I'm in two minds about this issue.
On the one hand, if you wanted a pair that badly that you would pay above RRP, what stopped you ordering as soon as they went live, and were arriving on December 19-21, like everyone else? If you missed out the first orders, you clearly didn't want them that badly, and I have little sympathy for you. If you were asleep at the time/on a flight/whatever, I still have little sympathy for you - it was simple to set up notifications and you do these things knowing that orders can start any second, and thus are accepting the risk.
On the other hand, if Apple wanted to do something about this, they could do quite easily. Make it so that if you want to buy one you must do it online only, and have a valid Apple ID with an attached credit card. Then, only allow one (or two, or however many is acceptable) sale per Apple ID and per credit card per month until the supplies improve. The scalper mentioned above would have struggled to secure 96 different Apple IDs and credit cards. Sure they could do it, but just the hassle would deter 99% of scalpers.
And if after all that they still manage to scalp, fair play to them: they clearly need the money.
Finally, it's worth remembering they're scalping AirPods, not bread in a war zone.
On the one hand, if you wanted a pair that badly that you would pay above RRP, what stopped you ordering as soon as they went live, and were arriving on December 19-21, like everyone else? If you missed out the first orders, you clearly didn't want them that badly, and I have little sympathy for you. If you were asleep at the time/on a flight/whatever, I still have little sympathy for you - it was simple to set up notifications and you do these things knowing that orders can start any second, and thus are accepting the risk.
On the other hand, if Apple wanted to do something about this, they could do quite easily. Make it so that if you want to buy one you must do it online only, and have a valid Apple ID with an attached credit card. Then, only allow one (or two, or however many is acceptable) sale per Apple ID and per credit card per month until the supplies improve. The scalper mentioned above would have struggled to secure 96 different Apple IDs and credit cards. Sure they could do it, but just the hassle would deter 99% of scalpers.
And if after all that they still manage to scalp, fair play to them: they clearly need the money.
Finally, it's worth remembering they're scalping AirPods, not bread in a war zone.