Perhaps email your local University economics dept to find out why people will pay [well] over MSRP for a product.

A few factors. First, those prices are not for the Founders Edition, the MSRP is just for the Founders Edition. Card manufacturers add features (for some value of features) and charge for it.

Further, the MSRP is just a suggestion, and a weak one at that. If hardly anyone wanted the cards, would you be asking why some people would buy them below MSRP as stores tried to get rid of stock?

Finally, people have disposable income and really want the cards. People buy expensive cars for no good reason other than that they want them and they can. That's how the market works.

Personally I was ready for the 5090, as I had an aging 2080 Ti and by the time 4090 were in stock I thought the 50-series would be around the corner and held out. The MSRP was high but I could afford that. If I were single I could afford 2x the MSRP, and perhaps I would have shelled out if one were available.

MSRP is largely meaningless for top end GPUs.

The price is whatever the market will bear

It's the best. For people who want the absolute best, they're willing to pay whatever it takes.

I spent more than that on a camera lens to take pictures of birds.

I know multiple people in a local astrophotography club who have spent 30x that to take pictures of distant celestial objects for fun.

People have hobbies, and money.

In the case of the 5090 many people are using them to make money, so the price is dictated in no small part by how much money they are able to make using them.

Jesus Christ. Definitely a different world, judging by these comments. So sad that money became the yardstick with which to acquire and value everything. Capitalism, uay

Can you send a link to where I can buy it for the MSRP? If the answer is “no,” then that’s why people pay x2 the MSRP… because they receive the thing in exchange for money.

The MSRP doesn't make sense because since the crypto boom, we've seen that people are willing to pay way more for GPUs. Now with the AI boom it's even more obvious.

$4,000 is a reasonable price in the US because of the high income. The average monthly salary in my country is $500 but a few people are still buying those cards at $4,000. A lot are buying on credit or even taking loans.

I bet if the cards start selling at $6,000 people would still buy them.

At this point, graphics card MSRPs are just coolers for presentations. Like, look, we have such amazing cards for only $2k! Sounds much better than "you can't afford it anyway, otherwise expect $4-6k depending on bids in the long queue".