Amazon restricts some Nvidia RTX 50 and AMD Radeon 9070 GPU sales to Prime members

In brief: Amazon is trying to help gamers buy certain RTX 5000 and Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards while also deterring scalpers by allowing only Prime members to purchase the GPUs. Unfortunately, they are already sold out.

Several companies have implemented ways of trying to stop scalpers and bots from grabbing the latest graphics cards as soon as they're in stock.

As spotted by Club386, Amazon's method is to make some of the Nvidia and AMD cards it sells available only to Prime subscribers.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 models, as well as the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, are the cards exclusive to Prime members. However, not every one of these third-party products is locked behind a subscription. RTX 5090 cards and the RTX 40 and 30 series aren't affected, either.

Club386 found at least nine Nvidia cards that included a "reserved for Prime members" warning. Users are unable to add these cards to their basket unless they log in with an existing Prime subscription or join the $15 per month/$139 per year service. Non-members who try to buy one will see the checkout icon replaced with a Join Prime link that directs users to the signing-up process.

There are also at least five RDNA 4 cards that are reserved for prime members, including the XFX Quicksilver Radeon RX 9070 OC and Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT.

While anything that could help put graphics cards into the hands of gamers should be applauded, don't expect to be able to buy a new GPU just because you're signed up for Prime. As is the case with every other retailer, all the cards that are paywalled – and those that aren't – on Amazon are now out of stock.

Moreover, Amazon's cards are still priced way above their MSRPs, and the delivery times can be as long as two weeks.

Amazon isn't the only company trying to fight card scalpers. Nvidia's Verified Priority Access program allows active Nvidia account holders to buy one GeForce RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 Founders Edition, but numbers are limited.

Card maker Zotac also introduced a method for loyal community members to buy RTX 50-series cards in February. The program offers priority access to members of the Zotac Gaming Discord server. However, it seems the company has been offering hardly any cards through this service.