New iPad-already thinking about selling it.

I didn't think I had the need for one either already owning an iPhone, iMac and MBP. Couldn't live without it now, its just so convenient to have with you and use and I still use the iMac and MBP as much as ever.

 

there are a LOT of scalping techniques and processes which one could feel bad about but this is NOT one of them.

Ipads are not on a hot fire sale, they are not going to dissapear, they are not in limited supply permanently

You are simply giving someone who is wealthy a chance to purchase a product they dont want to wait for!

 

There is nothing unethical about scalping. It's how retailing work.

Shops buy stock cheap and they sell it to people willing to pay a higher price for it, and the money in between in their profit. Besides that, if someone is impatient enough to wait 1-2 weeks to receive their iPad and is willing to serve their ostentatious needs by overpaying by 20-40% to have one NOW, then clearly they have too money much money to spend and buying it off you will do society good by spreading wealth around.

 

Unfortunately, scalping and tax evasion usually go hand in hand...to chalk this behavior up to normal ethical "retailing" is a self-serving delusion...ethical retailers report their profits, unethical scalpers do not...

 

When the 11 MBA netbooks were first released there were dozens of posts on the MBA forums from new owners who found themselves selling their iPad1's as they discovered the 11" netbook replacing their uses for the iPad1 significantly or entirely. For many that comes down to choice of apps on OSX vs iOS or simply the inclusion of a full keyboard on the MBA while still keeping the overall package very small.

If you don't need one or the other, selling it seems like your best option. No harm, no foul. Just dump what you don't need/want.

 

my hunch is once you open it and play around with it for a few days. It will find a place in your life and in no time you will be wondering what you did without it

 

I love my iPad and use it every day. But it does seem extremely repetitive to have that and an 11 inch MacAir. The MacAir is so light and so useful, I suspect that it will be machine that ends up in your backpack as you go to school. You won't choose the iPad to take notes on in class or to complete school work in the library and the weight savings of carrying the iPad in a case is very minor.

The main advantage that the iPad has over the Air is the cell connection. But if you are on campus most of the time, you are in wifi range I assume. And you probably have cell service on a smart phone and might not want another monthly charge. Sell the iPad for a profit without opening it.

And frankly, unless your family is fairly well off, you really shouldn't be buying too many fancy brand new gadgets as a college students. Factor in that you basically took out student loans to make that purchase and you are going to probably pay those off over at least a decade. So add a decade worth of interest to that purchase and see that it might not be a prudent use of funds.

 

Got my iPad 2, sold my laptop. The iPad 2 was out and in my hands constantly while the laptop was sitting downstairs untouched in its case. If I needed something from a computer, I would just run over to the desktop, do what I needed, and be done with it. Much better than getting out a laptop and booting it up.

For a lot of users, and iPad will replace a laptop. If you already had a MacBook Air, I'm not sure why you ordered the iPad, but maybe a better option would be to sell the Air if you have another computer you can access.

 

Do you pay state sales tax on all your Internet purchases when filing your return?

 

I don't think its unethical at all if you resell it -- but I do think it would unethical for you to open it and return it to Apple knowing you weren't going to keep it. Just resell it unopened -- you'll probably make 150% back at this point.

 

I don't know if its ethically wrong, but scalping is certainly not admirable behavior in my book. You ever try desperately to buy tickets to a sports event or concert as they go on sale, only to see 25,000 reposted for sale online?

You are denying the ability of someone else to get the item on launch day purely to make a profit with absolutely nothing contributed to anything. They don't deserve any real punishment, but eh.. not a fan. Its got nothing to do with how stores operate, which actually serve a purpose of distributing and promoting the product and at its suggested price.

Thats people purely scheming to do so for the profit though, not people like the OP.

 

Scalping food after a natural disaster is unethical. However, no one needs an iPad -- or sporting event tickets for that matter. It's people's impatience that drives prices up and nothing more. Eventually, everyone who wants an iPad at the regular retail price will be able to get one directly from Apple.

 

For the iPad its true but not for tickets, which are the most commonly scalped thing on earth. Just because its a luxury doesn't mean it deserves to be abused.

 

Just to be particular, your college education is not "free", it is being paid for by the lottery ticket buyers and taxpayers of Georgia.

A subtle distinction, yet important to those of us paying taxes...

 

I can count on 3 fingers the things I need to do to make my living that requires a "real computer" and sadly none of them can be done on either a MBA or an iPad.

I run my own business so my computing equipment is how I make a living. I'd be curious to hear your "real computing tasks" that can't be accomplished with an iPad. Not picking a fight, really just curious.

