ASUS cancels buyer's RTX 5090 order even after he paid $4607, wants more money

A Redditor says ASUS canceled his already-paid RTX 5090 order and then asked him to hand over close to $500 more to get the same card. It's a pretty rough look for the company right as GPU prices keep climbing across the board.

According to u/IndependentOk1031 on the r/ASUSROG subreddit, he placed an order for an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 through NVIDIA's official marketplace and paid $4,607 after tax. Sometime after that, ASUS canceled the order outright.

When he asked what happened, NVIDIA told him ASUS was unable to fulfill it at the "previous rate," essentially blaming a late price update. He was then asked to pay $5,090 for the exact same GPU, an increase of nearly $500 for a card he had already bought and paid for in full.

Apparently both companies pointed fingers at each other throughout the process, with NVIDIA telling him to contact ASUS and ASUS offering no real resolution beyond a refund. In the end, ASUS refunded his original payment, leaving him stuck buying the same GPU again at the new, higher price if he still wanted it at all. That's a terrible resolution from both companies.

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It's worth remembering the recent price hikes, and the ROG Astral isn't a cheap GPU to begin with. ASUS priced the liquid cooled ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 OC Edition at $3,099 at launch, already 55% above NVIDIA's $1,999 Founders Edition MSRP, and pricing has only climbed from there. The ROG Astral Edition 20 variant recently showed up in Europe for over $7,400. That kind of price creep is exactly why a $500 last-minute hike hurts the deal for a buyer who is already paying so much.

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This isn't an isolated incident either. GIGABYTE recently hiked GeForce and Radeon prices by up to 40% in Japan and warned that existing pre-orders might not get honored at all. RTX 5090 pricing has also jumped by as much as 30% in South Korea, with some models now selling for roughly $5,087, uncomfortably close to what ASUS is now asking here. More increases are apparently still on the way as GDDR7 memory costs keep rising, so this probably won't be the last story like it.

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Question #1

How did ASUS notify the buyer that his RTX 5090 order was canceled after he had already paid $4,607?

ASUS canceled the order outright and ultimately refunded the buyer’s original $4,607 payment. NVIDIA told the buyer ASUS was unable to fulfill the order at the previous rate and asked him to pay $5,090 for the same GPU, while ASUS offered no real resolution beyond issuing a refund.

Answered

Question #2

What reason did NVIDIA give for the cancellation and the request for an additional payment?

NVIDIA told him ASUS was unable to fulfill the order at the "previous rate," blaming a late price update. That explanation accompanied the request that he pay the higher $5,090 price for the same GPU.

Answered

Question #3

Has TweakTown reported similar price hikes or pre-order cancellations from other board partners?

Yes. The article notes GIGABYTE recently hiked GeForce and Radeon prices by up to 40% in Japan and warned that existing pre-orders might not be honored, and it also reports RTX 5090 pricing jumped as much as 30% in South Korea. These examples show similar price hikes and the potential for canceled or altered pre-orders.

Answered

Question #4

What were the original launch and typical ROG Astral RTX 5090 price points mentioned in the article?

ASUS launched the ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 OC Edition at $3,099. The article notes a buyer paid $4,607 after tax for an ROG Astral, ASUS later asked $5,090 to complete the sale, some models were selling for roughly $5,087 in South Korea, and an Edition 20 listing appeared for over $7,400.

Answered

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Whatever the internal reasoning was, canceling a paid order and demanding more money afterward is a bad way to treat customers, especially when they are already paying more than double the RTX 5090's original price just to own one. If board partners keep handling price hikes this way, buyer trust could take almost as big a hit as everyone's wallets already have.