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iPad Pro How do you feel about people reselling things you can't find in store?

Ghost31

Ghost31

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 9, 2015
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Do you think they're a bit douchey for trying to make extra money off selling something that's in short supply? Or is it just the free market and who cares?

Personally I think it's a bit douchey. If I bought a pencil or a keyboard and decided I didn't want them, I would feel lucky to just sell them for what I bought them for. But to actually charge more for them than I even paid? Why the heck would I do that? The thought would never even occur to me. I don't know. Just thinking out loud here
 

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Don't bother me any more to be honest. Back when we didn't have preorders and I qued every year for my phone it did.
 
Isn't that seller on the craigslist ad you posted actually losing .96 since the total came out to be 400.96?

But yeah, it sucks when I see someone trying to sell an Apple Pencil for $300-$400. This is what motivates me to try to secure the product on launch or be persistent in hunting it down the following weeks LoL
 
jaexprojectxd said:
Isn't that seller on the craigslist ad you posted actually losing .96 since the total came out to be 400.96?

But yeah, it sucks when I see someone trying to sell an Apple Pencil for $300-$400. This is what motivates me to try to secure the product on launch or be persistent in hunting it down the following weeks LoL
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Beats me. When I buy both, it comes out to this after tax
 

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I'm not a fan of people who buy up in bulk and sell for profit when any new product is in short supply. While the dersire of buyers to pay extra is their own doing the practice is still a bit predatory.
 
Douchy is the right term. It doesn't really get to me much, but if I don't use my pencil I'll be selling it for what I paid. But that's just so I don't have to feel all douche about it.

My further annoyance: there is such a glut of marked up pencils on CL and eBay that I wonder if there Is an actual shortage at all. Seems like if the stockpilers left the food chain there would be plenty to go around.
 
I sold my pencil for $120.

It was about $107 after tax - do you know how hard it was to find?

I had to spend quite a bit of time calling stores and making sure I was there when the shipments were opened, just to get one.

I only sold it because I returned my iPad pro..and making the $13 seemed extremely reasonable..
 
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David58117 said:
I sold my pencil for $120.

It was about $107 after tax - do you know how hard it was to find?

I had to spend quite a bit of time calling stores and making sure I was there when the shipments were opened, just to get one.

I only sold it because I returned my iPad pro..and making the $13 seemed extremely reasonable..
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I don't see this as unreasonable at all. Shipping and handling easily covers that.
 
Ghost31 said:
Do you think they're a bit douchey for trying to make extra money off selling something that's in short supply? Or is it just the free market and who cares?

Personally I think it's a bit douchey. If I bought a pencil or a keyboard and decided I didn't want them, I would feel lucky to just sell them for what I bought them for. But to actually charge more for them than I even paid? Why the heck would I do that? The thought would never even occur to me. I don't know. Just thinking out loud here
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Not particularly. If you buy it, sell it for what you can get. They call that "free enterprise" - basic market economics.
 
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David58117 said:
I sold my pencil for $120.

It was about $107 after tax - do you know how hard it was to find?

I had to spend quite a bit of time calling stores and making sure I was there when the shipments were opened, just to get one.

I only sold it because I returned my iPad pro..and making the $13 seemed extremely reasonable..
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Pretty sure the karma police won't be coming after you for $13 :D
 
I don't mind the free market, but I have to admit seeing eBay auctions from sellers with "stacks" of Apple pencils kinda gets on my nerves. I live very close to an Apple Store in San Jose,Ca and haven't been able to score a pencil or keyboard cover since getting the pro on launch day.

It would be different of the iPad pro's were not in stock but they've been easy to get.
 
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David58117 said:
I sold my pencil for $120.

It was about $107 after tax - do you know how hard it was to find?

I had to spend quite a bit of time calling stores and making sure I was there when the shipments were opened, just to get one.

I only sold it because I returned my iPad pro..and making the $13 seemed extremely reasonable..
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I'm....not really talking about people like you. I honestly don't care when it's so little profit. I should've used another example like the one I saw last week of someone selling an Apple smart keyboard for $550. That's just ridiculous . Whoever pays that deserves to get ripped off
 
While it's annoying, it IS a free market. The way I see it, a fool and his money are soon parted... so if somebody has the money and is willing to pay that for it, that's up to them.

