BitcoinMerch.com: Rah rah, ripoff artists (don't know where else to put this)

[The Sceptical Chymist]

As mentioned in the title, I'm not sure where to put this thread.  It has to do with GPUs, but it doesn't necessarily have to do with altcoins.  It's a bitcoin mining and miscellaneous merchandise retailer, so I guess it could go in Bitcoin Discussion, but since I'm giving some harsh criticism directed toward one entity I think this is the right section.

Got an e-mail from BitcoinMerch on 2/10 but just saw it today.  Because my e-mail host sucks and uses frames from which I can't take a complete screenshot, it's chopped up as follows:





So their big announcement is that because they took possession of a larger facility, they can store more GPUs and "We lowered all our prices just for you, so you can start mining ASAP."

Here's what pisses me off big time, and I'm hoping I don't offend any loyal customers of BitcoinMerch too badly, but if I do you'll get over it pretty quickly.  They're coming off as "We're in your corner, miners!!" but what they're actually doing is rectally sodomizing all the folks out there who desperately want to either break into ETH mining before it goes PoS or just want to pick up an extra graphics card since they've finally become available again.

The proof of said sodomy lies in Newegg.  Newegg and BitcoinMerch.com are both US companies, so the comparison is fair.  Let's go card by card, starting with the 3090.  BM is selling an ASUS ROG Strix model, whereas I could only find a Gigabyte one on Newegg, but they're both OC and both have 24GB of VRAM.  I should state here that in upcoming differences like this, when it comes to mining....if the specs are the same, that's probably all you care about.  Here's what Newegg's got:


$3099.99 vs. $2243.98.  Gouge=$856.01.

Next, the 3080 Founder's Edition (open box) which Newegg did not have.  What they did have was a brand new ASUS ROG Strix 3080 OC with the same specs bundled with a mobo:


When you look at what the card is going for all by itself:



So, $2399.99 vs. $1599.99.  Gouge=$800.  

Moving straight on to the MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super.  Newegg has the exact same card in stock:


In this case, $799.99 vs. $499.99.  Gouge=$300.  

Now, Newegg didn't stock the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC model, but they certainly did have a 3050 that could do whatever the ZOTAC one could have done (which isn't much from what I've heard).  Once again it's in one of Newegg's stupid little bundles, one of the ways they rip their customers off:


And here's the price of the 3050 if it weren't tied up to that sad little B450 piece of shit that's probably gathering dust in the warehouse:


For the crappy 3050, the ripoff from BitcoinMerch's end is $649.99 vs $379.99.  Gouge=$270.  That's the most outrageous one in this list IMO, because at Newegg you could have picked up a cheap 1650 4GB and the 3050 for what BM was charging for just the one--and both cards suck for mining anyway.

The light's at the end of the tunnel, folks.  BM lists the GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 LHR AORUS Master, whereas Newegg has what looks to be the same thing in stock (again with the combo):


And the price inside the combo:


Results: $1199.99 vs. $729.99.  Gouge=$470.

Onward to the Asus ROG GeForce RTX 3060 OC Edition.  Newegg has the same card bundled with a decent motherboard (but why???):


Price separately:


Extent of BitcoinMerch.com's fuck you to its customers: $949.99 vs. $549.99.  Gouge=$400.

And last but not least, the PowerColor HellHound AMD Radeon RX6600 which Newegg also stocks:


Distance from scrotum to sphincter in this case: $749.99 vs. $519.99.  Gouge=$230.
Now why in the world did I decide to make this thread?  Well, it's been my observation for years that anyone in the bitcoin space who's both selling you something and telling you he's looking out for you is either figuring a way to fleece you or already has the plan in place--and I've also been noticing that all the mining-based retailers that I know of are engaged in price gouging in some form or another, and they're the ones you'd think would be least likely to do that, no?

All of the prices I showed were Newegg prices, not Newegg affiliates btw.  Even a big faceless company like them is figuring out ways to get a few more dollars out of the crazed GPU miners, but it's nowhere near as bad as BitcoinMerch.com.

I think BitcoinMerch recently put their egg-fried heads together recently and came up with a new business model.  It goes like this: When GPUs become available from big box retailers again, let's scoop them all up and then jack up the prices as hard as we can and scalp anyone with a pair of eyeballs focused on 6GB or higher cards, because FUCK THOSE MINERS.

These jokers should be ashamed of themselves.  And I'd like to reiterate that they said "We lowered all our prices just for you, so you can start mining ASAP".  Uh, yeah.  Anyone who buys one of their cards should be mining from the mailbox to the porch, 'cause the time to hit the break-even point on it is basically extended to infinity by BitcoinMerch because of their greed.

Been awake many hours and if I made mistakes, let me know.  I probably did.

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[RapTarX]

The discrepancy is quite high & ridiculous IMO. May I know whether they are trying to manipulate this from the recent crisis on the market due to pandemics or they were used to having this practice all the time? I don't have much idea on hardware nor I have bought it recently.
I guess it would be a better fit in Service Discussion.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The discrepancy is quite high & ridiculous IMO. May I know whether they are trying to manipulate this from the recent crisis on the market due to pandemics or they were used to having this practice all the time? I don't have much idea on hardware nor I have bought it recently.
I guess it would be a better fit in Service Discussion.

