRP, and I'm here to share some of these methods.
EVGA Step-Up Program
EVGA has a program called step-up in which they allow you to purchase an EVGA branded GPU from an authorized reseller (at marked up prices) and trade them in for a better card once it comes back in stock. The great thing about this program is that as long as you keep the receipt, you can take whatever you paid for the marked up card and subtract it from the MSRP of the better card.
For Example: I buy an EVGA GTX 1060 6GB from Best Buy for $400. I sign up for EVGA's Step-Up Program, and request for the 1080ti. When they have a 1080ti in stock, I will then ship my 1060 to EVGA, and they will ship the 1080ti to me. Let's assume the MSRP for an EVGA 1080ti is $800. Because I paid $400 for my 1060 (which is marked up), I only have to pay $400 extra for the tradein. At the end of the day, I essentially bought a brand new 1080ti at MSRP.
You can view the specific terms and conditions from the EVGA WebsiteMonitor Official Websites for Restocks
Another way you can get cards at their standard prices is by buying them as soon as they restock. This requires you to be quick as many others will be attempting to do the same thing. However, you can give yourself an advantage by using these 2 tools:
nowinstock: An extremely useful site that tracks whether an item is in stock as well as the price. If you want to snag a GPU as soon as it restocks, you can turn on email/text notifications for specific items.
distill.io: For the more technically inclined user. Setup web hooks and alerts to notify you whenever a specific part/element on a website changes. Simply set it up to notify you when the "Out of Stock" changes and you will know exactly when a certain GPU gets restocked
Buy Discounted Full Builds
A lot of gamers/non-miners who previously wanted to build a PC end up buying a pre-built machine due to the skyrocket in GPU prices. Companies like Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo have deals with the GPU manufacturers so they get them at a discount. In turn, they are able to offer prebuilt PC's at a lower price than what their parts are worth. Because we only need the GPU for mining and not the rest of the computer, what you would have to do if you decide to go this route is sell off the other parts. A "good" deal is one when the (Money Spent on Prebuilt - Money Received from Selling Parts) is less than or equal to the MSRP of the GPU
A common place I go to browse prebuilt deals is buildapcsalesBuying Pre-Owned Cards
As long as the previous owner treated their GPU well, a pre-owned card should preform no different than a brand new card during mining. Oftentimes people will sell their old GPU's when they upgrade to newer ones, and once in a while you will see a very good deal.
Common places where people sell GPU's include Craigslist, Facebook, and Ebay. I would try to avoid ebay as they tend to have a ton of scammers and resellers. My personal favorite place for pre-owned GPU's is
Hardwareswap, as the reputation system really helps you avoid wasting time. Remember to only pay using paypal goods and services when buying from strangers as that is the best way to be protected from scams.
Conclusion
I hope you guys find this guide useful the next time you want to buy more GPUs for your mining rigs. I'm always open to feedback and would love to have a discussion on the GPU market if you have any questions.
Thanks!