Now, what pisses me off are car dealers that mark up low-volume cars, or brand new to the market ones. Dealers are scum to begin with, so I have a much harder time feeling okay about them doing that. Much as I'm not a BMW fan, I respect that company policy prohibits dealers from marking cars up; they just have to have a waiting list.
 
Having had lots of debates with people on the tax avoidance thread, go for it! Seems most support apple making as much money as possible, so hey, why should you not. If you sell it to some of the most vocal supporters, charge them 4x price ;)
 
Ghost31 said:
Do you think they're a bit douchey for trying to make extra money off selling something that's in short supply? Or is it just the free market and who cares?

Personally I think it's a bit douchey. If I bought a pencil or a keyboard and decided I didn't want them, I would feel lucky to just sell them for what I bought them for. But to actually charge more for them than I even paid? Why the heck would I do that? The thought would never even occur to me. I don't know. Just thinking out loud here
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its called "scalping" - where an individual who is not a retailer buys something up that's in short supply to then try and sell it for a massive profit - its really extortion and holding the average consumers to ransom in a way - I really hope governments make laws to prevent it and those who engage in it are prosecuted - it is a devious exploitation of the general consumer.

normal retailers make their profit from buying at wholesale prices and usually selling close to the RRP, which is the same as the official store, so the consumer is not being exploited. People who buy things up in short supply, like tickets, apple pencil, with no intention of using them, only to try and make massive profits above the RRP need to get an honest job.
 
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Ghost31 said:
Do you think they're a bit douchey for trying to make extra money off selling something that's in short supply? Or is it just the free market and who cares?

Personally I think it's a bit douchey. If I bought a pencil or a keyboard and decided I didn't want them, I would feel lucky to just sell them for what I bought them for. But to actually charge more for them than I even paid? Why the heck would I do that? The thought would never even occur to me. I don't know. Just thinking out loud here
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Eh. It's nothing more than an organically created expediting system. If you want something faster than you can get through "normal" channels then there's going to be an added cost.

Isn't it a bit arrogant to make a judgment about the reason people buy products? Buying something to flip it is "a bit douchey" in your opinion. What if the reason to buy it was to make a "will it blend" video? What if they were going to buy it and stick it in a drawer and save it as a collectible? Do you have a list of acceptable reasons for buying a product that don't cross the "douchey" line?

Please don't misunderstand me... I'm not ragging on you, but offering something to think about. :)

You are also assuming that a person is always successful in selling such an item for more than they paid for it. While that is generally true, very often those people (flippers) get "stuck" with the item. They don't have inside information to supply chain inventory and can suddenly find themselves with an item that they have to sit on for a while before selling it or end up eating the cost of tax and/or shipping.


VesselA said:
its called "scalping" - where an individual who is not a retailer buys something up that's in short supply to then try and sell it for a massive profit - its really extortion and holding the average consumers to ransom in a way - I really hope governments make laws to prevent it and those who engage in it are prosecuted - it is a devious exploitation of the general consumer.

normal retailers make their profit from buying at wholesale prices and usually selling close to the RRP, which is the same as the official store, so the consumer is not being exploited. People who buy things up in short supply, like tickets, apple pencil, with no intention of using them, only to try and make massive profits above the RRP need to get an honest job.
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We're not talking about life-saving medication. "Extortion", "holding the average consumer to ransom", "devious exploitation". That's quite a bit of drama and hyperbole.

Extortion?! Did the flipper hold a gun to a person's head and force them to buy it?

Devious exploitation? What is "devious" about selling something for a price higher than MSRP? The MSRP price is known, the selling price is known. What "underhanded tactic" is the seller using in that situation. :rolleyes:
 
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It seems to bother me more that Apple can't seem to get the products in the stores and this happens. I would hope that Apple could limit the number people can buy so till they can get a good flow of inventory out there.

Hopefully the two items people in these threads are looking for will be in stock at stores soon.. I noticed that even the Logitech keyboards are in limited supply.
 
As with everything, there are pros and cons to this. Pros? I got my IPP and accessories for 300 bc of selling accessories for profit. There's so much money out there it's crazy, people with an abundance of money that don't have time to be online to wait for when stuff becomes available don't bat an eye to get some scarce product right away for a premium. I see it as a great opportunity to get your Apple stuff way cheaper, of course it sucks for the average costumer, I'd recommend this to anyone w the money/credit/good eBay account to try it.
 
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