Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Are You Kidding Me? Check Out This Craigslist Ad for 16 GB iPad 3 --$850!
- Thread starter icydog
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
I am expecting that eBay and Craigslist sales really won't take off or skyrocket in price until about 10 am on Friday.
Right now it's not happening because people are still hopeful that they can waltz into line at 6 or 7 am and still have any shot at getting an iPad. Once they get there and are told by around 10 or 11 that they are sold out, they begin to panic. Then they see the estimated ship time online is 4-6 weeks. Then they REALLY start to panic because the iPad they promised little jimmy for his 12 birthday is sold out. Then they pay $1000 for a 16gb wifi iPad instead of waiting for several weeks constantly hunting stores. Then the seller is happy.........that's usually how these things go.......and I'm not even kidding in the slightest.
I am expecting that eBay and Craigslist sales really won't take off or skyrocket in price until about 10 am on Friday.
Right now it's not happening because people are still hopeful that they can waltz into line at 6 or 7 am and still have any shot at getting an iPad. Once they get there and are told by around 10 or 11 that they are sold out, they begin to panic. Then they see the estimated ship time online is 4-6 weeks. Then they REALLY start to panic because the iPad they promised little jimmy for his 12 birthday is sold out. Then they pay $1000 for a 16gb wifi iPad instead of waiting for several weeks constantly hunting stores. Then the seller is happy.........that's usually how these things go.......and I'm not even kidding in the slightest.
Monday night ebay.
64 LTE went for $1600 thats pretty big.
Also three of them went for $4500.00
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
Haha, I love it!!! I think its pretty awesome that people are willing to pay prices like that actually.
I will probably never pre-order in my life and if I'm rich and just happen to be late to the camp-out punch, I would probably pay prices like that. That's because I am a tech obsessed freak I gess and having something day one (if I actually want it, which is rare) is of utmost importance.
Haha, I love it!!! I think its pretty awesome that people are willing to pay prices like that actually.
I will probably never pre-order in my life and if I'm rich and just happen to be late to the camp-out punch, I would probably pay prices like that. That's because I am a tech obsessed freak I gess and having something day one (if I actually want it, which is rare) is of utmost importance.
I treat people how they treat me and others...you condescend me, I condescend you back...if you don't like it, check yourself....or continue to hypocritically whine about it...your choice...
The "crime," as it were, is that the person behind you in my scenario was deprived (at least temporally) a legitimate retail cost iPad because of your existence and behavior...of course, if your behavior is repeated over and over again (and it likely will be), that effect is multiplied creating a shortages and limits availability at the legitimate retail consumer level...of course, at the macro level, Apple still sells out of their available daily stock and on the surface you might conclude that they are perfectly happy with that, and by extension your behavior... which bring us to your second delusional point (on a side note: deluding one's self seems to be a common attribute of most resellers).
First of all, you don't seem to appreciate that your individual behavior doesn't take place in a vacuum... does Apple care that you, santaliqueur, buys 2 iPad with the intent to resell them? Probably not...however, when 100s of thousand of "santaliqueurs" are all doing that same thing...yeah, I think they care...
Earlier you said, "Apple is happy with [your resell] transaction: they sell more iPads." If that was truly the case, why not just the lift the limit or expand it to 10 or 100? If all Apple cares about is selling X number of units, why do they care who they sell them to or what those buyers do with them afterwards? I'll tell you why, because Apply would rather a 100 iPads to a 100 consumers then a 100 iPads to 1 reseller...the former is their business model, not the later...
Apple is in the business of manufacturing consume electronics and selling them directly to their consumers through their own retail stores or authorized retailers...they don't need or want parasitic resellers like you feeding off their hard work and success...with or without you, their products will sell and they will make the same profit...with you, they have increased and inflated shortages and a more frustrated legitimate consumer base...which do you think they would rather have?
Please stop deluding yourself into thinking you're some kind virtuous and necessarily, capitalistic white knight...
Wanna bet those $4500 deals never get completed? Probably some stolen eBay account people are using to stop bidders.
As for the $1600, that probably could happen. That's why I always use "BUY IT NOW" and "IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED." I may lose a few bucks in the end if it were an auction but I am 100% sure the sale will be completed because it won't complete unless payment is made.
