Retailers/e-tailers pretty much have no choice other than to accept returned GTX 970 graphics cards, due to the fact that these do have issues with memory allocation and the fact that Nvidia made a mess with specifications of the GTX 970. The chip has less ROPs and lower amount of L2 cache than advertised.
The Geforce GTX 970 graphics card has 3.5GB of "faster" memory and 0.5GB of memory that is slower. Some issues appear when the first 3.5GB is filled and this made some buyers quite angry, especially after Nvidia's explanation that it made a mess with the advertised specifications.
According to a post from Andrew “Gibbo” Gibson, purchasing manager at Overclockers UK, posted at Overclockers.co.uk forumsOverclockers.co.uk forums, both Overclockers UK and Caseking.de will accept all returned Geforce GTX 970 graphics cards from unhappy customers, until the end of February. While some manufacturers have still not come to a final decision, Overclockers UK and Caseking.de have decided to accept all returns no matter the brand.
Andrew was also keen to note that Geforce GTX 970 is still a great graphics card with US $220 difference in price and only 3 percent difference in performance when compared to the Geforce GTX 980.
It is definitely a good move by Overclockers UK and Caseking.de as, after all, customer is always right, especially when the company mess up. We still have not heard from Nvidia yet.