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iPhone Scalpers Force Temporary Closure of Beijing Apple Retail Store
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I am in China
I have been on vacation in China(in Beijing and Shanghai) for a few weeks and it is kinda funny I have seen a lot of people selling iPhone 4 knock-offs and it is kinda funny when I pull out the real thing they immediately ask how much do I want for it.
I have been on vacation in China(in Beijing and Shanghai) for a few weeks and it is kinda funny I have seen a lot of people selling iPhone 4 knock-offs and it is kinda funny when I pull out the real thing they immediately ask how much do I want for it.
I agree. The only crime here is queue jumping!
If people didn't need to have the latest gadget the moment it hit the shelves, they could just wait a few weeks for Apple to replenish stocks and the scalpers would be screwed. The scalpers are simply cashing in on an opportunity provided by obsessive early-adopters with too much cash.
Seriously.
I work at a retail store near the docks, we get Asians coming in during the summer to buy laptops. They just open their wallets and calmly hand over £600 in 10s as if it was nothing
That is pretty genius. Lets check the scorecard:
consumers: win, or at worse, push
apple: win
scalpers: lose
...a storybook outcome.
After having to deal with those ***** line ups in Toronto for two days to get my iPhone, I really think unlocked phones should only be sold online for the first three months or so to avoid all this nonsense. Waiting in line for hours is frustrating enough on top of dealing with those annoying scalpers who are just there to make money.
Seriously.
I work at a retail store near the docks, we get Asians coming in during the summer to buy laptops. They just open their wallets and calmly hand over £600 in 10s as if it was nothing
There are many countries in the world that don't use credit cards as their source of payment. China and Japan are two countries that come into my mind. They are all cash there. I remember in Japan i tried to pay for my hotel with my Credit Card and they charged me for using it.
This maybe surprising to westerners! But it's so regular happenings in Asian countries (Hong Kong, China).
Scalpers are just part of an organized group of people, there are people who get paid to line-up, just to buy all the whatever it is selling, so scalpers can do the job.
I am surprised the markup is only 10% and they are not ripping people of with ShanZai stuff.
Apple made these things in China, should China have more than sufficient stock?
But it's so regular happenings in Asian countries (Hong Kong, China).Scalpers are just part of an organized group of people, there are people who get paid to line-up, just to buy all the whatever it is selling, so scalpers can do the job.
I am surprised the markup is only 10% and they are not ripping people of with ShanZai stuff.
Apple made these things in China, should China have more than sufficient stock?
im chinese and this is a disgrace.....
ive been living in the states for quite a while now (bought 2 iphones,iphone 3g, iphone 4, ipod touch, ipod nano and a MBP, and countless visits to the apple store for various reasons) and have not encountered any of that kind of problem. I guess we have to learn to be a lot more civilized =(
ive been living in the states for quite a while now (bought 2 iphones,iphone 3g, iphone 4, ipod touch, ipod nano and a MBP, and countless visits to the apple store for various reasons) and have not encountered any of that kind of problem. I guess we have to learn to be a lot more civilized =(
Hey Apple
it's called MASS PRODUCTION
look into it
What have you done that's soo great that gives you the authority to make such a comment? The demand is high. You would have known that if you were familiar with Apple. Stop trolling pathetic really how blatantly you...... well anyways. Very useless comment and there's no argument about that! Sorry dude
Do you thunk it?
If you think that Apple didn't see this coming, you grossly underestimate the business acumen of Mr. Jobs.
That business man knows exactly how to keep the market as thin as possible so as to keep demand as high as possible.
You know that new hardware has a useful life of 6 months...we are engineered for it through the media, vendor ads, etc.... The consumers create this, not the vendors. I have yet to see a vendor go out and make a person buy their product. You can yell, scream and whine all day and night, but until Mr. Jobs has the police come down to your shack, or wherever you live, handcuff you, take your credit card, go to the Apple store, or your room where you have your computer and buy one of these things, you are the driver of this ship, not Apple.
As soon as hardware comes online to the stores/customers, the clock to the revenue life of that product begins to run out. Apple times releases exactly to when they believe that the next version will bring in more revenue vs. their inventory of old product and seek to run out of product before putting the new one out there. This is economics 101.
While we type and go back and forth nebulously and uselessly, Mr. Jobs is seriously in the back rooms of Apple ensuring that you will buy the next item he creates.
Trust me, as soon as a product hits the shelves, he could care less about it because people would rather have cool over function...that's the New American way and China is all over it.
Delayed gratification and maturity...FORGET THAT S#$%^T!!!!!!!!!!!! says the 10-55 year old today, no matter where in the world you are.
I say MORE POWER TO THE SCALPERS...they are the only one who get it that there is a market within the market within the market for this crap.
If you think that Apple didn't see this coming, you grossly underestimate the business acumen of Mr. Jobs.
That business man knows exactly how to keep the market as thin as possible so as to keep demand as high as possible.
You know that new hardware has a useful life of 6 months...we are engineered for it through the media, vendor ads, etc.... The consumers create this, not the vendors. I have yet to see a vendor go out and make a person buy their product. You can yell, scream and whine all day and night, but until Mr. Jobs has the police come down to your shack, or wherever you live, handcuff you, take your credit card, go to the Apple store, or your room where you have your computer and buy one of these things, you are the driver of this ship, not Apple.
As soon as hardware comes online to the stores/customers, the clock to the revenue life of that product begins to run out. Apple times releases exactly to when they believe that the next version will bring in more revenue vs. their inventory of old product and seek to run out of product before putting the new one out there. This is economics 101.
While we type and go back and forth nebulously and uselessly, Mr. Jobs is seriously in the back rooms of Apple ensuring that you will buy the next item he creates.
Trust me, as soon as a product hits the shelves, he could care less about it because people would rather have cool over function...that's the New American way and China is all over it.
Delayed gratification and maturity...FORGET THAT S#$%^T!!!!!!!!!!!! says the 10-55 year old today, no matter where in the world you are.
I say MORE POWER TO THE SCALPERS...they are the only one who get it that there is a market within the market within the market for this crap.
I figured there would be a lot more complaining about the scalpers in here...surprising that there isn't. GOOD that there isn't, but surprising. As someone above mentioned, the only problem here is people jumping in line (or, que, however you want to say it).
If anyone wants to check out some economics of scalping/gouging (two words I hate, but there ya go): Mike Munger on Price Gouging. There's a couple other great podcasts on scalping, as well...Munger's a fun guy to listen to, check it out.
If anyone wants to check out some economics of scalping/gouging (two words I hate, but there ya go): Mike Munger on Price Gouging. There's a couple other great podcasts on scalping, as well...Munger's a fun guy to listen to, check it out.