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Aren't iPhone purchases limited per person?

kupkakez

kupkakez

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 4, 2011
2,120
1,327
Austin, TX
I stood in line this afternoon to get my 6s and once I made it into the store I saw people with bags of iPhones carrying them out. What the heck? I thought they were limited? Or are they not anymore?


I saw about half a dozen people walking out with Apple bags with probably at least 10 phones per bag.

If Apple is trying to crack down on scalping I don't think it's working.

Just thought it was interesting as I've never seen anything like that.
 

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Guess you are new here. This stuff continues to go on.

Know why? Because people are stupid enough to pay more than retail for them. Beyond me, but it happens.
 
nostresshere said:
Guess you are new here. This stuff continues to go on.

Know why? Because people are stupid enough to pay more than retail for them. Beyond me, but it happens.
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No I am not, I know it goes on but I have never seen it to THAT degree. I have never seen 1 person walk out with half a dozen phones.
 
kupkakez said:
I stood in line this afternoon to get my 6s and once I made it into the store I saw people with bags of iPhones carrying them out. What the heck? I thought they were limited? Or are they not anymore?


I saw about half a dozen people walking out with Apple bags with probably at least 10 phones per bag.

If Apple is trying to crack down on scalping I don't think it's working.

Just thought it was interesting as I've never seen anything like that.
Click to expand...

Seems unlikely- it's long been Apple policy to allow 2 phones per person per visit, never seen anyone get more than that,
 
shadesofearl said:
Seems unlikely- it's long been Apple policy to allow 2 phones per person per visit, never seen anyone get more than that,
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That's what I thought lol hence the post. I have never seen so many people walk out with bags of them. It was just odd.
 
shadesofearl said:
Don't think she bought them all herself- probably was handed more from her "cohorts" if you know what I mean ... :)
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No, I saw these people paying with gift cards. There were other groups at other tables in the store doing the exact same thing.
 
Given they are scalpers, who would they sell to? I think the biggest demand was in China previously, however this year iPhone launched simultaneously there. I'm sure there must be crazy rich guys in Russia, Pakistan, Brazil, Gulf states that would pay any price, but just don't see how these countries would create such demand that so many people here were able to observe it.
 
One guy bought ten. He had told me in line that he gets double the price for them in Vietnam. He said China has a counterfeit iPhone they sell so everyone over there is hungry for the real thing.
 
Every year in our area when the iPhone is released Asian ladies will buy iPhones. Not one or two but two bags full of iPhones. Happens all the time.
 
Zaidat said:
One guy bought ten. He had told me in line that he gets double the price for them in Vietnam. He said China has a counterfeit iPhone they sell so everyone over there is hungry for the real thing.
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Interesting insight about Vietnam. However about China I'm not so sure. While it's definitely very easy to get counterfeit anything, there are a number of official Apple-run stores, and not just in Beijing and Shanghai, but in other cities, too.
 
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Same thing today. Although today they were telling the entire pack of them it was 2 per Apple ID and that you could only get 2 a day. They were still trying to strategize how to get more.
 
unclemax said:
Given they are scalpers, who would they sell to? I think the biggest demand was in China previously, however this year iPhone launched simultaneously there. I'm sure there must be crazy rich guys in Russia, Pakistan, Brazil, Gulf states that would pay any price, but just don't see how these countries would create such demand that so many people here were able to observe it.
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Today and yesterday it was all Indians/middle eastern . I'm assuming they are sending them overseas and reselling.
 
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I noticed A LOT of scalpers (or whatever we call them) in line when I picked up my phone yesterday. I would say 1 out of 3 people there seemed to be buying multiple phones. A few guys even had roller luggage with them and I'm sure they weren't filling them up with iPods. And just an observation based on my experience, they all seemed to be foreign.
 
At the Palo Alto store yesterday they were limiting everyone to two iPhones per *transaction*. They were allowing people to go back into the walk-in line as many times as they wanted to purchase two more (calling them round one, round two, etc.).
 
Scalpers will always find a way. Not sure exactly where these guys are offloading them though, doesn't seem worth it for such a small mark up on eBay. Internationally?

Apple are limiting them to two per customer but if you loop around and there is stock left then you can just keep buying. Though here in the UK I wonder how many Apple Stores are sticking to the legal limit of £5000 per day. Though again, see first sentence. They'll just bring along a friend if they go over the limit.
 
kupkakez said:
I stood in line this afternoon to get my 6s and once I made it into the store I saw people with bags of iPhones carrying them out. What the heck? I thought they were limited? Or are they not anymore?


I saw about half a dozen people walking out with Apple bags with probably at least 10 phones per bag.

If Apple is trying to crack down on scalping I don't think it's working.

Just thought it was interesting as I've never seen anything like that.
Click to expand...

If you were at the store getting your iPhone why didn't you just ask the store reps? Also, are you 100% you saw six iPhones in one bag? Or, did it just "look" like a bunch of iPhones? If you go and get two iPhones along with other stuff it's easy to bulk up a small Apple bag. Also, if the bag you saw was a "group" bag it could be iPhones from multiple people.
 
Tsuchiya said:
Scalpers will always find a way. Not sure exactly where these guys are offloading them though, doesn't seem worth it for such a small mark up on eBay. Internationally?

Apple are limiting them to two per customer but if you loop around and there is stock left then you can just keep buying. Though here in the UK I wonder how many Apple Stores are sticking to the legal limit of £5000 per day. Though again, see first sentence. They'll just bring along a friend if they go over the limit.
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It doesn't look like there's any kind of shortage this time around. It would be funny if the scalpers ended up with a ton of stock they couldn't sell...
 
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