You make it sound like it's a basic human right for you to have these devices. In your scenario, I got there before you. If I buy the last two, tough ***** for you. You won't get them, but someone else will, and they will be happy because it's a mutual transaction.
You seem to forget that the number of iPads available is already fixed. If there are 10 million iPads available for preorder, then 10 million people get iPads. Are you attempting to suggest that the intention of the purchaser dictates the level of availability? Your logic puzzles me.
Apple will sell every iPad they can make. No matter what is done with them after the initial purchase.
You claim they care, without actually seeing any evidence of this. If it hurt their business, they would find a way to stop it. They don't care, even after your weak attempts to say they do. Apple is easily the most valuable company on the planet. I wonder why so many people are trying to stand up for them, but only when it comes to reselling. They are doing just fine without your defense.
You never bothered to read (or comprehend) what I wrote in an earlier post. I said limiting the number of iPads sold to someone was 2, to limit volume resellers. You ask me that same question in this post, and then proceed to answer the question, agreeing with me. Are you actually reading my posts? It doesn't seem so.
Please provide examples where shortages are increased because of resellers. There are a limited amount of iPads available at launch. All of those will be sold, with or without resellers. Your statement is total bull.
And while we are at it, you can stop deluding yourself into thinking you are some kind of moral compass by not making a few hundred dollars on a transaction that negatively affects nobody. Capitalistic white knight? Is that how I saw myself? Your arguments are weak, but your use of hyperbole is impressive. Your inclusion of emotion into this debate sends a strong message to me: You got nothing.
But it's not FAIIIRRR!!! (in my best whiny victim voice)
You're in line. You buy the two Apple allows. They're yours to do with as you see fit; personal property rights. Someone behind you that missed out should have gotten there earlier if it was that important to them.
Let the downvotes commence.
No I am not, that's just your irrelevant and deflective spin on my words...you asked how your behavior limits availability...the person behind you certainly had his availability limited by your behavior...question asked, question answered...as I said, I understand you are not effect overall availability, but you, and those like you, are certainly effecting availability to those who wish to by at retail, from Apple or a authorized retailer...if you can't or won't admit that, then anything you have to subsequently say based on that delusion is of little value...
Given your claim that those who don't resell or rally against it simply suffer from " a lack of capitalist business sense"...yeah, I think you see yourself as a pretty smart cookie compared to the rest of us...
Little friendly advice, closing pronouncements that "you got nothing" make you sound very juvenile...like something a 14 year old would say...word up...
Last edited:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
I am going to have to agree with Santa here.
What it all boils down to is economics 101. There is little supply and a great demand. The people who get there 12 hours in advance to make sure they get one take an opportunity cost. The guy who shows up late expecting to get one, does not (excluding the purchase of the iPad which could go to something else I suppose). The guy who went early has every right to sell it to the guy behind him at a big markup. And that is the essence of capitalism and the American way. If the guy behind him really wanted it bad enough, he either should have taken the same opportunity cost as the gentleman who got there 12 hours early or because he didn't take that cost, he will pay a markup for it....or have to wait days, weeks, possibly months to get one. Either way, there is a cost to both parties and the guy leveraging that for profit is a capitalist. This to me isn't wrong in the slightest. Hell apple is doing the same thing. If they wanted to, they could charge $350 for each iPad they sell and make a slight profit, but they are instead leveraging the demand of such a product and charging for it; they are capitalizing.
Anyone who finds this kind of behavior morally wrong is very naive and somewhat foolish.
Having said that, I camped out for Xbox 360 for 12 hours when it came out. I was the last person to get one. Two people offered me money for my spot. One was a balding older fat guy who wanted it for himself. He offered me $700 just for my spot (read: all profit). Then another lady who was there for his son on his birthday simply asked me if they could have my spot. They didn't pull a guilt trip card at all. I gave the little boy my spot and it was worth it and I walked away without a dime extra (and no x box).
Moral of the story? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the form of capitalism as that is what our country is founded upon. However, sometimes there are things more important than profit.
I am going to have to agree with Santa here.
