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Ipad pricing on eBay curiosity

P

patchouli

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 20, 2010
74
0
Ontario Canada
I've been looking at iPad pricing for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't know on 'Black Friday' that I was going in this direction, so I didn't take advantage of any sale.
I've been looking on eBay for awhile, and I'm totally confused because it's like allllllllllllllllllllllll these people are selling iPads... and not even NEW iPads.. they're usually 'like new', 'almost new', 'basically new', 'same as new', 'not used very much', etc.... and yet they are expecting to get prices that are HIGHER than the online Apple store sells them for?????
And the weirder part is that people are actually buying them???
What am I missing???
As far as I know, iPads were the same price since they came out.. so it's not like these sellers bought their iPad and it cost them a whole lot more, so now they can't sell it for the same price as a new one..
Perhaps it might make sense if these sellers were selling to people in different countries than the USA, because iPads are higher in other countries.. BUT most of these sellers will ONLY sell to US buyers..

I am SO confused!
 
patchouli said:
I've been looking at iPad pricing for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't know on 'Black Friday' that I was going in this direction, so I didn't take advantage of any sale.
I've been looking on eBay for awhile, and I'm totally confused because it's like allllllllllllllllllllllll these people are selling iPads... and not even NEW iPads.. they're usually 'like new', 'almost new', 'basically new', 'same as new', 'not used very much', etc.... and yet they are expecting to get prices that are HIGHER than the online Apple store sells them for?????
And the weirder part is that people are actually buying them???
What am I missing???
As far as I know, iPads were the same price since they came out.. so it's not like these sellers bought their iPad and it cost them a whole lot more, so now they can't sell it for the same price as a new one..
Perhaps it might make sense if these sellers were selling to people in different countries than the USA, because iPads are higher in other countries.. BUT most of these sellers will ONLY sell to US buyers..

I am SO confused!
Click to expand...


Because some people are stupid :p
 
for as long as I can remember premium items like cameras and apple products sell above retail price on ebay. especially maxed out versions of MBP's or iPad sell very well.

buyers (=stupids) think because its on ebay its cheap. if you add a worthless $10 accessory then the stupids pay $100 + shipping above retail.

it also helps a lot that there are many sellers who list buy it now prices above retail and list very high shipping/handling costs. stupids then think this is the fair price. in behavioural economy this is called a anchor price that stupids use as the reference price for their buying decision.

as a seller the problem is that there is too much scam going on on ebay and certainly many of the stupids who buy at too high prices will try to get out of the deal by claiming defects. as a seller you then have to deal with the hassle of returns.

as a reasonable buyer you have the problem that you would have to bid on many iPads in order to win an auction because the high background of stupids together with automated bidding systems gets you outbid on many auctions in the last minute.

in the end for very popular items its better to just buy from apple and leave the hassle of ebay to the stupids.
 
patchouli said:
I've been looking at iPad pricing for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't know on 'Black Friday' that I was going in this direction, so I didn't take advantage of any sale.
I've been looking on eBay for awhile, and I'm totally confused because it's like allllllllllllllllllllllll these people are selling iPads... and not even NEW iPads.. they're usually 'like new', 'almost new', 'basically new', 'same as new', 'not used very much', etc.... and yet they are expecting to get prices that are HIGHER than the online Apple store sells them for?????
And the weirder part is that people are actually buying them???
What am I missing???
As far as I know, iPads were the same price since they came out.. so it's not like these sellers bought their iPad and it cost them a whole lot more, so now they can't sell it for the same price as a new one..
Perhaps it might make sense if these sellers were selling to people in different countries than the USA, because iPads are higher in other countries.. BUT most of these sellers will ONLY sell to US buyers..

I am SO confused!
Click to expand...

Some people are just idiots and don't bother doing any research, even though it only takes a few clicks on your keyboard to determine actual Apple pricing on the iPad.
 
I just hit up best buy, although then the sales tax hits. Take a look at craigslist. I have had good experience with it. Just follow the safety rules (don't be alone, public places).
 
I'm so cheap! I just can hardly bear the thought of paying full retail price plus 13% taxes! But that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Do you people have a recommendation as far as whether to get them from FutureShop, BestBuy, or the online AppleStore?

I was thinking if there were a problem, it would be nice to be able to just drive up to the FutureShop/BestBuy to get it replaced/dealt with. (I don't have an AppleStore anywhere nearby (at least an hour away)).

