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Does scalping really make a difference?

G

Gregintosh

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 29, 2008
1,939
565
Chicago
After reading some of the threads on here you would think that Scalpers are making Apple lose legitimate customers by buying up supplies while real fans aren't able to get their hands on something.

In another thread someone went so far as to say Apple lost his money because the scalpers were in line so he couldn't get a phone, so he would wait until the next model or switch to Android.

To me a lot of this seems absolutely hysterical and insane.

While scalping is ANNOYING because you want something for yourself and you cant get it because of them, I can't imagine anyone "giving up" on Apple because they couldn't get the most in demand piece of tech in the world on the first day.

I mean seriously, the phone is going to be sold all year!

To the people who say this stuff, I ask: Why does it mean that if you cant get it on the first day you're going to wait until next year to get try to get the next model. Does it make sense to change ecosystems and dump one you like and have invested in because you can't wait a day or a week for the model you want?

A month ago we had no idea what the release date could have been, so its not like Apple "owes" us a release date of Sept 19th. What if they announced that its coming out in November? Would that have also made you wait until next year's model or jump to android?

I wonder if people who say this stuff also boycott movies if they cant get into the premiere or skip dinner if they're not the first ones served at the table.

Hopefully in a couple weeks sanity will be restored. :)

P.S. I did get an iPhone 6 on release date but if I didn't I would have waited until they're back in stock or I could get one online. Luckily for me, on Sept 19th Apple DIDN'T send out a kill switch signal to my working iPhone 5 which would have necessitated a release date upgrade or face not having a phone at all.
 
Here in New England is is worse than I have EVER seen it. A LOT worse.

Did they lose me as a customer? Probably not for this reason.

I am much more frustrated at the fact that Next is an option for online ordering until you get to checkout, at which point it simply doesn't work. That's the main reason I haven't been able to get a 6+yet...
 
I want the newest products asap because I work in IT and I'm a tech geek. Technology is my career and hobby so it's basically something I come in contact with everyday. If I don't get a product I highly anticipate on day 1, it loses it's appeal to be honest. Most people can live without getting stuff right away.

This year was the first time I ever went to an Apple store for a product launch because in-store preorder pickup was the only option available to me, and 90% of the overnight camping line was all resellers.
 
What all the anti-scalper whiners haven't acknowledged is that people still buy iPhones from scalpers. So it's a zero-sum game: if Apple had 500000 units to sell over the weekend, then in the end 500000 people bought phones and are most likely using them. Scalpers are simply middlemen. Most of the whiners are just ******** that they had to wait in line after them.

If I paid a college student $500 to stand in line 2 days early and pick up a 6+ for me, I'm effectively paying $500 over MSRP for the phone. Would this also be considered scalping?
 
NYY FaN said:
I want the newest products asap because I work in IT and I'm a tech geek. Technology is my career and hobby so it's basically something I come in contact with everyday. If I don't get a product I highly anticipate on day 1, it loses it's appeal to be honest. Most people can live without getting stuff right away.

This year was the first time I ever went to an Apple store for a product launch because in-store preorder pickup was the only option available to me, and 90% of the overnight camping line was all resellers.
Click to expand...

I get what you mean about wanting it right away, as I wanted mine on launch day also but the phone is still the same phone and it is still the hottest piece of tech even on day 10 or 20 or 50.

Surely, if its worth standing in line for on the first day of the release its worth coming back a week later to pick up and play with.

What if Apple announced a release date of November? Would that have lost its appeal to you since you couldn't have it on Sept 19? The launch date is completely arbitrary.

Why not just pretend Apple isn't releasing it until October and feel better? lol
 
NYY FaN said:
This year was the first time I ever went to an Apple store for a product launch because in-store preorder pickup was the only option available to me, and 90% of the overnight camping line was all resellers.
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Please share how you came up with this data.
 
Blue4D2 said:
Please share how he's lying.
Click to expand...

Why should I do that when the burden of proof is on the person who actually made the statement? I'm not saying he's lying, I'm simply asking how he came up with that number of 90 percent. Unless he actually went down the line asking every single person why they were there, that percentage has no basis in fact.

You really don't know how statistics work, do you?
 
The scalping situation is really bad--and I am speaking from 1st hand experience camping--and is defiantly causing a lot of customers to not receive the phones they want.

For the record, when I mean really bad, I don't mean it's bad in your traditional concert, sports game, etc. event, that is to say where the majority of people are regular customers and a small percentage are scalping to make a quick buck, no here we are talking about large organized scalping of hundreds of thousands maybe even millions (globally) of iPhones. It's shocking.
 
IllIllIll said:
Why should I do that when the burden of proof is on the person who actually made the statement? I'm not saying he's lying, I'm simply asking how he came up with that number of 90 percent. Unless he actually went down the line asking every single person why they were there, that percentage has no basis in fact.

You really don't know how statistics work, do you?
Click to expand...
I think virtually everyone here takes his statement for what it is (his assessment of the line at his store). Likewise, I think most people rolled their eyes at your "scientifically prove what you just said" post to him.
 
