So many scalpers!

[itjw]

People make money fleecing people in finance and we reward them with bigger bonuses. Athletes catch the carcas of a dead animal and run towards a painted strip of grass and we pay them millions.

Enterprising "scalpers" get to a store before you to make an HONEST buck, and suddenly they're dirtbags?

Couldn't you have made it there before them? Couldn't you wait a few days for a phone?

No one is forcing anyone to buy from scalpers, and they have no more advantage to buy one than you do, they just have more incentive to be there first.

Freedom and free markets. If you don't like em, it makes you like that one guy ;-)

 

[unclejamaal]

Just watched an action on eBay for a unlocked 64gb iPhone 6 plus go for $5,400.00!!! after seller fees and paying for the phone, they will profit about $4,011.00! crazy!

100% sure the buyer won't pay up

 

[bevsb2]

100% sure the buyer won't pay up

Or will claim the phone is damaged and get his/her money back while keeping the phone. eBay protects the buyer, not the seller. Scary place to sell these days.

 

[jmxp69]

Tons of scalpels here in Ontario too. Had someone ask me if I was only getting one phone could I get a second for him and he would pay me because he wanted more than 4 (2 for him, 2 for his girlfriend). Ridiculous.

You should have said sure, I'll buy a 2nd, $1500. Cash up front.

 

[vonWachtstain]

The delay in the iPhone's release in China will be a boon for scalpers as well as airlines who will be seeing countless Asian travelers with suitcases full of iPhones. Overseas shipment of lithium batteries is prohibited by most if not all couriers so passenger transport will be necessary. They're like iPhone mules.

Don't they need to pay tariff or whatever its called? I know you can bring your personal property and one as gift. But case full of iPhones I would think they hit you with some kind of tax at the airport.

 

[Sonmi451]

Scalpers are entitled to iPhones as much as any other Apple customer is.
Stop complaining about it.

they're entitled to purchase and scalp what they want, and we're entitled to criticize them for being d-bags. These guys would sell their children to make an extra $100.

 

[Geckotek]

You are the reason for scalpers. If people weren't so stupid to line up for something for 2 days, there wouldn't be any scalpers. No demand, no supply.

Wrong, the people willing to buy from a scalper are the reason. No customer = no scalper.

 

[Steve686]

Scalpers do what anyone here would do. Take an opportunity to make a buck. I'm not a big fan of them and I wish they didn't exist.

But....

If they are that dedicated and willing to wait so long to seize a phone, then more power to them. If "someone that wanted the iPhone" didn't wait as long as the scalpers, then maybe, just maybe, it wasn't THAT important for them to have a phone on launch day, after all.

 

[Blorzoga]

Don't they need to pay tariff or whatever its called? I know you can bring your personal property and one as gift. But case full of iPhones I would think they hit you with some kind of tax at the airport.

Well, if I'm not mistaken, Hong Kong is still a free port, with no tarriffs.

 

[sobucky]

Well, if I'm not mistaken, Hong Kong is still a free port, with no tarriffs.

They sell it in grey markets or black and they sneak it in the country so they pay no taxes

 

[phpmaven]

Saw this on Craigslist today!

That's great! Why didn't I think of that?

 

[iMas70]

Scalpers are the middle men of the retail chain.

----------

Saw this on Craigslist today!

Now THAT is an Apple Genius!!!

 

[theMaccer]

I can see why people here are mad at scalpers. But they are working for their money, I see no problem with that.

Hell, I even scalped college football tickets myself when I was in college.

 

[TonyC28]

I was at the Orland Park, IL store this morning to pick my iPhone up. I noticed about a dozen people standing around near the front of the line. Not in line, just hanging out near the front of the line. They just kept pacing around back and forth and staring in the store. I figured they were scalpers or re-sellers but I couldn't figure out what there game was.

 

[LostSoul80]

they're entitled to purchase and scalp what they want, and we're entitled to criticize them for being d-bags.

So you think that criticizing and complaining about scalpers in an online forum is of any use/constructive/clever/of interest in the least? If so, please, continue; I don't want to stop you from stopping the scalpers. I'm sure they will feel very self conscious about their actions, and all thanks your post.

These guys would sell their children to make an extra $100.

"These guys"?
That sounds unnecessarily rude.

