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Need help on this calculating for getting an iphone. Thanks

mslugx said:
50% return that's a lot for me. normal business return is way less than that. Time in line is something cost free for me since i am doing it myself.
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you are risking $1000, to possibly make back $500, that is not good, you have better odds playing roulette on a french wheel and betting on red and black. at least there it's even money

as cost of time, it is not free, everything has a price, there is opportunity cost. if the time you are waiting you can be doing something else so it costs you something, typically you calculate your time based on your hourly wage. time is probably the most valuable commodity.

but good luck to you if you want to risk it, but you asked for opinions and i think the overwhelming one so far is that it is not worth the risk at all
 
tritonj said:
you are risking $1000, to possibly make back $500, that is not good, you have better odds playing roulette on a french wheel and betting on red and black. at least there it's even money

as cost of time, it is not free, everything has a price, there is opportunity cost. if the time you are waiting you can be doing something else so it costs you something, typically you calculate your time based on your hourly wage. time is probably the most valuable commodity.

but good luck to you if you want to risk it, but you asked for opinions and i think the overwhelming one so far is that it is not worth the risk at all
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odds on roulette table is not even money, because there is 0, 00, plus you can't really know what the outcome is, but for this one, at least i am pretty sure i can profit from it. anyways. thanks for the advise, i will let you know how it goes.
 
mslugx said:
odds on roulette table is not even money, because there is 0, 00, plus you can't really know what the outcome is, but for this one, at least i am pretty sure i can profit from it. anyways. thanks for the advise, i will let you know how it goes.
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french wheel only 0, no 00, that's why i said french wheel, and while not exactly 50/50 it is pretty damn close

do you even know what even money means? a bet on black or red or first or second half pays even money, if you win you win the amount you bet, that is even money
 
I smell a TROLL! And if it was legit, its a completely stupid idea. Demand will catch up, and you will lose out. Plus, being as youre hurting for money anyways, lets say you can get 4-5 phones on launch day(extremely unlikely), and you sell them close to you expected price, (so damn extremely unlikely), with that much money available, you're likely to blow it, then you'll get hit with the ETF and bills, and then you'll be back to peddling idiotic ideas.

I thought like this when I was going to buy two 3G iphones two years ago. I waited in line for 6 hours, and was literally counting my money. In fact, one guy walked by the line with $500 and was offering it to anyone who bought it for him, and sold to him the next day. I took his info. Once I got in the store, and I held them, it changed how I thought about everything. And I've since spent $16,000 with Apple in two short years.....stupid pipe dreams.
 
tritonj said:
you are risking $1000, to possibly make back $500, that is not good, you have better odds playing roulette on a french wheel and betting on red and black. at least there it's even money

as cost of time, it is not free, everything has a price, there is opportunity cost. if the time you are waiting you can be doing something else so it costs you something, typically you calculate your time based on your hourly wage. time is probably the most valuable commodity.

but good luck to you if you want to risk it, but you asked for opinions and i think the overwhelming one so far is that it is not worth the risk at all
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Ahhh, I spy a few words like opportunity cost that I learned in Macro Economics class today. :) Do you have an MBA?
 
Just checked eBay and it seems that most of the iPhone 4 16GB sold domestically are going for between $700 to $800, while keeping in mind that they are ready for shipping. The fact that the OP thinks he will get $850 for it many weeks after launch is simply thoughtless and idiotic. You will not get 5 iPhones anytime soon so don't waste your time waiting at the Apple store.

If you had thought about this earlier and pre-ordered for delivery today, then I would say that you have a better chance, but I still don't think you will get $850 for all 4 extra phones.
 
tritonj said:
french wheel only 0, no 00, that's why i said french wheel, and while not exactly 50/50 it is pretty damn close

do you even know what even money means? a bet on black or red or first or second half pays even money, if you win you win the amount you bet, that is even money
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i am not here for argument, so whatever you say chief. Thanks for the advise earlier.

DmbShn41 said:
I smell a TROLL! And if it was legit, its a completely stupid idea. Demand will catch up, and you will lose out. Plus, being as youre hurting for money anyways, lets say you can get 4-5 phones on launch day(extremely unlikely), and you sell them close to you expected price, (so damn extremely unlikely), with that much money available, you're likely to blow it, then you'll get hit with the ETF and bills, and then you'll be back to peddling idiotic ideas.