Also would be nice to know that if the boys would rather have something else, they can just exchange it for whatever (although I'm sure they'll like them!)

The thing with eBay though........... is that even if it is used, I believe anyone (even in Canada!!!!!!) can purchase the 'Square Trade Warranty' thing, which DOES cover accidents.. and eBay seems to be the only way I could get that protection. The plans that Futureshop and BestBuy sell don't cover water spilling, or droppage, etc., and neither does Apple sell anything like that.
 
patchouli said:
I'm so cheap! I just can hardly bear the thought of paying full retail price plus 13% taxes! But that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Do you people have a recommendation as far as whether to get them from FutureShop, BestBuy, or the online AppleStore?

I was thinking if there were a problem, it would be nice to be able to just drive up to the FutureShop/BestBuy to get it replaced/dealt with. (I don't have an AppleStore anywhere nearby (at least an hour away)).

Also would be nice to know that if the boys would rather have something else, they can just exchange it for whatever (although I'm sure they'll like them!)

The thing with eBay though........... is that even if it is used, I believe anyone (even in Canada!!!!!!) can purchase the 'Square Trade Warranty' thing, which DOES cover accidents.. and eBay seems to be the only way I could get that protection. The plans that Futureshop and BestBuy sell don't cover water spilling, or droppage, etc., and neither does Apple sell anything like that.
Click to expand...

I usually purchase from Best Buy because I am a Reward Zone Premier Silver member and get really good reward point incentives from them. Also, most purchases over a certain amount qualify for a no-interest deal for between 12and 36 months.

Also, the Reward Zone Premier Silver reps will take care of a lot of the leg-work involved in many issues, i.e. when I wanted to price match the great Microcenter deal for the MBP at Best Buy, the Reward Zone Premier desk called around to the various stores local to the nearest Microcenter to find out which one would price match. GREAT service. All I had to do was walk in to the Best Buy that price-matched and ask for the contact person whose name I was given by the Reward Zone rep.

I know some people don't like Best Buy but I've gotten some great deals there...and also have established contacts in their corporate offices. If I ever have a problem, they take care of it swiftly.
 
Best Buy is a dump, Future Shop is the same company. Their paid service plan isn't nearly as good as going to an Apple Store with your free 1 year Apple Care. (I've had iPods and a macbook pro fixed/replaced immediately or overnight.)

Best Buy reps are not on commission, but they are under immense pressure to sell service plan, because Apple products carry low margins for retailers.

Also they don't have a very nigh turnover rate on most Apple products, so the iThing you're buying could have been sitting in the back of the warehouse in a cage for many months. (I used to work there at one point, unfortunately.) This may not apply to iPad, because it's sold as fast they can make them, but something to keep in mind.

BTW, if I wanted one used. I would look on craigslist. Arrange safe meetings and use common sense, obviously.
 
Thanks for your comments.

I did look at craigslist a couple of times.. came across this one ijit who was selling a 27" iMac ... was listed for a dollar.. so I email him and say, I guess you meant to say one THOUSAND dollars.. and he responds.. you can have it for $750, great price, he's not really in Toronto, he's in London (ON) (just far enough that someone in Toronto wouldn't probably want to drive to London), and he'll have it shipped out with some courier company I had never heard of.. and the courier company will take care of the money, no money will change hands until I receive it, the courier will 'look it over' to make sure it's as stated (like a courier would know about the specs of an iMac??).. blah blah..

I looked up the courier company and they're popular in France, NOT in southwestern Ontario.. big scam.. so I'm really turned off of craigslist!
 
RKpro said:
Best Buy is a dump, Future Shop is the same company. Their paid service plan isn't nearly as good as going to an Apple Store with your free 1 year Apple Care. (I've had iPods and a macbook pro fixed/replaced immediately or overnight.)
Click to expand...

Just curious but... when you buy an Apple product from FS or BB, you still get your free one-year Apple warranty, correct??
 
I just dumped my iPad 32GB 3G on craigslist for $600. It was mint, with original box and I included Apple $40 case. Easy sell. Sold it in 10 minutes. Met the guy inside a store.

Could I have gotten more on ebay? probably But I don't like Ebay fees. (could range from $30-50 depending on list price/reserve etc).

However, I think many iPads are being sold overseas because of the exchange rate.

The guy that brought the iPad from me today, told me he was reselling overseas to make profits. He had like 18 of them already on him. Crazy.

