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iPhone 5 Hits Grey Market in Hong Kong Starting at $1100

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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M.I.C. gadget points to a report from the ePrice forums indicating that grey market vendors in Hong Kong have already managed to obtain limited stocks of the iPhone 5 and have begun selling them starting at the equivalent of about $1100. Apple's retail price will start at roughly $720 when sales officially begin on Friday.

The report names the seller as "Mr. Lo", who has a history of selling Apple products prior to their official launches at significant markups.
When Lo was asked about the sales of the iPhone 5, whether there would be a demand for it, he said the stock for the iPhone 5 is quite tight, so he thinks it will be alright to re-sell the phone for a hefty markup, at least for the first two weeks. What's more, he has prepared "secret" couriers in U.S. and Europe to hop on planes to Hong Kong after securing about hundreds of iPhone 5s. Right now Lo has already received 100-200 orders from mainland China customers before the iPhone 5 goes on sale in Hong Kong's Apple retail store.
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iphone_5_hk_grey_market.jpg



Lo is also said to have a standing offer to purchase sealed iPhone 5 units from customers at a premium of roughly $200 over their purchase price, as he expects to continue selling the devices at even higher prices due to tight initial supplies.

Hong Kong has been a popular point of entry for grey market iPhones headed to China, where the devices have launched at much later dates than in other countries around the world. These Chinese and Hong Kong grey markets are also fueled by purchases in the United States and other countries that are shipped back to meet demand in Asia, although Apple has instituted purchase limits and delays in launching unlocked versions in the United States in order to help combat this issue.

Hong Kong is part of the first round of launches for the iPhone 5 on Friday, but Apple is not taking online pre-orders at the moment and is advising customer that in-store sales will begin at the standard 8:00 am launch time on Friday.

Article Link: iPhone 5 Hits Grey Market in Hong Kong Starting at $1100
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/19/iphone-5-hits-grey-market-in-hong-kong-starting-at-1100/
shareef777

shareef777

Suspended
Jul 26, 2005
2,445
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If I recall correctly, I read that resellers were hosed after the iP4S launch as Apple was able to meet demand fairly quickly (relatively speaking, compared to prior releases).
 
A

aohus

macrumors 68000
Apr 4, 2010
1,902
536
sky
what's sad is that his T-shirt is an imitation too.

i see so many copycat hollister/abercrombie shirts in east asia.

and those brands were 'trendy' 6+ years ago!
 
K

k3roro

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2010
369
7
If the US is not allowed to purchase unlocked version on day 1 for this reason, why would Canada be allowed?

Not too sure about this logic.
 
sevimli

sevimli

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2007
727
64
ChiTown
Who sells the iphones to him in the first place? Apple should able to track it down with the serial numbers easily... I hate these kind of people, dont tell me free-market bs please.
 
phillipduran

phillipduran

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2008
1,055
607
sevimli said:
Who sells the iphones to him in the first place? Apple should able to track it down with the serial numbers easily... I hate these kind of people, dont tell me free-market bs please.
Click to expand...

Can you lay out in detail what he is doing wrong?
 
machpost

machpost

macrumors 6502
Jan 28, 2010
420
497
Washington, DC
I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but on multiple occasions I've been in an Apple Store shortly after the launch of a new iPhone model, and I've witnessed people who do not sound like native speakers of English come in and try to buy multiple iPhones at once. I always assumed they were trying to send them to relatives or associates overseas for this very purpose.
 
iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
Hmm.. I wonder the price of the GS3 in it's grey market or before it was officially released..

sevimli said:
Who sells the iphones to him in the first place? Apple should able to track it down with the serial numbers easily... I hate these kind of people, dont tell me free-market bs please.
Click to expand...

Hey, it's the customer's choice to knowingly buy the phone at that high of a price.
 
M

msimpson

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2007
118
0
Don't pay full price?

$1100 ?

If you pay that you have never shopped in Hong Kong.

Now with a big demand for iPhone5's I am sure there will be someone who pays $1100. But once Apple starts to clear the backlog and iPhone5's become more available, $1100 won't sell.

And there is nothing illegal or wrong with "grey market" iPhones. It is no different than paying people to sit in line at the Apple store to get your iPhone5 for you. Apple has put controls on how many phones someone can buy at once.
 
K

Kaphis

macrumors newbie
Jul 8, 2009
8
0
Grey Market's are completely legal with HK being a tax free port.

But they are in for a rude awakening when they realized that the phones they are selling to their customers imported from other places can't use their LTE networks :p
 
naeS1Sean

naeS1Sean

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2011
762
1,230
Scranton, PA
darkslide29 said:
"A grey market or gray market, also known as parallel market, is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer." -Wikipedia
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Thanks :)

----------
paradox22 said:
You didn't hear?...they changed the name to grey. If they called it black, that would be considered racist...
Click to expand...

I knew it!
 
swarmster

swarmster

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2004
641
114
darkslide29 said:
"A grey market or gray market, also known as parallel market, is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer." -Wikipedia
Click to expand...

Yeah...so since these aren't legally available for sale anywhere right now, these are black market, stolen phones. Probably out the back door of Foxconn.

Or maybe Samsung.
 
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