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Amazon Inks Deal to Sell New Apple Products Like iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and 2018 iPad Pro
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Not necessarily since Best Buy can price match (if the item is cheaper) and has the product actually in stock to sell instead of having to wait for it to come in
Although I like what Amazon offer, they need to get their head out of the sand and treat their business more of a "we offer products to users" Here is it... decide for yourself, rather than the "We make Echo, and if we put another band beside it we'll loose money on ours"
They did the same for AppleTV as well i remember.
They did the same for AppleTV as well i remember.
I think you don't realize that you are still buying directly from Apple (through Amazon) so cheaper is out of the question. For many people, Apple Stores are many miles away (for some hundreds) If people are able to collect these purchases on Amazon pickup locations then this is a great deal (something Apple does not offer)
I already mentioned this recently on another post. I knew someone who became an authorised seller in the UK. He got between 3%-7% on Apple products and there were restrictions on what Apple items he could sell. Even at RRP, it wasn't a viable business and he pulled out after a few years.
Amazon isn't a sole trader. It can counter Apple with any number of unauthorised traders/grey importers to undercut Apple whenever it wants. No one will ever leak how great a margin Amazon is getting from Apple and it won't be pennies.
What happens when stores do 10% discount? Is that Apple doing the discount?
Coincidentally I ran into another one of these just yesterday. I bought a 2M lightning cable advertised as new and an official Apple product. It arrived not in the usual Apple cable box but in a poly bag. Looking at the cable itself it didn't have the "Designed by Apple in California, manufactured in ..." printed on it. So a fake product. There wasn't an option to buy the cable direct from Amazon (maybe out of stock or maybe they don't sell them but all sellers were third party) and this seller has a good rating. The cable looks very close to an official product and I'm sure anyone who doesn't look closely or know how Apple packages and labels things would think this is a real part and thus leave good feedback. It's a scam though. Amazon is taking it back and refunding me and I made sure they know this is a fraudulent part so they can take action but it's still been a pain for me as I now have to wait another day for a real product to arrive and had to waste my time explaining to Amazon that they have a seller on their marketplace scamming people.
I agree it can be hard buying things online and I have been stung a few times by misleading descriptions or images.
Amazon hasn't sold current iPad devices (and many other Apple items) for a few years now. However, times have changed...tablet sales have been declining for years and more importantly, I think Apple needs Amazon more than Amazon needs Apple.
The massive online presence (especially the exponential growth the past 3-4 years) that Amazon has must be hurting Apple iOS sales simply due to lack of Prime-ready, Apple products. When I have gone in the past to look for an iPad on Amazon, it's been search result hell...old models not clearly labeled as old, used iPads, sold by 3rd party sellers, etc. Considering that Amazon is the first place people search for a product (yes, even before Google), I think this confusion is hurting Apple iPad sales. Apple currently has to rely on Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and Apple.com as its main iPad outlet. People are sick of paying 100% full price so they don't shop for current iPads on Apple.com. The remaining 3 are okay, but their online return policy is nowhere near as simple as Amazon, their shipping (on various levels) can't match Amazon, and their customer service is FAR WORSE than Amazon.
My guess is Apple is really hurting from the lack of Amazon (world's largest online retailer and now entering the brick and mortar space) iPad sales. Apple needs to swallow its pride and play nice for a change.
Time will tell if Amazon will have great iPad pricing (Best Buy ran an early-black-Friday promo this past weekend where all iPad 128GB models were $100 off! I ordered one!) or if it will be just match the other online folks. Target just announced $249 32GB models on Black Friday...will Amazon have the iPads in time for Black Friday? If so, and if the pricing is close enough to Target, I will buy from Amazon (I'm in the market for a few 32GB iPads).
The massive online presence (especially the exponential growth the past 3-4 years) that Amazon has must be hurting Apple iOS sales simply due to lack of Prime-ready, Apple products. When I have gone in the past to look for an iPad on Amazon, it's been search result hell...old models not clearly labeled as old, used iPads, sold by 3rd party sellers, etc. Considering that Amazon is the first place people search for a product (yes, even before Google), I think this confusion is hurting Apple iPad sales. Apple currently has to rely on Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and Apple.com as its main iPad outlet. People are sick of paying 100% full price so they don't shop for current iPads on Apple.com. The remaining 3 are okay, but their online return policy is nowhere near as simple as Amazon, their shipping (on various levels) can't match Amazon, and their customer service is FAR WORSE than Amazon.
My guess is Apple is really hurting from the lack of Amazon (world's largest online retailer and now entering the brick and mortar space) iPad sales. Apple needs to swallow its pride and play nice for a change.
Time will tell if Amazon will have great iPad pricing (Best Buy ran an early-black-Friday promo this past weekend where all iPad 128GB models were $100 off! I ordered one!) or if it will be just match the other online folks. Target just announced $249 32GB models on Black Friday...will Amazon have the iPads in time for Black Friday? If so, and if the pricing is close enough to Target, I will buy from Amazon (I'm in the market for a few 32GB iPads).
The way it works. Amazon agrees to buy a set number of devices. Apple delivers to Amazon the newest Apple Watch 4 for example, just like BestBuy. Example that just happened to me. Go to Apple to order Watch 4, delivery dates way out there, over a month. Went to BestBuy, will deliver in three days. Because these powerhouses buy so many, they will have the early good delivery dates. Apple still out a few weeks on Apple Watch 4. BestBuy around a week. The good for us consumers, more options especially with new product releases not involving standing outside an Apple Store. Yea!