I'm not trying to start an argument, as I said I was simply attempting to point out the effort/risk/reward ratio of that choice.  No, it'd be a short uninteresting case--EVGA choosing to accept the outbound shipping risk of damage by packing how they wish has no bearing on the contractual responsibility you have shipping it inbound as spelled out clearly.  Unless EVGA or their rep didn't show ( Unlikely as mosts courts are still allowing telephonic or appearance by video ) and the court opted not to allow a continuance and you got a default judgement, the OC small claims court judge would be saying something something like "Hmmm.... Let's see, yes the photo EVGA submitted clearly shows item not packed according to the spec document in contract between the parties--Judgement for Defendant."  The issue is at bar there is nothing more that did you adhere to the terms of the contract you made, and the answer would be no.  Do I believe the Judge would sympathize with you?  Absolutely.  Anyway, once again I really hope you don't ever need to go there and enjoy your new GPU!

wmunn
Did you read the actual cut and paste of the RMA instructions? The retail box in an outer box 100% complies with their instructions.

You come on with a snarky reply, and then expect for it to slide? That's ridiculous 

  I'll leave it to the other forum readers and Mods to decide what's ridiculous or not.  I'm not going to further reply post anything further to your posts here since as I said, I don't want to argue for the sake of arguing and it's beginning to feel as if you're attacking my attempt to clarify and help others which is the intended purpose of these forums; I've made my choice, you can make yours however you wish to as can everyone else whom I was endeavoring to be helpful to.  Mod's feel free to move this to a shipping or other more appropriate thread.  Yes, I did read the spec doc.  I hadn't thought through the part where you say "... So, packing the card in it's full original retail box with all bag and inner support structure / foam etc.. and then packing that tightly in an outer box is 100% compliant with their specific shipping instructions for RMA..." because the way I choose, that's moot.  Now that you bring it up and I do think about it, I'll still choose my method, but for your benefit and anyone else thinking about it, I can tell you there is not at least 2" of material on the top side, nor either shorter end in at least in the case of the 3070 Black XC3 plastic clamshell style packing I received ( I'm guessing potentially those and other 3080/90's might be packaged this way also but haven't gotten one yet so don't know ) in the instance when you are "...packing that tightly in an outer box...".  I'm not sure why you feel my tone was snarky, not intended to be, and I really do hope neither yourself nor anyone else ever finds themselves in the scenario where they're getting warranty coverage denied due to inadequate packing material during shipping.  I really do feel good reusing what would otherwise be garbage one more time as packing material.  I really do like trying to help people, even more so when it's at no great cost to me to do it, and there are slightly more than 100 posts thru the various forum sections here at EVGA so far which demonstrate that I've attempted to do that or congratulated someone.  I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, I can misunderstand and be wrong sometimes, but I don't believe so in this case and if I am I'll stand corrected.  The way I choose to ship my RMAs and suggested others do makes the "...packing that tightly in an outer box..." question moot.  Once again you have a choice and as a final comment on the subject I suggest this:  If you feel the need, why don't you direct this "...packing that tightly in an outer box..."  specific scenario/question to EVGA's RMA dept. directly and get your answer instead of being lazy and/or uncaring, not reusing a few extra free materials of negligible weight that would otherwise be garbage in your inbound shipping box, taking aforementioned chance that something bad happens, and then choosing to file an action against EVGA in court if and when it does as you stated rather than accepting responsibility yourself for not packing it as you were told to?  It's up to you.

wmunn
Did you read the actual cut and paste of the RMA instructions? The retail box in an outer box 100% complies with their instructions.

You come on with a snarky reply, and then expect for it to slide? That's ridiculous 

Who took a crap in your wheaties this morning?
Just because you're angry all the time in real life, doesn't mean you have to be a dick online.

VirtualUnreality

wmunn
I used the same outer box EVGA used to ship me my 3070, I figured if it was good enough for their outbound product, it would be fine to send back to them.
Retail 2070 super box, inside brown box from EVGA, tightly fit

TomGraphy

wmunn
I used the same outer box EVGA used to ship me my 3070, I figured if it was good enough for their outbound product, it would be fine to send back to them.
Retail 2070 super box, inside brown box from EVGA, tightly fit

I did the same thing but I got a new outer box

Most of the time items packed like that arrive ok, as did my last 3070 step-up that EVGA packed just as you described, but since I get the advertising newsprint in my mailbox free and recycle it and those free grocery bags using them once more before they go into recycling or a landfill I feel good about that plus it takes a negligible amount of extra time to do that the way EVGA specified and in that way I avoid any potential headache if there's a problem related to it.  I'm sure EVGA has an actuarial analysis showing them it's cheaper to buy the occasional replacement card than spend for the extra labor and material packing on thousands, and it's different for us. It won't affect me if either of you or someone else who didn't pack it they way they spec'd has an issue of course, but I do like to build my Karma and help, especially when it's easy like this.  I'm going to call your attention to the section of the fine print in EVGA's limited warranty under the What is not covered by this Limited Warranty section which says "The use of inadequate shipment packaging or use of inadequate packing material resulting in damages to the Product while in transit with Original Purchaser's or Second-Hand Purchaser's shipping courier."  and also "Shipments to EVGA must meet the specific Shipping Guidelines for the Products, which can be found here:" at the link I already posted prior.  If you don't think it's worth the extra minute or two of effort while recycling free stuff to avoid a potential headache that could end up costing quite a bit because you end up then paying for a repair or replacement and return shipping, you're wealthier than I and congrats!  Whichever choice you make and continue to make, I hope you don't have any problems, and wish you best of luck getting your shiny new GPU's soonest! Game on!

