Scarlet-Tech
If mom and pop stores want to get in on promos, they need to partner with companies that offer the same deals they want to be in on, and they need to become authorized retailers.. plain and simple.

I understand people are going to find fault with every single offer that is put out there, but there are repercussions for not buying from authorized retailers that.. such as warranties.. If a user buys from an unauthorized mom and pop store, they may forfeit full warranty, as the card would be considered second hand. If the stores are partnered with EVGA, and become an authorized retailer, there would be no complaints because they would get the game code and will always get full warranty.

Why is this? It stops people from buying products from unauthorized retailers and retailers that may have acquired the product in a less than favorable way.

Even buying from some authorized retailers, like best buy, the warranties may be completely different as best buy has it own part numbers (great way to avoid price matching, since the part numbers aren't the same).

These promos are not forcing false stock issues.. bitcoin mining is. There is a difference. Especially since you can buy any brand nvidia card and get the promo. If users strictly want the promo, they can pick from many brands, just review the nvidia authorized partner list.

Scarlet-Tech

masada
Becoming a preferred or authorized dealer with companies like EVGA and Nvida is often not just as simple as partnering LOL. It usually has ties to volume of min buys and quotas of product that need to be sold.

Mom and Pop shop want to be featured on a x brand vendors site, you have to purchase large sums of product from x vendor. If you don't have that kind of capital, you get it from a middle man or a distributor that EVGA or brand x sells to knowing full well where the cards are going to go and its usually part of a distribution strategy.
 
If the warranty isn't the same regardless of where I buy it from or where the retailer buys it from then that's shady business I don't care what brand it is. that being said I've never had issues with EVGA branded cards and the people I know who have always received top tier customer service from EVGA.

As for bitcoin mining, I have no idea what that is or why it's an issue. But don't you think running a running a promo for special set of vendors is only going to make the stock level problem worse? Consumers now have an added incentive to buy the card from retailer A over retailer B. I can tell you that I found the card I was looking for in stock (still is as well as of this posting) on Amazon when all the other authorized retailers (for that promo) were out of stock. 

Obviously authorized retailer status is tied to quantity of product purchase, or they would just list everyone as authorized.

You don't seem to understand the warranty aspect. This isn't shady.. If you can't prove you purchased the card legitimately from an authorized retailer, then that is a fault of the retailer. They just had this come up recently where a user bought a card from an unauthorized dealer. The warranty is clearly laid out. EVGA offers a 3 year guest warranty. If you hold a card for 2 years, and then try to sell it, they third buyer gets 1 year. Period.

Buy directly from nvidia.. Their warranty states Original owner ONLY. So, that would mean there is no warranty at all from a mom and pop store that isn't authorized to sell them. If you want to be a retailer, you need to be able to understand all aspects, but it doesn't seem like you care yo even read the warranties that are laid out and available. They aren't shady. If they were hidden, it would be shady.

If you bought off Amazon US, you wouldn't get the game anyway. Too many people bought cards, received codes instantly, and cancelled their orders, so amazon stopped participating in game promo's. It would be good, if you are looking into buying a game strictly for a promo, to spend 5 minutes reading about this. If you dont know what mining is, you may want to use the oracle (that is google) to learn why there is a shortage.. i promise, shortages have nothing to do with a game promo.