iPhone X Models Flooding Craigslist and eBay Amid Six Week Shipping Estimates

[SuperMarioKart]

If I was rich enough to pay that, I would have just hired a team to secure one for me at midnight instead of giving money to schmbag scalpers.

Scalpers often lose money on an individual evetn or item but will make a profit at year's end. Often times, season ticket resellers only make significant profits if a team reaches the later stages of the playoffs or on big name events. Wait a few days for the price to come down. You didn't need a team. You could have logged on at midnight yourself through the carrier site or selected local pickup at an Apple store for many carriers up till 3 AM PT. Alternatively, you could have signed up for the iPhone Upgrade Program and guaranteed yourself an iPhone X. For those that didn't want to do either and still want it on launch, they can buy on the secondary market for slightly above retail. If you set your max bid at 1400, you should win an X 256 in a couple hours.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sop=1&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=iphone x 256gb unlocked&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

[AEdouard]

So if a phone is worth $2000 dollars in the secondary market (let’s assume this is an easy sale and guaranteed value) ... that’s means that’s what the phone is worth in the free market, in turn how much you’re paying for the phone. You buying it at MSRP means you’re getting a discount on free market price.

The moment you have the unopened iPhone in your hands - you have $2000 in your hands. Not the price you paid.

Imagine - if someone gave you $2000 would you still use that money and buy the iPhone?

Nope, it means people can expect to find a buyer at this price in a reasonable timeframe, in the secondary market at launch, where you see people that REALLY want that phone go. It certainly isn't the market price that would make sense in the broader market. Source: Hey, I have a master's in economics, but don't really do an economist's job at the moment.

 

[Exile714]

Just because someone lists something on eBay for X amount of money doesn’t mean they’re selling for that. I eBay a lot of things, so let me explain a few points here:

1) People fake bid on items. I don’t get why, but on electronics items about 1 in 5 items these days is bought and never paid for. No, not a scam, because they don’t ever get to asking for the item or even sending their address. There are a few iPhone X listings above $2000 but they’re the top/sponsored listings. Those are 99% likely to be fake buyers jacking up the price. There is no way to stop this from happening, you can’t require a certain amount of feedback for buyers and most of these have 1-5 feedback ratings usually from the last few months. They’re fake accounts, and when eBay eventually cancels them the person behind them won’t care.

2) Once you dig into the listings, you see a markup of maybe $200-300 for the actual, serious bidders. That’s a high price tag when you consider that’s about $50 a week to get a phone early. But the eBay seller’s fees, PayPal fees, and shipping will eat $180-250 of that, meaning scalpers are getting maybe $20-50.

Take it from an eBay veteran, these days there is no profit in selling early tech. If you want to spend two weekends and make a couple hundred in profit, try reselling 2-3 year old tech bought from yard sales, much higher profit margins there.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

"Apple said in a statement this morning that demand for the iPhone X is 'off the charts'" - now imagine what the demand would be if it kept the fingerprint scanner and it did not have THE NOTCH.

This a completely meaningless statement. Who sets the limit of the charts? Just marketing gibberish to hype people into getting the device.
[doublepost=1509223643][/doublepost]I

If I was rich enough to pay that, I would have just hired a team to secure one for me at midnight instead of giving money to schmbag scalpers.

I suspect "hiring a team" would be a more expensive option.

 

[rGiskard]

If I was rich enough to pay that, I would have just hired a team to secure one for me at midnight instead of giving money to schmbag scalpers.

So your team of scalpers is morally fine, but an individual scalper is a scumbag?

I actually wonder how rich some of these d-bags are who willing pay $3000 to have an iPhone X a couple months sooner. Seems to me that anyone who could afford it wouldn't need to show off their wealth so badly. But I guess there's lots of rich d-bags so whatever.

What's kind of funny is, I wouldn't buy ANY new model iPhone until early production bugs had been worked out. I already have an iPhone so waiting another three months makes no difference to me. But even that is moot because an iPhone would have to do a LOT more than the X does to be worth $1200 to me. At the very least it would need to get me laid a few times.

 

[Eklund66]

I was one of the first buyers of the Tesla Model X. I resold it a month later for £15k more. Report me.

Get my drift?

People are stupid, right?
;-)

 

[techwhiz]

"A fool and his money are soon parted...."
"A sucker born every day...."

 

[laptech]

If people think that those with wealth are going to be the ones paying those rip off prices then you need to think again. The wealthy rip off other people, they make it a habit of not being ripped off themselves. There is enough documentation out there, news articles, magazine articles, autobiographies that give a very very good insight into how the wealthy/rich live and go about their daily lives.

