AMD RX 9070 pricing impacted by flawed “Selective Rebate” system

Analysts uncover deep flaws within the GPU market – High AMD RX 9070 pricing blamed on AMD’s “Selective Rebate” system

AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 series launched with higher stocking levels than any other GPU launch of 2025. Despite this, retail stock dried up fast, even though most GPUs were sold at prices far above AMD’s official MSRPs. Hardware Unboxed has revealed that AMD and their “Selective Rebate” system may be to blame for this.

Gamers are angry at the pricing of modern GPUs. Today, MSRP prices are seen as a “joke” and not as a “Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price.” Seeing baseline GPU models sell at prices far above MSRP is commonplace, and “premium” models sell with a much higher mark-up. For Nvidia GPUs, GPUs at MSRP pricing are practically non-existent. While AMD’s GPUs are closer to their MSRPs, they are still seen as overpriced. Should a premium model of a £569.99 MSRP GPU cost £799.99?

What is AMD’s “Selective Rebate” system

As we reported before AMD’s RX 9070 XT launch, AMD supported retailers to let them sell GPUs at their MSRP price of $599.99 (£569.99 in the UK). Without these rebates, retailers cannot sell AMD’s GPUs at their MSRP price? Why? Because retailers need to sell products at a higher price than what they purchased them for.

Hardware Unboxed has stated that AMD’s RX 9070 series GPUs were being sold to retailers by distributors at prices that were above AMD’s MSRP. It has been alleged that this was because AMD originally planned to sell their RX 9070 series GPUs at higher prices. Once AMD revealed their RX 9070 series prices, retailers should have been given rebates for their entire stock of graphics cards to reflect their official pricing. This where AMD’s “Selective Rebates” come in.

(Prices Radeon RX 9070 XT Sales Price to Retailers in Jaunay – via Hardware Unboxed)

Hardware Unboxed has claimed that AMD has only given “selective rebases” to a select number of graphics cards to enable MSRP pricing. Premium models received no rebates from AMD, and rebates are limited to a certain number of graphics cards. Once AMD’s rebated GPUs sold, retailers were forced to sell the same GPUs at higher prices.

Thankfully, future shipments of GPUs should be sold to distributors and retailers at corrected prices, allowing them to be sold at more reasonable prices. However, this assumes that there is enough supply to meet demand. If not, there is space for AIBs, distributors, and retailers to hike up pricing.

AMD says that MSRP pricing will be “encouraged” after launch

AMD and their AIB partners are working to replenish RX 9070 series GPU stock. If they can ship enough GPUs to retailers, they will avoid potential supply-related price-hikes. AMD’s Frank Azor has confirmed that the company will continue encouraging MSRP pricing after launch. However, it remains to be seen if this will happen.

The GPU market is complex, but that doesn’t mean a GPU’s MSRP value should be meaningless. If a manufacturer tells you a price, you should expect to be able to purchase that product at that price. Manufacturers need to push harder to ensure that their MSRP prices are not meaningless values, and limit how expensive so-called “premium” GPU models can be. Should a premium GPU cost 20+% more than a standard model when performance is nigh-identical?

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