I waited in line at my local Apple Store this morning to try and find an AT&T iPad for my mother-in-law. I was second in line. The guy behind me was Asian. When the manager came outside to hand out tickets, she refused to allow the guy behind me to purchase any iPads because he had purchased two yesterday. They should have done this all along, however, it is probably difficult to prove that a person has previously purchased iPads when they pay in cash and can rotate to different stores.
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Apple Stores fighting back against scalpers
- Thread starter JayDH
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They didn't give him a ticket because he was Asian? Or they conclusively proved that this individual had already purchased two iPads?
I seriously doubt it was because he was Asian. It was because they remembered him coming in yesterday and buying two.
i doubt they aren't letting asians buy... that would destroy a store. It sounds like they recognized the person and that makes sense.
This.
She was the same person who handed out tickets the day before. I should have been more clear. It wasn't because he was Asian, but because she remembered the same guy buying two iPads the previous morning.
I completely agree and was being a bit sarcastic. That particular Apple store better be careful when automatically sending people away just based on recognition. If I were the store manager, even if I was 100% sure he was a scalper, I would still check his name in the system to cover my a** from a lawsuit.
I find it interesting how you avoid reflecting on your own actions. There's an underlying logic in your post I do not understand.
Why is buying iPads two days in a row different from having secured an iPad for yourself and now securing an additional unit for your mother-in-law?
Why is buying iPads two days in a row different from having secured an iPad for yourself and now securing an additional unit for your mother-in-law?
This is just wrong. Maybe the guy has a big family, and they all want ipads.
How can the manager be absolutely sure that it's the same person?
How is it the manager's problem anyway? The store is selling products and making money.
Even if he is reselling them for profit, and someone at the end of the line does not get one as a result. It's not a big deal. They could get one later, or order online. It's not like they're lining up for something essential like food or water.
The dude came early, and waited in line, and wants to spend money.
How can the manager be absolutely sure that it's the same person?
How is it the manager's problem anyway? The store is selling products and making money.
Even if he is reselling them for profit, and someone at the end of the line does not get one as a result. It's not a big deal. They could get one later, or order online. It's not like they're lining up for something essential like food or water.
The dude came early, and waited in line, and wants to spend money.
If Jamaica was well-known in the news for sending people to the US to buy iPads to send back abroad to sell at ridiculous prices, then yes, I'm sure he would have.
I'm Chinese, and I wasn't offended at all by his post.
What time do the scalpers start lining up?.
There must be a better way of getting these to individuals and not scalper resellers.
Apple should vigorously deal with this. There are PLENTY of ways to make everyone happy.
After all, if the scalpers get the shaft, they aren't going to complain, and they aren't' going to go away mad (actually, they won't go away at all, but the peking order could shift in favor of single purchasers, like it should).
Apple is just lame about this. And these threads are disturbing.
Note: No ones is really a racist here, except maybe those of the same race. People are just mad as heck.
There must be a better way of getting these to individuals and not scalper resellers.
Apple should vigorously deal with this. There are PLENTY of ways to make everyone happy.
After all, if the scalpers get the shaft, they aren't going to complain, and they aren't' going to go away mad (actually, they won't go away at all, but the peking order could shift in favor of single purchasers, like it should).
Apple is just lame about this. And these threads are disturbing.
Note: No ones is really a racist here, except maybe those of the same race. People are just mad as heck.
I think the issue not that the scalper was Asian but that the Apple store employee made a very big, and possibly problematic decision, based on a judgement call.
I personally have absolutely no problem with buying iPads and reselling them abroad. So what?! If you really want an iPad, get up sooner and put in the effort to obtain one. Why do you (meaning people) deserve an iPad just because you want one? Life isn't fair.
I personally have absolutely no problem with buying iPads and reselling them abroad. So what?! If you really want an iPad, get up sooner and put in the effort to obtain one. Why do you (meaning people) deserve an iPad just because you want one? Life isn't fair.
Because those iPads were made for the US market, not for other people to buy in bulk and then sell on the foreign market. When it creates a shortage in the intended market, that's a problem.
Exactly. I'm asian too and I wasnt offended because I spent 4 days in lines with other Asians who took the entire inventory leaving real customers empty handed. But for some reason theres this army of people who can't resist "standing up for minorities" that they hunt down every mention of ethnicity and then slam rush in to attack the perpetrator. But you know what? These "minority defenders" cause more problems than good because in the end they sidetrack conversations to be about non-existant race issues rather than the actual subject of iPads and Internation Resale. NOBODY is picking on the Chinese people, they are simply describing the people who come by EVERY SINGLE DAY and snatch 90% of daily inventory... who happen to be Asian.
He said Asian because it's highly known for Asians to buy many iPads and sell them in the black Market abroad. It happened last year.
How many Jamaicans do you see standing in those lines, day after day?
Well said. You have no idea how much respect I have for what you wrote.
Thank you.
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Thanks. I didn't mean to offend anyone at all. I only mentioned that he was Asian because it seems that the majority of scalpers reported here and other news sites are Asian.
If I didn't mention that he was Asian, I bet the first reply would have been, "Was he Asian?" You just can't win sometimes.
There's a huge difference between someone buying the maximum amount of two iPads on a daily basis only to sell them for a profit internationally and me doing my mother-in-law a favor and camping out to get her an iPad. She doesn't live anywhere near an Apple Store, so I thought that I would camp out and surprise her.
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I'd rather be in line for whatever a Jamaican was waiting for.
As much as I hate scalpers, if there wasn't such a dicrepancy between supply and demand, the scalpers wouldn't be as bi a factor. I are with a two per cutomer per day, but when you try and single out repeat customers, you may run into trouble. Do you limit 2 per week..per month...per lifetime?
I overheard an Apple employee say it was two per customer lifetime. I was like wtf??? So if I you accidently break both of them your screwed.