Cutting corners: Users on China’s Weibo platform are reporting that Japanese PC retailers are blocking the sale of graphics cards to tourists. These new policies may be a response to international scalpers, as Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and 5080 remain critically scarce. Initially, retailers attempted to deter scalpers by withholding tax-free benefits, but with GPUs selling well above MSRP in markets like China, there still appears to be enough incentive for buyers to fly in, purchase a GPU, and resell it later.
Even four months after launch, Nvidia’s latest high-end graphics cards remain difficult to acquire, especially at MSRP. Low stock made Japan’s GPU market chaotic from the start, but retailers there have started restricting exports to maintain supply for domestic customers.
A photo taken at a hardware store in Osaka’s Nipponbashi district shows a sign in Chinese warning that the RTX 5090 and 5080 will not be sold for use outside the country. The retailer likely aims to dissuade foreign customers from reselling the GPUs in China, where flagship cards are not officially available.
According to Sina Finance, Japanese stores initially tried to curb tax-free purchases, hoping to reduce the profitability of high-end GPUs for scalpers. However, prices for Nvidia’s RTX 50 series may be so inflated that taxes alone are not a sufficient deterrent.
In March, a Micro Center in Dallas almost instantly sold out its stock of 5090 cards despite an 85 percent markup. It’s unclear how Japanese retailers plan to ensure that GPUs they sell remain in the country, especially since local residents could simply pass the cards along to tourists.
Initial launch stock for the RTX 5090 and 5080 was so low that some accused Nvidia of staging a paper launch. Retailers in several countries reported receiving fewer than 100 units – and in some cases, fewer than 10 – causing customers to resort to extreme measures.
In the US, many prospective customers camped in front of Micro Center locations. When a PC Koubou in Japan held a lottery for the opportunity to buy a GPU, some people climbed a fence at an adjacent kindergarten and destroyed a sign.
The lukewarm critical reception to the RTX 50 series makes the ongoing hype even more surprising. Our reviews of the RTX 5090 and 5080 described them as disappointing upgrades over the RTX 40 lineups. Mid-range models like the RTX 5070 and the 8GB variant of the 5060 Ti, while likely more widely available, offer even fewer improvements over their predecessors.
Nvidia is expected to launch the mainstream RTX 5060 on May 19. At $300, it will likely become the lineup’s most popular GPU, despite its unacceptably small 8GB VRAM pool. AMD’s 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT is reportedly set to debut the following day.
