iPhone Scalpers Force Temporary Closure of Beijing Apple Retail Store

[OnlyShawn]

If some dummy wants to pay a premium for a scalped iPhone then let them. It's a free market. Want to kill the scalpers, everyone agree not to buy from them, let them get stuck with several thousand in useless stock.

Why would one want to "kill" the scalpers? Also, that's absolutely impossible. Price rises to meet demand, and lowers accordingly. This is econ 101.

 

[Merkuryy]

Well, the very reason some of these items are "hard to find" in the first place is actually BECAUSE so many of them are being snatched up by the armload by people who only are interested in reselling them. If everyone in that Chinese store only purchased one or two, many of the folks in the pic would have probably gone home happy. Scalpers sure wrecked that in a hurry. The People's Republic of Capitalism, indeed. Hard to believe Apple didn't see this one coming.

Years ago, I used to go to fundraiser book sales and estate sales looking for affordable art books until eventually it just basically got destroyed by dealers looking to make a buck. You could tell who they were because they were ALWAYS, ALWAYS first in line, looked really mean and nervous, and they had big cardboard boxes in both hands and a blanket over their shoulder. When the gate was opened, these asshats would literally RUN to the table of valuable art books and snatch up everything remotely interesting or valuable and literally dump them by the armload into cardboard boxes, shove them in a corner and throw a blanket over the pile, signifying it was "theirs". One guy I particularly liked to watch literally would shake, he would get so excited. Later, after a good pillaging anything else of value, these guys would go over to the corner and like a lion with a chunk of meat turn their backs and pore thru everything to actually look at what they got. After 20 minutes or so, they'd dump off the junk- damaged books and non-first editions for the poor suckers like me that just wanted a good book or two.

A couple weeks later those 25 cent art books showed up in the neighborhood book store for 79.95.... now conveniently out of my price range. Thanks!

Now you can see these guys at estate sales..... same techniques, only now they're using iphones to look up the value of everything they have in their piles. What a godsend for them.

On some level, this same crap started happening in real estate the last 5 or 10 years.... everyone became a part-time speculator looking to make a buck on something underpriced. Pretty much took care of anything even remotely a good deal. Thanks! Just imagine if everyone did this on everything........

But I must say, I agree with you on some level- people are stupid for NEEDING to buy frivolous fad items the day they come out. If they're foolish enough to demand it immediately, its gonna cost them, one way or another. Apple will make millions more, soon enough. WTF is the rush?

Nice try by saying a new verion of PRC, people in China are now envying the billionair so much and just tried anything that could make them one step closer to them . That pretty sucks

 

[Eraserhead]

It is an interesting socio-economic observation that they are so desperate for ANY private sector profit, they will compete to low margins.

Look the price won't be fixed. Maybe a 10% markup is as low as you can go with the scalpers, but I'm sure many people would pay a higher price than that.

 

[barkmonster]

They're just like the people who snap up all the refurb or end-of-line Mac Mini's for £100 - £150 below the original retail price then put them on eBay for £50 below the original retail price, even if it's a year old.

I believe the term for these people rhymes with punts but the only people gambling are the people who they're profiting from. Not that it's illegal, it's just frustratingly immoral.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

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 =(

Scalping in the US is very common; it as though it is part of the US culture of viewing everything or everyone as a way of making money; screw over people, sell the first born - screw morality and ethics, as long as I make my millions that is all that apparently that matters in the US - the very same country that gave the the world the financial crisis and Berny Madoff to name a few.

 

[Nordichund]

This is just another example of what I call initiative or human nature. 10% is pretty cheap compared to what some people are selling iPhone 4s for here online in Norway. A minimum of 1200 USD for an unlocked iPhone 4 seems to be the going rate. Like they say, there's one born every minute.

 

[theshirko]

the only happy news in this story is that we actually got them lol
apple should be an American hero after this story, can you think of one other American company that managed to do this ?

 

[Rajani Isa]

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2008/10/munger_on_middl.html
Definitely check it out...understanding economics has made my (also design-educated) life much less stressful--in this case, I can understand the service that the oft-hated middlemen/scalpers provide

"In this case"? They are merely reselling right outside the door - are the buyers, unable to buy from Apple, even able to claim warranty work when the phones are bought this way?

 

[OnlyShawn]

"In this case"? They are merely reselling right outside the door - are the buyers, unable to buy from Apple, even able to claim warranty work when the phones are bought this way?

Yes, warranty is still valid. Products are tied to a purchase date by the individual phone. Apple knows when you bought it just by looking up the number. Regardless, the buyers know what they're getting, and they are choosing the scalper route, because they're only paying (apparently) a 10% markup and don't have to wait in line.

 

[mdelvecchio]

mangement just stopped caring and told us not to bother as it wasn't our problem...we weren't the police and revenue is revenue.

except it was your manager's problem -- for every guy happily buying 20 iphones there were 20 other non-customers pissed that the store was out. for weeks. thats why the rule exists. dude couldnt see the forest from the trees...