My three things:

1) Real-time video renderings of before/after of our custom woodwork. I take a short video clip and some pictures at a clients office, we do some requirements planning, take 30 minutes to quickly mockup what the changes will look like and then I render before/after images and video to play back to them. All within a 1-2 hour meeting sequence. It wins me business all the time as we are one of the few that can show someone the vision in real-time and not get back to them days/weeks later. I can't do this with anything less than a MBP (and even it has to be high-end for the renders).

2) I can't do precise architectural drawings (AutoCad) on an iPad. I can do sketches, but nothing precise with measurements and standard blueprint iconography. I can do this on an MBA but its cumbersome and really bogs down the machine. It also looks redonkulous when my Wacom input tablet is bigger than my MBA.

3) Until very recently, I couldn't easily work with layers a la Photoshop on the iPad. I can do this on the MBA and have been for past 12 months or so, but still use the iPad to show the customer the final product (we have written a custom app for this purpose).

Otherwise, there are many things where I'd argue the PC is the better means to accomplish something, but I can do it on the iPad if I wanted/needed to do so at times when I'm without a "real computer."

The only common thing I can think of are special-purpose applications that aren't browser-enabled requiring you to install a client app on your PC. But even that list is becoming shorter (thankfully) these days and then there's always Remote Desktop/VNC to accomplish use of same via iPad.

 

Why is it unethical to open, use and return an iPad to Apple, but ethical to sell an unopened one at 150%?

Either seems ethical in a free market economy and buyer's remourse or impulse buying and thinking better of it, is part of the pleasure of dealing with Apple. As Steve Jobs said about the iPhone 4--we want you to love our products, and if you don't, bring them back for a refund.

I pre-ordered two, both 64 GB 4 G LTE wireless models, one on AT&T and the other VZ. One will be returned, after my side by side comparison of the two for LTE and non-LTE coverage, speed, ect...

It is also about 10% possible I may return both (in the unlikely event the "retina" display fails to meet my expectations) and stick with my iPad 2. All part of the normal buying process.

I have no inclination to mess with Ebay or Craiglist, ect...trying to turn one into a "profit". My luck is I get the 1 buyer who is a thief and that profit turns out to be an $850 loss for me.

 

Thats another form of tax evasion, yes, and it depends on the state in which you live. Some states have statutes against this, but many states do not. Enforcement is also a problem.

But making an income and not paying taxes on that income is actually a far bigger crime, and it is a FEDERAL CRIME so it applies to anyone who lives in the US no matter which state they are in. It is akin to people who work for cash and don't file income taxes.

If you flip 4 iPads for $500 profit, that's $2,000 in income. At average tax rates, you'd owe at least $200-$300 of that to the government as income tax (unless you are in a bracket too low to pay taxes) and it should be declared as miscellaneous income on your tax return.

People abusing the system in this way is leading the government to crack down in the US. My accountant told me that by next year, PayPal will be reporting its users earnings to the IRS.

That means if you sell on eBay and get paid via PayPal, the IRS will know about it and will expect you to pay taxes on your profit. PayPal will also issue you a 1099 form which you will have to attach to your tax return, and it will contain all the money paid into your PayPal account for the year.

You will then have to show how much you bought an item for (receipt required) so you can subtract it from the income, which gives you your profit.

Otherwise, if you don't keep receipts or records of what you pay for things and just make money on eBay, you are going to be in for a nasty surprise next year at tax time when your accountant tells you to write a big fat check to uncle sam for its share of your eBay profits.

The days of making big bucks on eBay completely under the table are coming to a close, and people doing this will soon be paying their fair share (like every other retailing business that's expected to pay an income tax).

(FYI, my accountant told me that this rule was going to be implemented this year but got delayed due to the reporting systems not being ready to handle the volume of work that this will add for the IRS, accountants, and people, but it may well be implemented starting next year).

 

Come on dude, nobody needs anything besides water and food so that's not even an argument.

Sporting events or limited edition products sell out once resellers buy them out. Patience won't get people a ticket to the game after it sells out. The geek who wants an iPad on day one to play with because he loves tech isn't going to be the guy buying an overpriced iPad from the reseller. He's going to be the one waiting days for the stock to replenish.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't see your point...

 

You can't live with out an iPad? PLEASE! This has got to be one of the most truely assenine statements i've ever heard on the forums.

 

No, I don't...yet, I am not attempting to convince myself or others that such behavior is ethical or good for society....

 

While it is true that the iPad is not a limited edition, and short supplies eventually give way to abundant supplies within weeks, it still diminishes the customer experience.

Persistant shortages turn customers off, and it makes the buying experience a hassle instead of a pleasure. And if the perception is that Apple isn't doing anything to stop these unauthorized resellers, some of that rubs off on Apple a bad way too. This is why Apple does try their best to curb resellers.

I think Apple may have gotten a bit too ambitious trying to roll out worldwide at once. Perhaps if they had the current supplies but stuck to the slower roll out schedule of yesteryear, we may not have had a shortage yet.