All these scalpers s**m are doing is taking away the opportunity for a genuine Apple fan/owner to get their hands on the new phone come Nov 3rd. Many in here have gone on about 'freemarket' etc etc. If that is your point of view then you do not have the right to complain about any company, bank, institution making money. If the phone company raise line rental, if insurance companies raise prices, if banks increase rates, if landowners increase rents, well, it's a freemarket isn't it, based on what the supporters of 'scalping' are saying.

 

[CooKieMoNs7eR]

To be honest they're not even going for that high...I expected $2000+ but I just watched 3 iPhone X's being sold at $1475 which is $200-$300 markup and thats for the 256GB model....I remember iPhone 7 plus was going for that much for the jet black version....

 

[laptech]

To be honest they're not even going for that high...I expected $2000+ but I just watched 3 iPhone X's being sold at $1475 which is $200-$300 markup and thats for the 256GB model....I remember iPhone 7 plus was going for that much for the jet black version....

I remember when the iphone 7 came out, the national press reported that a few businessmen had hired students (£50 to each) to stand in line at the Regent Street store in London. The businessmen had given the students the money to buy the new iphone, waited for them outside the shop to collect the phones, after a while walking away with sometimes upto 10-12 phones, to sell on at increased prices.

 

[Gaprofitt]

I ordered several, and I scalp them. See nothing wrong with it. Supply and demand. Apple is doing the same thing selling them for $1000

 

[killawat]

I ordered several, and I scalp them. See nothing wrong with it. Supply and demand. Apple is doing the same thing selling them for $1000

Surely one cannot scalp their own products. Unless they sell them for above their own MSRP, which they don't.

 

[JungeQuex]

There's not much profit. After eBay, Pay Pal, and shipping fees, the net to the seller is maybe $200. MR is also using sales in the high range. Filter the listing to completed sales and you'll see that many of the 256gb Xs have sold for around $1,400.

$200 per unit is still a really great margin for basically doing nothing except ordering and then shipping.

 

[puckhead193]

no way would i even consider paying over retail for anything. I get turned off when they want me to pay for shipping

 

[SuperMarioKart]

$200 per unit is still a really great margin for basically doing nothing except ordering and then shipping.

Sales tax in LA County is 9.5% and over 10% in other parts of the state. That's $1260 with tax and then take away 8-13% for eBay and PayPal fees. Congrats on breaking even. You're better off trying to get them at $50 markdown from someone that ruins people's credits by asking them to buy the phones with financing. A lot of those guys don't like to sell online and prefer to deal locally in bulk. If you're a registered reseller, you can claim a tax rebate on the Apple store purchase if you resell them. That's the only way to make money if you didn't sell a pre-pre order. I just didn't want to risk my eBay reputation if I couldn't get them. I didn't realize how easy it would be to get them on Verizon's site at 11:55 PM.

 

[VictorTango777]

Why is everyone so concerned that the free market is at work here?

Apparently, free market pricing is a privilege reserved exclusively for Apple. And some people enjoy telling others what to do ("It's a free market, you don't like it, don't buy it") but can't stand it when the same words are said back to them.
[doublepost=1509255247][/doublepost]

Sorry sir, we don't have any food for you and your family. That guy bought it up and is charging 2x the price for it.

That may seem silly but it actually happens with many products you buy every day. The prices are higher because of practices like this and you pay more because of it.

As another example, how many of the eBay, Craigslist, Best Buy haters own rental properties and happily increase rent at every opportunity in the name of free market? It may seem inconvenient for some, but free market means that everyone gets to take advantage, not just themselves and Apple.

 

[curtvaughan]

[doublepost=1509283899][/doublepost]

Bill gates wouldn’t either. I remember an interview where they asked him what he gets at McDonald’s. Not I’m paraphrasing but he said a burger and a small drink. Why a small drink? Free refills, why spend more? Lol.

I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t splurge on things if I had an “unlimited” income. This phone may or may not be in that list though. I don’t really know.

Rumor is that Bill Gates has never owned an Apple product, and won't allow any into his home. Wealthy people are sometimes quite frugal (stingy?) with their money, which helps (along with tax breaks) them remain wealthy. It's the "wannabe" folks who tend to spend recklessly, and who will do things like pay double for a gadget just for a few weeks of bragging rights. I reckon if someone like Gates wanted an iPhone right now, he/she would likely go for a 6S - reasonably priced with a bonus headphone jack to boot.
[doublepost=1509284632][/doublepost]

Concert tickets are not really limited. If a concert is sold out within five minutes due to scalpers, the venue can just announce a second performance on the next day. As long as it sells out, add another performance. I don't think an artist will mind too much to do ten performances in an empty concert hall as long as it is sold out.