 

[baller1308]

I wonder how much they will actually make if sold on something like eBay. eBay takes such a huge cut that the profits seem small. Depending on how long you wait for the damn phone, it might have been better to just work.

 

[indychris]

Those people in line could have preordered like millions of others did, thus avoiding scalpers.

Those people in line could simply be patient for a few weeks and then pay the same price anyone else did that preordered or who waited in line.

Those people in line could get in line earlier in order to beat the scalpers at their game.

Those people in line could pay a scalper a higher price and avoid preordering or waiting in line altogether.


Seems like there are plenty of choices for those who want to get a new phone that don't include needlessly whining about scalpers.

And NO, I am not a scalper. I've never purchased anything from a scalper, and never plan to. I also don't get upset that some people take advantage of the release of a popular--yet nonessential--consumer electronic.

 

[Sonmi451]

So you think that criticizing and complaining about scalpers in an online forum is of any use/constructive/clever/of interest in the least? If so, please, continue; I don't want to stop you from stopping the scalpers. I'm sure they will feel very self conscious about their actions, and all thanks your post.





"These guys"?
That sounds unnecessarily rude.

I'm free to express my opinion if it doesn't violate forum rules. The thing about scalpers, they don't care. They have no moral compass. They would sell their own mother for $100. You can admit if you're a scalper. Be honest with yourself.

 

[Wailord]

I'm free to express my opinion if it doesn't violate forum rules. The thing about scalpers, they don't care. They have no moral compass. They would sell their own mother for $100. You can admit if you're a scalper. Be honest with yourself.

I resold a couple of phones after purchasing mine. If Apple will let me buy additional phones and someone has offered me cash to buy it for them, what's the issue? It's not malicious. Would you prefer I say "sorry, although I camped and afforded myself the luxury of getting X phones (with which I can do whatever I please) and you have enough spare income to overpay, I don't want to because some other people will be mad they didn't get theirs"?

edit, 3yrs later: this logic is dumb, and I was dumb ^

 

[hallidc]

I see many scalpers in Atlantic Canada. Rather hilarious as their charging $1,000+ for an iPhone 6 16GB, and the Apple Store here still has plenty of stock

 

[Lyn2012]

Couldn't you have made it there before them? Couldn't you wait a few days for a phone?

The problem is that honest buyers are in the queue before them and the scalpers just push in, then if someone complains they threaten them. In the UK you get at least 30 or 50 (probably more this year) people who are buying for the main scalper and they employ "heavies" to ensure that their people get to the front of the queue. People who have been queueing since the night before get totally overrun by bus loads of scalper" employees" turning up between 5am-7am and pushing in, claiming they know somebody at the front. You can see the scalper giving cash to the people in the line and then meeting them afterwards to collect the phones in a suitcase.

 

[javaGuru]

2 per customer, and as long as they buy it outright it doesn't need to be on contract.

Doesn't it have to be an unlocked iPhone to be purchased outright? I didn't think unlocked versions of the phone were available yet.

 

[dejo]

...but it really makes me sad how many scalpers are around me in the front of the line.

How do you know they are scalpers?

 

[kerbero9]

It's so sad that this is what the morning of an Apple Store launch has turned into. The spirit is gone, the line camaraderie is gone. I was lucky enough to score one at a carrier store and was able to have an enjoyable line experience chatting up Apple/iPhone/general geekery with fellow people in line with me. These are people who where there because they were excited about owningand enjoying the phone for their own personal use - it wasn't just some material thing they were looking to flip. Unfortunately, I think Apple can care less - a sold phone is a sold phone.

 

[forgott]

The biggest point here is... There are two types of people that needs scapers "services".

The first one, iDevices addicts. They want, and they want it now, but not all of them are willing to be in line for hours or maybe days to have an iPhone at the very first day.

The second one, non residents. For example, me, I'm not american and I will be visiting USA for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find an iPhone 5 64gb 4 months after its release. And considering that I have little time to wait any new iPhone to arrive the Apple Store, maybe I will have to pay an extra $100 bucks to have it. In my country, new iPhones take at least 5 months to arrive and cost 3 or 4 times more than the price in USA. Considering this, $100 bucks is way cheaper than the price I would pay.

All that said, unfortunately, mostly because Apple doesn't have enought iPhones on store to sell, scalpers are useful sometimes. I'm not saying it's correct, though.