They're not adding value, they're capturing value that was left on the table. Most of your points in these comments are correct, but for that core thesis. The

They're not adding value, they're capturing value that was left on the table. Most of your points in these comments are correct, but for that core thesis. The scalpers aren't "solving a shortage", they're redistributing tickets. The same number of people get to go to the concert regardless of the existence of the scalper middleman. That's not adding value to the system -- it's not like rich people get any additional enjoyment from the concert than less-rich people get. There's no global increase in utility generated by the scalping. Adding value in a situation like this would be if Nvidia had actually priced their MSRP of GPU's to what scalpers were charging, and then reinvested that money into additional production, to actually solve the shortage by increasing supply.