In the UK they start asking for your name when you buy tickets, and you need to show a passport or driving license with that name when you go to the concert. That makes it a lot harder for scalpers.

Sort of reminds me of when the Beatles stopped doing live performances at all - it generated much more demand for their recordings, so that they made a lot more money with less hassle than having to perform and travel. If Apple slows production of their premier devices, demand goes up along with potential pricing. I don't know whether Apple does this on purpose to keep up demand, nor if the Beatles stopped performing for the same reason, but serendipity is still there.

 

[Phonephreak]

And yes, they have every right to buy it and do whatever to it. But that’s not the point here...it’s about people’s intents and how one of two sides is greatly affecting the other, and the other one is not:

Side 1. Someone intending to scalp/profit with nothing to lose.
Side 2. Someone who really wants the X and waited, and/or saved up for it, but the scalper gets his spot in line.

Which side are you on?

Another simple analogy to this:
If you are trick or treating and you find out all candies have been taken from all the houses, then a kid comes up to you and offers you those candies for a price, what would you do? Of course there will always be other kids who will buy them, will you be one of them?

Think about it: The fun of trick or treating ruined by a kid whose main goal is to profit from others.

I’m not on anyone’s side. If in bought one with the intent of doubling my money so what. Just because I was lucky enough to get one, this is wrong.
[doublepost=1509286164][/doublepost]

There is a special place in hell for people like this

Yes it’s called the good business person spot

 

[JungeQuex]

Sales tax in LA County is 9.5% and over 10% in other parts of the state. That's $1260 with tax and then take away 8-13% for eBay and PayPal fees. Congrats on breaking even. You're better off trying to get them at $50 markdown from someone that ruins people's credits by asking them to buy the phones with financing. A lot of those guys don't like to sell online and prefer to deal locally in bulk. If you're a registered reseller, you can claim a tax rebate on the Apple store purchase if you resell them. That's the only way to make money if you didn't sell a pre-pre order. I just didn't want to risk my eBay reputation if I couldn't get them. I didn't realize how easy it would be to get them on Verizon's site at 11:55 PM.

Only an idiot would sell them as a pre-pre order though. These guys selling a spot in Line have no idea if they can get them. So yeah, I agree with you there. Regardless waiting until they are in hand does generate profit, and even $100 is worth it. I make my entire living on eBay (satcom) so maybe I’m a little biased.

 

[Phonephreak]

What if you simply don't want to wait to own something because you are used to getting what you want?

Maybe that’s the problem. Sounds very entitled

 

[waquzy]

If you are buying something in order to sell if for profit then so what?! It is your phone, you can do whatever you want with it. Simple as that

 

[dogslobber]

I applaud the early seller's entrepreneurial spirit. They are true capitalists and make me proud to be an American.

 

[barkomatic]

I think the people who are the most outraged over the practice of reselling iPhones are themselves the most materialistic. Their frustration comes from the fact that *they* don't have an expensive luxury device and will have to wait to get one while someone who managed to get an early order is taking advantage of that materialism by making a profit.

If we were talking about food, water or shelter I would absolutely share in the outrage and demand that price gouging end. However, since these phones are clearly luxury devices I see no reason to be upset. Just place your order and wait or pay a premium to get it now. Apple will most likely ship your iPhone much sooner than 6 weeks since they always over deliver.

I managed to snag a November 3rd delivery date and I'm tempted to sell. Sure, I'd love to enjoy my new phone but if some hedge fund guy is willing to pay me double--I'll be more than happy to sell it.

 

[OneMike]

1) People fake bid on items. I don’t get why, but on electronics items about 1 in 5 items these days is bought and never paid for. No, not a scam, because they don’t ever get to asking for the item or even sending their address. There are a few iPhone X listings above $2000 but they’re the top/sponsored listings. Those are 99% likely to be fake buyers jacking up the price. There is no way to stop this from happening, you can’t require a certain amount of feedback for buyers and most of these have 1-5 feedback ratings usually from the last few months. They’re fake accounts, and when eBay eventually cancels them the person behind them won’t care.

I think this is other sellers on some situations at least.

 

[kazmac]

Not surprising. Even if I was interested, I'd wait until Apple gets the X in stock at their stores. Not rewarding people upcharging on top of Apple's already hefty tag.

With these prices (Apple, Best Buy and now scalpers), it's easy to skip a phone I have no desire in owning. After realizing my purchase mistakes this year, I intend to get as much value, enjoyment and use from my 7+ before upgrading (probably won't buy another iPad unless the Mini gets Pencil compatibility.)