 

[mdelvecchio]

If you think that Apple didn't see this coming, you grossly underestimate the business acumen of Mr. Jobs.

1) "Apple" likely didnt undo the customer-limit, the store manager is more suspect. (do you honestly believe jobs is sitting in a room w/ a vid monitor and phone: "Two's the limit. Ok...now unlimited! Ok...now five's the limit! Bahahah! Oh boy this is fun. Unlimited!")

That business man knows exactly how to keep the market as thin as possible so as to keep demand as high as possible.

2) jobs has stated they cant make enough iphones; their chinese manu has invested in more of the glass machines to keep up.

You know that new hardware has a useful life of 6 months

3) thats absurd. says who? seeing as iphone has a 1-year dev cycle (macs longer) i dont even see how thats possible.

Trust me, as soon as a product hits the shelves, he could care less about it

4) huh? did you watch the press conference -- part of what gives apple the highest consumer-approval rates is the fact that they *do* care about users/customers, after the sale. dunno where youve been living, but i dont trust ya.

people would rather have cool over function...

5) iphone is form AND function, thats what makes them successful. dur.

 

[Eraserhead]

Not that it's illegal, it's just frustratingly immoral.

Well its just capitalism...

1) "Apple" likely didnt undo the customer-limit, the store manager is more suspect. (do you honestly believe jobs is sitting in a room w/ a vid monitor and phone: "Two's the limit. Ok...now unlimited! Ok...now five's the limit! Bahahah! Oh boy this is fun. Unlimited!")

Especially given Jobs won't make a cent extra out of the scalpers and will annoy his customers (even in China).

To be honest even the manager getting explicitly involved is slightly suspicious...

 

[LeoNobilis]

Apple & 3rd world vermin

Apparently, Apple is smitten with this animal-abusing, dignity-lacking scum:

http://www.google.com/images?client...&source=og&sa=N&hl=nl&tab=wi&biw=1427&bih=684

Disgusting untermenschen! Apples loves those.

That's not how one gets along with squalid savages. One just wipes them out. Not Apple, apparently. Apple prefers to befriend and coax this vermin.

 

[sirxavier]

Apparently, Apple is smitten with this animal-abusing, dignity-lacking scum:

http://www.google.com/images?client...&source=og&sa=N&hl=nl&tab=wi&biw=1427&bih=684

Disgusting untermenschen! Apples loves those.

That's not how one gets along with squalid savages. One just wipes them out. Not Apple, apparently. Apple prefers to befriend and coax this vermin.

http://www.meat.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(2009_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food,_Inc.

lol?

Anyway I live near SLT and would have loved to see the commotion... too bad I missed it. :/

 

[CaoCao]

So how is it that so many Chinese can afford iPhones to cause a shortage when they make such tiny salaries over there? I mean, LOOK at that store!

Could it be that the propaganda constantly being rammed down our throats about how poor the Chinese are is *wrong*? Gee, that would be something wouldn't it?

1% of Chinas pop is still a bazillion (~13 million) and there are like four stores in China? (excl. HK)

Disgraceful. It's a phone.

It has an Apple on it

...You were cruising somewhere between Serbia and Montenegro??? This must have been quite a cruise ship sailing between all these mountains ;-)

Jokes aside, the point was that you referred to Europe as if it is culturally homogeneous which it obvisously isn't. It's like saying "I think everyone in the Americas is geographically and culturally ignorant" when in fact you would be referring only to the US. See?

River Cruise FTW nub

Why would one want to "kill" the scalpers? Also, that's absolutely impossible. Price rises to meet demand, and lowers accordingly. This is econ 101.

kill scalping

Apparently, Apple is smitten with this animal-abusing, dignity-lacking scum:

http://www.google.com/images?client...&source=og&sa=N&hl=nl&tab=wi&biw=1427&bih=684

Disgusting untermenschen! Apples loves those.

That's not how one gets along with squalid savages. One just wipes them out. Not Apple, apparently. Apple prefers to befriend and coax this vermin.

don't get me started on American delicacies like fried squirrel brains and halved bull testicles (mountain oyster)

 

[kernkraft]

Apparently, Apple is smitten with this animal-abusing, dignity-lacking scum:

http://www.google.com/images?client...&source=og&sa=N&hl=nl&tab=wi&biw=1427&bih=684

Disgusting untermenschen! Apples loves those.

That's not how one gets along with squalid savages. One just wipes them out. Not Apple, apparently. Apple prefers to befriend and coax this vermin.

I think you are scum. You hear a negative news about China and you post some deep insults and a picture of people who appear to be Chinese with some animal...

So you actually associate Chinese people with "vermin" and "scum"? You are a racist POS. I don't care if you are Dutch, I don't immediately associate you with the far-right that is so popular there nowadays. I call you racist because of your individual actions.