Hey, I didn't even consider that section (and I'm not sure it's the right one either).  I'm going to let the mods decide (unless one of them directs me to move this thread).

I have no clue what was happening before the GPU crunch started, as I wasn't following the action, so to speak.  In early 2021 I started the Folding@Home project which uses CPUs and GPUs and thus became better informed as to what was going on with ETH mining, GPU availability, and so forth.  I have to say, I really did learn a lot about computer hardware in the last year.

However, despite not knowing BitcoinMerch's behavior prior to COVID, prior to whatever, what I think is this:  They see one last opportunity here since ETH should be switching to PoS fairly soon--and once that happens, nobody knows what's going to happen to GPU mining.  So it's a cash-grab on BitcoinMerch's part, plain and simple.

Here's their mottos.
Newegg:  "Welcome all you desperate and impatient GPU miners with pockets flush with cash!"
BitcoinMerch:  "All you suckers please take a seat in the room with dick-sized holes spaced on the walls at regular intervals.  You leave with a product that'll never ROI and we run off with your cash!"

I mean seriously now, who would buy anything that overpriced when Newegg is so well known?  You can even pay with bitcoin for any of those GPUs I showed.

Oh...how the hell do I resize those pics?  I did the image width=500 thing but they're still huge.  But I'm so tired right now that I'm seeing smurfs walking across my refrigerator.

[stompix]

Let's make it more about bitcoin related products then:

A special offer is this used Bitmain Antminer R4 (without PSU) at just 949.99


It's an offer you can't miss since if you go to asicminersales which indexes BitcoinMerch offers you will see the last price for it was an insanely high $799.99



The prices for everything on that site are just hilarious.
They sell a used dual core G4400 for $179.99
At least when it comes to wallets you can buy a Nano S for just $99.99, ledger sells one for $59.00 

Well, it's been my observation for years that anyone in the bitcoin space who's both selling you something and telling you he's looking out for you is either figuring a way to fleece you or already has the plan in place--and I've also been noticing that all the mining-based retailers that I know of are engaged in price gouging in some form or another, and they're the ones you'd think would be least likely to do that, no?

Exactly the opposite, whenever I see a retailer with something on stock I ask myself even before seeing the numbers what's the premium on the manufacturer price, resellers push the prices to the limits when it comes to mining gear, as higher as it is still possible for somebody to make a profit out of it with high risks. It does follow some kind of logic, why would they sell a money-making machine cheap when they could simply mine for themselves at one point.

When we talk about ASICs I've become immune to these prices and the fleecing of the customers, when I see things about video cards I sometimes wonder if we'll ever see ethereum finally switch to PoS.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

It does follow some kind of logic, why would they sell a money-making machine cheap when they could simply mine for themselves at one point.

Because they've chosen not to go into the mining business, that's why.  They're analogous to the folks in 1840 selling shovels instead of flopping around in the mud on a mad quest for gold.  It's more profitable and probably less risky, too.

But what really makes a sense of outrage boil up in me (which usually doesn't happen since I've become as cynical and jaded as you have) is that in this case BitcoinMerch was sort of presenting itself as being a part of the bigger cryptocurrency community--which technically they are, but their actions demonstrate that they're not living up to the spirit of the phrase.  Anyone who preys on the ignorant or gullible and engages in such blatant scalping ought to be shunned outright.

Question: Does BitcoinMerch have a good reputation, say, on bitcointalk?  I've never really gotten a sense of that.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Looks like I'm either spitting in the eye of a beloved crypto retailer or I'm coming off as complaining about something that most people wouldn't think twice about--and both of those may be true.

However, after I wrote the OP I did a DDG search for "bitcoinmerch.com ripoff" just for the hell of it, as I'd never seen any online reviews for them.  The first result that I thought was thorough, if lacking in evidence for a lot of its claims, was this one.  One of the interesting points the author brings up is the extreme lack of transparency as to where their base of operations is.  It's not unusual for an online retailer to lack a physical walk-in store, but after looking up 18375 Ventura Blvd Suite 320 in Tarzana, CA I found that it looks to be one of those modern strip mall/villages which have only started to appear in the past 2-3 decades.  Googsy Maps says it's here, though BitcoinMerch's name isn't listed on the sign--but who knows when the pic was taken:

                     

So I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, and I'm not going to keep bumping this thread.  I really think BM doesn't have all the cards they have for sale in hand.  I'm not even sure they get whatever stock they have from distributors; it looks like they might be doing what I joked about above, i.e., just buying GPUs from Newegg as soon as they become available and then marking them up a few hundred dollars apiece. 

That's just wrong.  I really would like to hear from anyone who's bought products from them, and I bet there are plenty.  If you disagree with me, go ahead and say so.  I encourage discussion and don't have my feet dug in on this one.

[DaveF]

That address is just a mail box place. The ones that let you get a real looking address when you might not have one.



Not saying it's bad, up until the middle of 2021 one of the larger bandwidth aggregators in downstate NY was using one to ship out and get back $100s of thousands of dollar of routers a month. So many legitimate places do use those services.

-Dave