What happens to GPU's and CPU's that stores like Microcenter don't sell?

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

Do they just get scrapped?

For example an RX 6950XT is available for about 5500DKK in a store, they have 20+ available.

If these don't sell (likely as newer hardware is available) what will happen to them typically?

[Senzelian]

They can be written off and recycled, they can be sold on auctionsites such as eBay or sometimes they might also get bought back by the manufacturer, but afaik that rarely happens.

 

They might also be offered to employees at special discounts.

[Edgar R. Zakarian]

2 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

They can be written off and recycled, they can be sold on auctionsites such as eBay or sometimes they might also get bought back by the manufacturer, but afaik that rarely happens.

 

They might also be offered to employees at special discounts.

Time to find a new part-time job hahah!

[jaslion]

11 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

They can be written off and recycled, they can be sold on auctionsites such as eBay or sometimes they might also get bought back by the manufacturer, but afaik that rarely happens.

 

They might also be offered to employees at special discounts.

Only 2 options missing:

 

1. they go missing because its dead stock (into the missing items backpack)

2. They are disposed into the trashcan known as employees backpack after being written off

3. They sit forever on a shelf in store or the warehouse which actually happens a lot

[venomtail]

Realistically nothing really goes unsold. PC parts age so quickly that its safer for sellers to be out of stock than have unsold parts. If parts really remained unsold then the product must had been a flop and likely the manufacturer would order a buyback of their failed product so that stores aren't left with the bill, cause if they would these same stores would then aka "shadowban" the maker of the product they didn't manage to sell nor paid to take the unsold stock back. 

[paddy-stone]

It depends on the stores. If they're big stores like the aforementioned, then as above. Some smaller stores though operate on a sale or return model with some manufacturers/wholesale stores, which as it sounds means of they don't sell they return them for a rebate on the money they paid. This gives some smaller stores a much better chance at surviving in the retail world.

[ToboRobot]

Depending on if a retail store owns the inventory or not, a store will generally try to mark down (reduce price) and sell everything eventually, it depends on when they want to take the hit to their books.

If the product isn't owned by the retailer, there are terms for when the product will be returned to the distributor/manufacturer.

[tkitch]

They'll sell.
Eventually there will be a discount, and they get sold at a small loss, or something
Or they get sent back to HQ and HQ deals with it

[Lurking]

Nothing remotely useful will get destroyed. Prices get adjusted over time till it is sold.

 

Totally obsolete item ( like 5 year old dual core CPU) probably first get sold on eBay to tinkerers. If that fails, 3rd World, or scrapped. But a regular dealer wouldn't let things age that long. And the pandemic probably cleaned out all new old stock anyway. 

 

Shrinkage in BM stores is about 1-2%. Half stolen by staff, the other half by customers. Not sure how online stores are impacted, but it sure exists. 

 

Not all stores have great electronic tracking. Our local home improvement store for months showed item in stock that literally weren't there when I specifically wanted those multiple times. Some shrinkage or error that never gets corrected. I think once a year they do inventory to correct that 

[BrandonLatzig]

And for those who *might* be thinking it
No, I doubt they just throw them in the dumpster out back, at most back there is legit broken things, and probably cardboard

[abit-sean]

When I used sell motherboards to major retailers they were always under sale or return.  Meaning any unsold item after a certain time period would be returned and refunded. These types of contracts were reserved for very large quantities, normally nationwide stores. In UK it was PC world now known as Currys. 

[Echothedolpin]

23 hours ago, BrandonLatzig said:

And for those who *might* be thinking it
No, I doubt they just throw them in the dumpster out back, at most back there is legit broken things, and probably cardboard

Having worked for a major electronics retailer about 20 years ago, they were recycling (through the manufacturer) or returning to the manufacturer approximately 97% of all unsold consumer electronics both white goods and brown box. The rest were clearanced in bulk to resellers and less than a tenth of a percent were considered shrink (theft or bad counts.) Nothing was thrown in the dumpster (the compactor went straight into a sealed container that was not human-accessible locally) or even recycled locally that wasnt plastic or cardboard.

 

The control system for all of this wasn’t tremendously complex at the individual store level and you had internal inspection at 100% levels at least once a year and random spot checks monthly or quarterly.

 

No one was sneaking much of anything ‘out the back,’ and keeping their job long.

 

It did happen but it wasn’t like your local bakery.