Okay, I agree my "low production" choice wasn't the best. I was just trying to compare Best Buy marking up with a car dealer marking up some cars.
When demand exceeds supply, it's normal for some stores to mark prices up. Best Buy took the brunt of this one. I just wished people would focus their dissatisfaction in other markets as well, that's all.
But again though, just to clarify, they aren’t marking up because the X hype is real and heavy, as this isnt a unique stunt to the X release. Historically speaking, they’ve done this for multiple generations of iPhones but are now only bearing the brunt of scrutiny BECAUSE of the media hype of X all together. Anyone who’s ever window shopped an iPhone’s price at Best Buy contract free in past few years, understands the hike.
Your car dealer markup comparison is a fair one, there’s MSRP and then there’s ‘convenience tax’ like BB said and was hounded for...
Look at it this way, if you dont have a verizon account and demand the Qualcomm CDMA/GSM model, without spending nearly the same if not more or a little less but hassle, to sign up for a Verizon account temporarily, vs. forking over +100 to get it over with, maybe thats worth it to someone? And also uninformed consumers or consumers who value getting an X if they stumble across one in BB/preorder is the only option left, vs waiting seemingly definitely from Apple.com direct with the current queue backed up to sometime in December, or so..
Now you cant even get a plan-free X if you wanted from BB, so the complainers have eliminated a choice they weren’t going to go with to begin with
And i agree, other markets are worth critiquing more like ebay allowing preorder auctions to happen, before someone even has the product in their hands — as a placeholder. That just feels wrong to lock people into hype pricing, vs having product in hand and going where market and craigslist and all the rest dictate, price wise.
Thats classic gouging and enabling the scalper to do his job and do it very well.