I never figured why Ebay prices are high. Maybe dumb people out there? Foreign buyers (UK, Canada, Germany, Australia where prices are higher).

Maybe if seller can't get his price, he makes a fake account and drives up prices himself.
 
RKpro said:
Best Buy is a dump, Future Shop is the same company. Their paid service plan isn't nearly as good as going to an Apple Store with your free 1 year Apple Care. (I've had iPods and a macbook pro fixed/replaced immediately or overnight.)

Best Buy reps are not on commission, but they are under immense pressure to sell service plan, because Apple products carry low margins for retailers.

Also they don't have a very nigh turnover rate on most Apple products, so the iThing you're buying could have been sitting in the back of the warehouse in a cage for many months. (I used to work there at one point, unfortunately.) This may not apply to iPad, because it's sold as fast they can make them, but something to keep in mind.

BTW, if I wanted one used. I would look on craigslist. Arrange safe meetings and use common sense, obviously.
Click to expand...

I never buy the Best Buy protection plan. All somebody has to do is say NO.
You obviously are under the mistaken impression that if you buy an Apple product at Best Buy that you cannot take it to an Apple Store during the 1 year Apple Care. Not true. Regardless where you buy an Apple product (as long as from an authorized reseller, you get the one year Apple Care.)

I have never purchased "old product" from Best Buy. Their turnover is actually quite high. For example, back in late 2007, when I was purchasing the Santa Rosa Macbook, they had the new ones the same day as the local Apple Store.
 
patchouli said:
Forgive my curiosity.. but why did you 'dump' it?
Click to expand...

Various reasons: Primary reason is that I am just one of those "techy" guys who's got to have the lastest greatest but than gets bored with the product so I get rid of them and I sell it aggressively with the least amount of hassle. I am not going to haggle over a few dollars on craigslist.

7 Days ago I looked at my office and I had my 27 inch core i7 iMac not even turned on. Got my Sony Core i5 laptop that I barely use. I got a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant I hadn't turned on in 2 weeks, my iphone 4 and my iPad also sitting there. I mainly use my blackberry bold 9700 for my business emails. Fortunately I make enough money to afford these things.

So I sold my Samsung Vibrant 3 days ago for $300 and this morning woke up and decided to sell the iPad. Nothing wrong with it. It had a good 5 1/2 months with me. But I am so busy with life (business, new born baby). The iPad just wasn't being used the way I thought it should be used. It's very hard to hold iPad and new baby at the same time. Yes my wife has looked strangely at me when I tried to do this. I can hold baby and iphone 4 together while trying to put him to sleep. So I might as well get some money back from it.

Maybe I will get iPad 2 or MacBook Air 11 inch. The decision would be much easier on the MacBook Air if Apple had included the base core i3 intel processor rather than the old as hell core 2 duo.

But I got my options open.
 
I only saved $140 off the New price when I got my iPad, right before 4.2 dropped. Apple stuff in general commands a nice secondhand value which makes it nice to get on a trial basis if you aren't sure you want to keep it.
 
patchouli said:
I've been looking at iPad pricing for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't know on 'Black Friday' that I was going in this direction, so I didn't take advantage of any sale.
I've been looking on eBay for awhile, and I'm totally confused because it's like allllllllllllllllllllllll these people are selling iPads... and not even NEW iPads.. they're usually 'like new', 'almost new', 'basically new', 'same as new', 'not used very much', etc.... and yet they are expecting to get prices that are HIGHER than the online Apple store sells them for?????
And the weirder part is that people are actually buying them???
What am I missing???
As far as I know, iPads were the same price since they came out.. so it's not like these sellers bought their iPad and it cost them a whole lot more, so now they can't sell it for the same price as a new one..
Perhaps it might make sense if these sellers were selling to people in different countries than the USA, because iPads are higher in other countries.. BUT most of these sellers will ONLY sell to US buyers..

I am SO confused!
Click to expand...

Built said:
Some people are just idiots and don't bother doing any research, even though it only takes a few clicks on your keyboard to determine actual Apple pricing on the iPad.
Click to expand...

What if the buying are actually attempted scans and not actual real buyers? I have attempted to sell items and most of my buyers were attempted scams--people buying and wanting to buy using bad checks and phony accounts.
 
Not stupid. Avoiding sales tax and getting extras.