What it all boils down to is economics 101. There is little supply and a great demand. The people who get there 12 hours in advance to make sure they get one take an opportunity cost. The guy who shows up late expecting to get one, does not (excluding the purchase of the iPad which could go to something else I suppose). The guy who went early has every right to sell it to the guy behind him at a big markup. And that is the essence of capitalism and the American way. If the guy behind him really wanted it bad enough, he either should have taken the same opportunity cost as the gentleman who got there 12 hours early or because he didn't take that cost, he will pay a markup for it....or have to wait days, weeks, possibly months to get one. Either way, there is a cost to both parties and the guy leveraging that for profit is a capitalist. This to me isn't wrong in the slightest. Hell apple is doing the same thing. If they wanted to, they could charge $350 for each iPad they sell and make a slight profit, but they are instead leveraging the demand of such a product and charging for it; they are capitalizing.
Anyone who finds this kind of behavior morally wrong is very naive and somewhat foolish.
Having said that, I camped out for Xbox 360 for 12 hours when it came out. I was the last person to get one. Two people offered me money for my spot. One was a balding older fat guy who wanted it for himself. He offered me $700 just for my spot (read: all profit). Then another lady who was there for his son on his birthday simply asked me if they could have my spot. They didn't pull a guilt trip card at all. I gave the little boy my spot and it was worth it and I walked away without a dime extra (and no x box).
Moral of the story? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the form of capitalism as that is what our country is founded upon. However, sometimes there are things more important than profit.
Thank you for proving my point. The market's availability is not limited. Availability is limited for the guy who got there too late. Too bad.
So now as a reseller of 2 units, I have to worry about the guy who couldn't make it there in time? I'm worrying about his feelings? Get there early or don't get one.
If you are declining to buy and resell iPads and make a few hundred dollars JUST because you think it's morally wrong? Yes, you have a lack of capitalist business sense. You may use more hyperbole to make me sound like i'm bragging, but at its basic level, you lack it.
And yet, I've never used the term "word up".
Its hard to say. I have sold things on eBay for ridiculous amounts of money and they went through no issues what so ever. I agree with you I only use "BUY IT NOW" and "IMMEDIATE PAYMENT REQUIRED.". People dont pay and then leave you bad feedback for not shipping on time...lol
I am selling my extras on Amazon as I get much better Seller Protection.
Simply capitalizing or being a capitalist does excuse one from the standards of ethical behavior...their many forms of purely capitalistic behavior that, we as a society, deem to be unethical/immoral...mostly because they are viewed to be detrimental to the free market or to our society as a whole ...things like monopolistic practices, price fixing, hoarding, price gouging, speculation, profiteering have or continue to be viewed as unethical business behavior by many...if we disagree that scraping or reselling like we're talking is unethical...fine, so be it...we simply draw our ethical lines slightly differently...but I hope you're not claiming that no ethical lines should ever be drawn; that anything done in the name of capitalism is automatically excluded from moral or ethical judgment...
Moral of the story? Anyone one on wrong side of an ethical line considers the line drawer to be naive and foolish...
I've noticed that most of the ipads that are selling for any sort of decent markup on ebay have been getting bids from people with zero feedback.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
No mwulf, you're twisting my words to wrongly fit your argument and make judgements about whether or not I think there are ethical lines or not.
I certainly agree with you that there are a slew of unethical forms of business practice; there is certainly lines drawn in ethical behavior.
If you feel that reselling iPad at a profit crosses the line, then I won't dissuade you. However, I feel that you are dead wrong in this scenario. This scenario doesn't even come close to crossing the line of unethical practices. If people are exercising their free option (hint: there are other options) to pay a markup on a luxury product that they dont need, when they could just wait and continue searching, there is not a single thing unethical about it. It's pure capitalism.
The unethical business practices that you speak when people are put into precarious positions where they have NO choice but to submit to the markup, price gouging, and other unethical behaviors. In this scenario, you're unbelievably dead wrong as there are a plethora of options available to consumers.
Again, I'm not saying you're wrong for feeling unethical about doing something like this because that's your choice, but I am saying your dead wrong for accusing others about being unethical for this practice.....dead wrong.
No mwulf, you're twisting my words to wrongly fit your argument and make judgements about whether or not I think there are ethical lines or not.
I certainly agree with you that there are a slew of unethical forms of business practice; there is certainly lines drawn in ethical behavior.
If you feel that reselling iPad at a profit crosses the line, then I won't dissuade you. However, I feel that you are dead wrong in this scenario. This scenario doesn't even come close to crossing the line of unethical practices. If people are exercising their free option (hint: there are other options) to pay a markup on a luxury product that they dont need, when they could just wait and continue searching, there is not a single thing unethical about it. It's pure capitalism.
