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Priceless conversation with an eBay scalper.

mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 10, 2007
8,970
4,225
NYC
Some chucklehead on eBay had listed an iPhone X with a buy it now price of $43,000 yesterday. He has since lowered his price to $9999. What a bargain!

While it was still listed at $43K, I started a conversation with him...

ME: I’ll sell you mine for $5000 and you can make lots of money!

SELLER: No thanks!

ME: Guess you don’t like money!

SELLER: No I just don’t like bottom feeders.

ME: Said the guy trying to make a lazy buck on an iPhone. LOL

Will update with any more responses...
 
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It's a dirty game, but those who have more money than brains will fall for this nonsense. I would rather wait the 5 weeks Apple is stating before paying these insane prices.
 
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solo118 said:
It's a dirty game, but those who have more money than brains will fall for this nonsense. I would rather wait the 5 weeks Apple is stating before paying these insane prices.
Click to expand...

When someone chooses to pay those exorbitant prices, it's just a desperation move to have the latest piece of technology. I find it rather pathetic to spend that kind of money on a piece of tech that will be obsolete/outdated over time, but to each their own.
 
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I think you guys are way overestimating the success of these kinds of auctions. As many have said, either the bidders are just stupid kids pranking the sellers, or they're scammers who will try to finagle some kind of refund out of PayPal, who typically sides with buyers, leaving the seller high and dry and phone-less.

You can probably count on 2 hands the number of people legitimately spending more than $2500 for an iPhone X on ebay.
 
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mcdj said:
I think you guys are way overestimating the success of these kinds of auctions. As many have said, either the bidders are just stupid kids pranking the sellers, or they're scammers who will try to finagle some kind of refund out of PayPal, who typically sides with buyers, leaving the seller high and dry and phone-less.

You can probably count on 2 hands the number of people legitimately spending more than $2500 for an iPhone X on ebay.
Click to expand...
Yep, most are going below $2K on ebay and some only a few hundred over retail. I don’t believe any of the supposed sales over $2500.
 
mcdj said:
I think you guys are way overestimating the success of these kinds of auctions. As many have said, either the bidders are just stupid kids pranking the sellers, or they're scammers who will try to finagle some kind of refund out of PayPal, who typically sides with buyers, leaving the seller high and dry and phone-less.

You can probably count on 2 hands the number of people legitimately spending more than $2500 for an iPhone X on ebay.
Click to expand...

Question, why would you even engage in a conversation with somebody knowingly that is not a legitimate seller or they simply are out to scam someone?
 
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Relentless Power said:
Question, why would you even engage in a conversation with somebody knowingly that is not a legitimate seller or they simply are out to scam someone?
Click to expand...

For the same reason I enjoy screwing with telephone solicitors and scammers. As long as I am keeping them busy with foolishness the less time they may be preying on some unsuspecting victim.
 
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I don’t see anything wrong with what the seller is doing, if someone is willing to pay that price then so be it.

I’m sure people think us Apple fans are chuckleheads for purchasing a phone that costs almost 3-4x’s what it costs to make.
 
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Just had a look at eBay UK and see even ones selling are going for barely a premium over what you would get in a shop. With insertion fees, sellers must be losing money or barely breaking even.
 
JD2015 said:
Just had a look at eBay UK and see even ones selling are going for barely a premium over what you would get in a shop. With insertion fees, sellers must be losing money or barely breaking even.
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Glad to hear that. Maybe it’ll teach them a lesson
 
yeah the fees are big. I mean when I sold an item for £225 I still had to pay £22.50 to eBay.

btw when are people doing this as it says delivery on the 3rd..but the buyer won't get it on launch day anyway if they don't send it off till the 3rd
 
solo118 said:
It's a dirty game, but those who have more money than brains will fall for this nonsense. I would rather wait the 5 weeks Apple is stating before paying these insane prices.
Click to expand...

Can’t be first and wait 5 weeks. Some have that mentality.

I’d never pay a cent more than retail.
 
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chimelime said:
I don’t see anything wrong with what the seller is doing, if someone is willing to pay that price then so be it.

I’m sure people think us Apple fans are chuckleheads for purchasing a phone that costs almost 3-4x’s what it costs to make.
Click to expand...
Do you really think it only costs $250 to make an iPhone X? The parts for the iPhone 7 alone were estimated to cost Apple about $250. This time the OLED panel is only sourced from one supplier, and the phone includes an advanced sensor array. These aren't as cheap for Apple to make as you think. Not to mention this doesn't even take into account the labor, research and development costs, marketing, shipping, and sales.
 
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Relentless Power said:
Question, why would you even engage in a conversation with somebody knowingly that is not a legitimate seller or they simply are out to scam someone?
Click to expand...
Never said the seller wasn’t legit or out to scam anyone. He has ok feedback and I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to actually get $10K for the phone that he’d actually ship it.

The point is, he’s at the upper stratosphere of greed at that price, and I enjoy wasting the time of people like that. If everyone yanked the chain of these pipe dreaming scalpers, maybe they’d stop doing it.
 
I blame people who shop on eBay just as much as I do the scalpers charging crazy prices. "Supply & Demand"- if others would stop supporting them, there would be no issues.

(Same reason for spam email, all it takes is for one idiot to fall for it out of 100,000+ spam emails for them to make their money)
 
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Newtons Apple said:
Times have changed and I would never buy a new or used phone from eBay. It has become a hangout for scammers.
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I’ve been buying and selling on eBay since 1998 and never been scammed once. My last major purchase was a new MacBook Pro 15” in August. Went off without a hitch.

The golden rule is, you’re buying the seller, not just the item. People who click buy it now without reading every word of the description, checking the seller’s feedback, paying with PayPal, and other exercises in due diligence are setting themselves up for problems.
 
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mcdj said:
I’ve been buying and selling on eBay since 1998 and never been scammed once. My last major purchase was a new MacBook Pro 15” in August. Went off without a hitch.

The golden rule is, you’re buying the seller, not just the item.
Click to expand...

I have been on eBay before 1998 with over 600 successful sales. Sounds like we both know what we are doing. It is the newbie the scammers wait for to pull the trigger. As long as you stick to eBays rules you should be ok. It is the newbie looking for that incredible deal that gets screwed. I still use eBay for my Leica and other camera purchases just do not recommend it for the newbie who is looking for the lowest price.
 
mcdj said:
Never said the seller wasn’t legit or out to scam anyone. If everyone yanked the chain of these pipe dreaming scalpers, maybe they’d stop doing it.
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I understand you never stated the seller was out to scam anyone, I insinuated that. My point is, why even engage in conversation with these individuals in the first place. Do you really think that's going to dissuade the seller from "Stop doing it"? Not a chance. If there is money to be made and a buyer that's willing to pay the price, they will continue to list items at ridiculous prices.
 
mcdj said:
I think you guys are way overestimating the success of these kinds of auctions. As many have said, either the bidders are just stupid kids pranking the sellers, or they're scammers who will try to finagle some kind of refund out of PayPal, who typically sides with buyers, leaving the seller high and dry and phone-less.

You can probably count on 2 hands the number of people legitimately spending more than $2500 for an iPhone X on ebay.
Click to expand...
Those are some rich kids.
 
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