I thought like this when I was going to buy two 3G iphones two years ago. I waited in line for 6 hours, and was literally counting my money. In fact, one guy walked by the line with $500 and was offering it to anyone who bought it for him, and sold to him the next day. I took his info. Once I got in the store, and I held them, it changed how I thought about everything. And I've since spent $16,000 with Apple in two short years.....stupid pipe dreams.
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So you don't believe this time around iphone will sell out and people want it more than anything else? If i could sell them within a week, i think i should be covered.

Lol, thanks for the story, I never really own an iphone. but this one man.... i think it's about time, besides the fact that ATT might come out with a 4g model next year for LTE ? i think..
 
There are more errors in your initial calculations as well. AT&T will require data packages for all 5 phones, while you only counted 2. That will be an extra $45. You also forgot the one time activation fee of $36 for the first phone and $26 for each subsequent phone. This adds another $140. As you can see, your profits are quickly eroding.
 
jyu0 said:
Just checked eBay and it seems that most of the iPhone 4 16GB sold domestically are going for between $700 to $800, while keeping in mind that they are ready for shipping. The fact that the OP thinks he will get $850 for it many weeks after launch is simply thoughtless and idiotic. You will not get 5 iPhones anytime soon so don't waste your time waiting at the Apple store.

If you had thought about this earlier and pre-ordered for delivery today, then I would say that you have a better chance, but I still don't think you will get $850 for all 4 extra phones.
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of course after a couple of weeks, it will go down a lot, but i will sell it before the next shipment comes in. I called apple store, they said they allow 4 phones activation if you opening a new line, i called twice for it.

I tried pre-order it, but the server crashes, and next time i tried it, it's delayed to july 14 on apple.com
 
Here is how your calculations should look like:

ETF Fee - $1300 (4 lines)
Phone - $1100 (5 phone plus tax)
Monthly Plan - $100
Data Plan - $75
Activation Fee - $140

Total - $2715

Lets say you do get $850 (highly unlikely), and eBay and Paypal charge you $350 in fees and then another $50 for shipping and insurance. You are left with $3000. This sounds like a very hard and risky way to make $285, which will pay for 3 months of usage fees. What are you going to do after that money runs out?
 
jyu0 said:
There are more errors in your initial calculations as well. AT&T will require data packages for all 5 phones, while you only counted 2. That will be an extra $45. You also forgot the one time activation fee of $36 for the first phone and $26 for each subsequent phone. This adds another $140. As you can see, your profits are quickly eroding.
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Yes, forgot about the activation fee. thanks, i am planning to buy 4. and the 99.99 included first two lines of data plan, so an extra 30 for the other two, which i already included.
 
If you are in CA, MA, or RI -- you need to adjust the tax to be on the unsubsidized price. Your tax rate looks like a CA one to me.

Also, there's great risk in losing both phone and money.

Send it to the eBay buyer. If a fraudulent card is used in the PayPal, a "didn't receive" chargeback is processed, etc. -- woosh. PayPal takes the money back from you, and you don't get the phone back.

It takes a long time before a PayPal/eBay transaction is truly final and you can count on not having something crop up later.
 
If the OP seems hell-bent on doing and resolute about it even before getting the advice he or she has gotten. Why bother posting here to get feedback on your scheme if you were/are going to do it anyway?

Were you looking for someone to call you a genius? Whooops. I guess you didn't get the response you REALLY wanted
 
Buying 4 instead of 5 makes even less sense if you are planning to keep one to use yourself like you said before. And you better double check the family plan because I highly doubt that $70 will cover the first 2 data plans. No where on AT&T's site does it say that.

If you plan to keep one and sell 3, here are the numbers

ETF - $975
Phone - $900
Voice Plan - $90 (Most likely more due to tax and other fees)
Data Plan - $60
Activation Fee - $115

Total - $2140

Selling 3 phones at $850 gets you $2550. $300 of eBay, Paypal, shipping and insurance fees gives you $2250, which means you make $110.

Selling 4 phones will get you $3000 if you are lucky after all the fees. You will make $500 assuming best case scenario, but like a previous user alluded to, all it takes is 1 bad transaction on ebay or craigslist and it will wipe this plan out. You loose money and have no iPhone.

mslugx said:
Yes, forgot about the activation fee. thanks, i am planning to buy 4. and the 99.99 included first two lines of data plan, so an extra 30 for the other two, which i already included.
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And if this is what you normally do to make money, then I think I know why you are on a tight budget.
 
I think as of tomorrow for the launch, you can only purchase one iPhone 4, on one account per person. My friend wants two, one for him and his wife on a family plan, but Apple said that if he is lucky enough that they have them in stock, he will only get one, even if they have leftovers, they will go to the next person in line. Anymore than that, he will have to wait for the next open shipment.
 
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