The unethical business practices that you speak when people are put into precarious positions where they have NO choice but to submit to the markup, price gouging, and other unethical behaviors. In this scenario, you're unbelievably dead wrong as there are a plethora of options available to consumers.
Again, I'm not saying you're wrong for feeling unethical about doing something like this because that's your choice, but I am saying your dead wrong for accusing others about being unethical for this practice.....dead wrong.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)
Dunktap, that's pretty interesting and not uncommon. Often times that is the seller who is using multiple accounts ( either theirs, a friends, or hacked) in an attempt to make the auction appear more attractive to people and drive the price up.
I do believe that this is very unethical as they are using false and deceptive ways to obtain a higher price point. Much different than legitimate buyers bidding ONLY against each other. That way garners a legitimate and fair market price for the product.
dunktap said:
Dunktap, that's pretty interesting and not uncommon. Often times that is the seller who is using multiple accounts ( either theirs, a friends, or hacked) in an attempt to make the auction appear more attractive to people and drive the price up.
I do believe that this is very unethical as they are using false and deceptive ways to obtain a higher price point. Much different than legitimate buyers bidding ONLY against each other. That way garners a legitimate and fair market price for the product.
That's a load of crap...I am not dead wrong for expressing my opinion on what I believe to be unethical behavior...You just did the same extract thing in the post above, passing judgement on what you consider to be unethical behavior...
I don't know why people have such a problem with private entities selling consumer goods for a profit. As long as the seller reports the profit to the IRS and the seller reports the sales tax he didn't pay to his state (assuming his state has an applicable sales tax) then nothing is wrong with the transaction.
Consumer goods work on a first-come first-serve basis. The reason is fairness, as it hopefully gives consumers an equal opportunity to purchase the good. Everyone has financial and time priorities and those that choose to "line-up," either virtually or literally at a store, do so by choice. If they cannot afford an iPad, they don't "line-up" for one; if they don't want one, they don't "line-up" for one; if they are busy during the 2 days of pre-order, then they missed their opportunity to virtually "line-up" and now have to choose whether they want to literally line-up to purchase an iPad. If someone has missed his chance to "line-up," then he can go ahead and try to bargain with a person to take their "spot." Nobody is forcing a person to give up their spot, sell their iPad, purchase an iPad at an increased price, etc.
What other system do people want besides first-come first-serve? Do you want to base consumer goods on need? By whom and how would need be determined for something like an iPad? Apple restricts iPad sales to 2 to further promote the fairness of the system the best way they possibly can. If they reduced it further, they would just anger more people who have legitimate reasons to purchase two, like myself.
Consumer goods work on a first-come first-serve basis. The reason is fairness, as it hopefully gives consumers an equal opportunity to purchase the good. Everyone has financial and time priorities and those that choose to "line-up," either virtually or literally at a store, do so by choice. If they cannot afford an iPad, they don't "line-up" for one; if they don't want one, they don't "line-up" for one; if they are busy during the 2 days of pre-order, then they missed their opportunity to virtually "line-up" and now have to choose whether they want to literally line-up to purchase an iPad. If someone has missed his chance to "line-up," then he can go ahead and try to bargain with a person to take their "spot." Nobody is forcing a person to give up their spot, sell their iPad, purchase an iPad at an increased price, etc.
What other system do people want besides first-come first-serve? Do you want to base consumer goods on need? By whom and how would need be determined for something like an iPad? Apple restricts iPad sales to 2 to further promote the fairness of the system the best way they possibly can. If they reduced it further, they would just anger more people who have legitimate reasons to purchase two, like myself.
funny you should say that, about half a year ago I noticed that someone had hacked my Ebay account and had bid on two iPads. I didn't think much of it and just phone Ebay and got my account locked. Now I am wondering if that was what the hacker was trying to do...
----------
I think you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. the guy who bought two iPads to resell bought them with his own money and waited in line for them. They are technically his property now and he can do whatever he damn well pleases with them, be it use them, sell them on or even smash them up. Why you are judging this person and his motives for buying this product, I do not know, but I doubt he gives two ***** about what you think and is now $200 up.