Recent eBay completed auctions for 64gb/3G:

$770 NIB
$780 Used, mint, extras: nylon case, screen protector, Apple dock, extra Apple power adapter and cable, Applecare
$770 NIB
$795.40 Used, mint, extras: Speck case, DODO case, camera connection kit
$742 Used, good (scuffs, and a ding), extras: two cases
$810 NIB
$792 Used, mint, extras: screen protector, case
$851 NIB with Apple case

All of these prices are lower than retail, which is $889.10 here in Chicago, and close to that is most places, with no extras.

Some auctions do close above retail, but they are:
1. Offering significant extras, sometimes including the unlimited data plan with AT&T;
2. Shipping overseas, where buyers pay a premium (if they pay at all);
3. Scams: Any iPad auction which ends with 1 bidder is a scam.

Most of the eBay iPad market is pretty rational, or at least tends toward rational over many auctions. I'll bet prices drop after Xmas.
 
macswitcha2 said:
What if the buying are actually attempted scans and not actual real buyers? I have attempted to sell items and most of my buyers were attempted scams--people buying and wanting to buy using bad checks and phony accounts.
Click to expand...

On Ebay you can limit your sales to only US buyers which SOMEWHAT limits the attempted scams...which tend to arise from buyers in countries such as Indonesia, the Phillipines and Nigeria.

I really do feel sorry for honest Ebay sellers of electronics because, to be honest, it's like picking your way through a minefield.
 
Built said:
..... You obviously are under the mistaken impression that if you buy an Apple product at Best Buy that you cannot take it to an Apple Store during the 1 year Apple Care. Not true. Regardless where you buy an Apple product (as long as from an authorized reseller, you get the one year Apple Care.)........
Click to expand...

RKpro said:
Best Buy is a dump, Future Shop is the same company. Their paid service plan isn't nearly as good as going to an Apple Store with your free 1 year Apple Care. (I've had iPods and a macbook pro fixed/replaced immediately or overnight.)
Click to expand...

I had thought Apple products were covered by Apple for their one year limited warranty no matter where they were purchased.. but then RKpro's comment confused me and I thought I had better check and make sure.

I also thought one could purchase an extended AppleCare plan, no matter where their Apple product was purchased.

When you say 'as long as from an authorized reseller', what happens when someone buys from a private seller? Or do you mean the 'original buyer' must have purchased from an authorized reseller?

What happens in a case where say someone stole a truckload (or even just one or two) of Apple products and sold them to various sources.. and those sources ended up trying to sell them on eBay or Craigslist?

I'm assuming Apple would deny any warranty coverage or opportunity to purchase extended AppleCare on those stolen items, if reported?

So if a person like me buys from a seller on eBay or Craigslist, how would one know if their product can be covered under Apple's warranty, even if it's 'NIB'?

Sellers want to protect themselves as well, and not give out the S/N before they get the money... and buyers don't want to risk shelling out the money before they know the S/N is not on a 'stolen list' somewhere. Sellers start getting paranoid when a potential buyer asks for a receipt and a S/N, and buyers get suspicious if the seller doesn't want to give out the S/N.

It just seems there are SO many scammers out there on both sides now, and when an item is commanding several hundred dollars, I'm thinking it's not worth the risk. It's too bad the scammers ruin it for people who just want to do normal transactions.
 
Built said:
On Ebay you can limit your sales to only US buyers which SOMEWHAT limits the attempted scams...which tend to arise from buyers in countries such as Indonesia, the Phillipines and Nigeria.

I really do feel sorry for honest Ebay sellers of electronics because, to be honest, it's like picking your way through a minefield.
Click to expand...

You would not believe the number of eBay sellers who won't sell to Canada. It p*sses me off! Do these people think Canadians are like Nigerians? Do Canucks have a bad rep as buyers on eBay? What's the deal?

I really do feel sorry for buyers of ... anything.. because, to be honest, it's like picking your way through a minefield. :)
 
It will stay the same as it ever was.

0.jpg
 
patchouli said:
You would not believe the number of eBay sellers who won't sell to Canada. It p*sses me off! Do these people think Canadians are like Nigerians? Do Canucks have a bad rep as buyers on eBay? What's the deal?

I really do feel sorry for buyers of ... anything.. because, to be honest, it's like picking your way through a minefield. :)
Click to expand...

Do eBay give sellers the option of picking countries they will sell to? Like can you list an item as "will sell to U.S, Canada, U.K and EU only?"
 
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