It's okay with me and most of my friends if the scalpers don't employ techniques that swell the line so they get pushed down as much as 100 places in the queue. And some of my friends who did wait in line saw scalpers actually try to cut in line at places where mall security had made breaks in the line for foot traffic to pass by.

There is a thread now closed by moderators due to possible racial offense in which a fellow in the UK indicated scalpers were successfully cutting in line and using people as place holders who would then allow many more people to join them in line, thus pushing legitimate buyers hopelessly far back in the queue.

As an Asian I'd hate for anyone to assume I'm a scalper just because I'm in a queue early and am Asian in America or Europe. So I would hope fellow customers would be polite and tolerant if even people they assume to be scalpers based frankly on racial profiling stand in line in a polite orderly manner and act like any other customer.

I do know what drew my friends' ire more than any scalping was the fact that the Apple Store at which they were lined up for hours failed to do an inventory of the line. Meaning nobody came out to ask what models the customers were hoping to get and then going in to see of inventory was going to match demand. People who stood in line for several hours and were approaching the lead suddenly found that the model they wanted was out of stock. AT&T stores send a CSR out to ask customers in line what they want and then tell them up front if the model they want is going to be gone when their turn arrives.
 
aristobrat said:
I think virtually everyone here takes his statement for what it is (his assessment of the line at his store). Likewise, I think most people rolled their eyes at your "scientifically prove what you just said" post to him.
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IllIllIll talks like a scalper.
 
I'm surprised by just how many scalpers had time to post their sh** on McRumors this year...;)
 
ToroidalZeus said:
The scalping situation is really bad--and I am speaking for 1st hand experience camping--and is defiantly causing a lot of customers to not receive the phones they want.
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And of course, you have zero empirical evidence to back anything you say up.

And please don't start in with this "1st hand experience" garbage. What you experienced is hardly representative of what happened everywhere else.
 
IllIllIll said:
Why should I do that when the burden of proof is on the person who actually made the statement? I'm not saying he's lying, I'm simply asking how he came up with that number of 90 percent. Unless he actually went down the line asking every single person why they were there, that percentage has no basis in fact.

You really don't know how statistics work, do you?
Click to expand...

You really take forum comments seriously. I was just poking fun at the fact that you're being a huge douche.
 
IllIllIll said:
Please share how you came up with this data.
Click to expand...

Watching people work, listening to them talk about the $100 they are getting from their "handler" when they're done, etc.

I have no idea if it was 90%. But it was a large number, larger than I had ever experienced before. Around me there was only one guy who wanted the phone (he was there for a good 15 hours and didn;t get one). Everyone else was high school kids, meth heads, and asians. There were 5-7 "handlers"each with multiple DOZEN people they were coordinating what to buy. And this is just what I saw and heard.

Interestingly one of these handlers was a high school girl. I applaud her for being business savvy. Not sure where she is getting the thousands of dollars it costs her to buy the phones, but whatever. Good for her. I would have done the same in high school if I had the capitol at the time.

Seeing very few individuals walk out of the store with product was also a good indicator, I felt.

But anyway, I have no issue with the scalpers. I have issue with how the lines were handled (and continue to be) in my area, along with how Apple is handling upgrades on their website (that is, they aren't lol).
 
lordofthereef said:
Watching people work, listening to them talk about the $100 they are getting from their "handler" when they're done, etc.

I have no idea if it was 90%. But it was a large number, larger than I had ever experienced before. Around me there was only one guy who wanted the phone (he was there for a good 15 hours and didn;t get one). Everyone else was high school kids, meth heads, and asians. There were 5-7 "handlers"each with multiple DOZEN people they were coordinating what to buy. And this is just what I saw and heard.

Seeing very few individuals walk out of the store with product was also a good indicator, I felt.

But anyway, I have no issue with the scalpers. I have issue with how the lines were handled (and continue to be) in my area, along with how Apple is handling upgrades on their website (that is, they aren't lol).
Click to expand...

The scalpers are causing the shortages so I do have a problem with them.
 
aristobrat said:
I think virtually everyone here takes his statement for what it is (his assessment of the line at his store). Likewise, I think most people rolled their eyes at your "scientifically prove what you just said" post to him.
Click to expand...

90% is a pretty significant percentage. I'd just like to know how he came up with that number.

Given that he hasn't answered, I'm guessing that he just looked at the line and assumed that every Asian person in it was planning to resell phones.

----------
Blue4D2 said:
Probably is.

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Someone has their panties in a bunch.
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Not at all. Just calling out BS where I see it.

I have no problem reselling phones or anything else. Once I buy something I should be free to do anything I want with it, including turning around and selling it for a profit. As long as I buy it legally, why are YOUR panties in a bunch over this concept?
 
I doubt it makes a huge difference. From what Ive seen on this forum from a lot of people is that any person that looks to be of asian descent must be a scalper in their mind.
 
The issue is first come first served. Is a person who is an avid Apple user and tech enthusiast more deserving to buy a phone, over a person who wants to resell it?

Meritocracy based systems are the best, not the subjective ones that seek to determine who "deserves" to have it over another, which only serves as an obfuscation tool by society's whiners.
 
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