In this case I had the UPS store package it in a 20X20X15 box with bubblewrap so that should meet the EVGA requirements. They usually do a pretty good job on the packaging since they have to pay if its damaged in transit.I got my 2070 from best-buy and it came in a pretty big box. Its been a pretty busy week so it was easier for me to spend the $18 to have UPS deal with it. I don't know the exact size of the retail box but it should be pretty close if not exact/more padding then the specified requirements. 

msromike
 I'll just chalk all this up to frustration. I'm sure EVGA would like to fulfill their part of the arrangement as well. It's not their fault there is a worldwide semiconductor shortage. Since my Step Up should be appearing soon enough I can say the wait is brutal. That having been said I have confidence in EVGA and I'm sure they will do their best to make all of our StepUps happen. Until then I guess we should be grateful to even have GPUs. Deep breath people. ;)
 

I think the main takeaway with step up as frustrating as wait times are, it does give the regular person a shot at getting a card, despite the scalping, bots, and fierce competition in the marketplace.
Step up and notify queues are a fair way for EVGA to offer availability to people who can't spend the large amounts of time competing for drops with bots scooping up most of the available items.

  I agree 100%. Despite these shortages and scalper inflated prices, EVGA has been still moving ahead as fast as they can to honor the StepUp program which is not subject to the scalper prices and it may be in high demand for crypto miners but just restricting the number of GPUs per individual seems to be helping. I think this new approach Nvidia is taking to mining is not in the consumer's best interests at all. If anything it's very contrary to the whole race to keep your PC modern or relevant without having to upgrade every 6 months.
    I have worked in IT and CGI since the 90s so I have no idea how much money I've spent over those 3 decades. At an average of $2K per build, it's still over $100K! Sure I wrote off most of them as a business expense  The market was volatile and unsustainable with the rate of growth and efforts of manufacturers to maximize their profit. If I didn't need a high-end GPU to run most of the tools required to build the video game I would have stuck with my RX 580 8GB Sapphire Nitro+ I bought off of eBay for $130 lol. That's why we develop using Vulkan and DX-12. Nobody should have to pay $2K for a modern GPU if they are just gaming. It's pure insanity and it needs to stop. I know there are other people in this community that develop. Let's face it we bought EVGA GPUs because they are better than the chip manufacturer "Professional" series GPUs. Reliable and great performance in games and VR with the best cooling and PCB layouts on the market. Until my 3080 StepUp I am not suffering on the EVGA RTX 2070 Super FTW3 Ultra playing ANY game. I just need the additional VRAM and more CPU to create terrain. Everything else is golden on this GPU. Best Regards to All. Try to be calm and enjoy your current GPU and the time will start flying by. 

cleverguns

wmunnI think the main takeaway with step up as frustrating as wait times are, it does give the regular person a shot at getting a card, despite the scalping, bots, and fierce competition in the marketplace.
Step up and notify queues are a fair way for EVGA to offer availability to people who can't spend the large amounts of time competing for drops with bots scooping up most of the available items.

 
As someone who got into step up in early March, is there even hope for me? It looks like EVGA is still fulfilling mid September step ups with next to no movement? How is this not just a way to discourage a customer from reselling a card?

first come first serve, as fair as it gets. They will get to you in due time. We all had to wait, and as they work through the backlog, the number of people on a given day of sign up decreases, so it will move through the dates faster.

Should add that this year will also be hard on gpu production

pinekone
Still no step up 9/24 12:14 pm EST

hopefully you will be in the next batch, maybe this week.

raginyourfac
Sep 22, 2020, 5:25 PM
Just got my 3080 ft3 delivered to house today thank god

 
Congratulations. could you please share the dates of all the 5 steps. Thanks

Tm1172

raginyourfac
Sep 22, 2020, 5:25 PM
Just got my 3080 ft3 delivered to house today thank god

Right now I’m regretting choosing ground. My trade-in card isn’t even set to arrive at EVGA until tomorrow and I was Sep 22 @ 10:11AM. But my better brain is reminding me that I’ve waited 7 months at this point, another week won’t kill me.

a few additional days on a 7 month wait isn't a big deal. hang tight, it's on the way

My card is received! Now just waiting for them to send out the new one.

Congrats to every one getting or about to get their new card(s)! Enjoy!  Friendly reminder for anyone who doesn't already know this and who possibly could be getting a card which has updated VBIOS available depending which card/when received:  If you install PX1, while it's flashing VBIOS update it's normal for fans to immediately ramp up to 100% and red lights at power connectors to come on during the duration of the flash--so don't panic and try to cancel mid flash would could cause problems!  Game on!

@Tm1172 I also made the same mistake of selecting ground shipping , but you are right you’ve waited this long a little bit longer won’t hurt. Hopefully it won’t take much longer for them to get your card. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that there’s a large drop today.

Received my Step 2 email today at 1:36p est. Entered the queue on 9/24 at 1:14p est. Missed the price change cut off by 4 days - boo!