Watches selling on EBay being tracked and canceled by Apple?

[nasa25]

What value do scalpers present to the end user? All they are doing is being opportunists and needlessly driving up the price to the end user.

I'd rather not make money in a ******** way.

 

[striders]

I don't agree myself with any of this.

Supply and Demand is just another term for you finding a way to screw someone else over, just a clean business phrase.

Point is, humans are pretty greedy selfish animals, and given the chance to make some money in an easy way, many will take it.

Myself......... If you are poor and struggling, and find a way to make a few dollars for your family then I can forgive you mostly as long as it's legal.
What I despise is those with money, the greedy ones, who have no need for any more and still screw people over to fatten their bank accounts.

The scalpers buying the items not only cause unnecessary price increase, but also exacerbate the long delays. Judging by the number of posts (complaint?) on people who have to WAIT till end of May or June to get the Apple watch, I think this is beyond "inconvenience".

There are people who are willing to pay more for the latest and greatest, but not you, me or most people. There is no law (yet) to prevent this kind of scalping, but informing and educating consumer NOT to SUPPORT the scalpers is the right step.

The scalpers are the ones you described:

What I despise is those with money, the greedy ones, who have no need for any more and still screw people over to fatten their bank accounts.

That's why I gave the example on the iPhone 6 plus launch. Here's the article:

iPhone 6 lines dominated by resellers

The Chinese grey market

I don't think those people lining up are "poor and struggling".

At one time, I was about to purchase the Nvidia Shield (I know.. it's an Android device. Don't shoot me!) and in Amazon, there was a question from buyer on why the price sold by 3rd party was way more expensive. Amazingly, other buyers were responding to the question, stating that this is because of the scalpers buying it and then reselling it at premium. The other buyers even recommend NOT to buy from them.

 

[tresmith]

Apple canceling the orders of those suspected of reselling should be illegal. Because once someone buys a product it's theirs to do whatever they want with it. How many people do drop tests to their brand new iphone once they get it?

Also I find it very ironic that Apple who is known for its high prices and overcharging for the littlest things would scoff at people trying to make money.

 

[Apfpilot]

Wow, you're really being obtuse about this. I'm out, as you obviously do not get it.

Carrying your positions to their logical conclusion isn't obtuse.

 

[MH01]

What value do scalpers present to the end user? All they are doing is being opportunists and needlessly driving up the price to the end user.

I'd rather not make money in a ******** way.

They give end users in countries where the Apple watch is not being released the opportunity to get an apple watch. At a mark up of course.

 

[Piggie]

Another thing I despise is corporate ticket sales to events.

There is some popular event on, the public are told, sorry no more room, all tickets are sold, despite thousands more want to go.
Then you find out a fat chunk of tickets are saved/reserved for corporate people so some fat cats can take others on a business jolly along to the event.

 

[tresmith]

What value do scalpers present to the end user? All they are doing is being opportunists and needlessly driving up the price to the end user.

I'd rather not make money in a ******** way.

Scalpers provide a needed service. That's why they exist.

Scalpers provide a service to those who have more money than time. If I have the money to waste but don't have the time to waste on standing in line for days then I will pay someone to do it for me.

You may not like the business practice but there's nothing criminal or shady about it. There are middle men everywhere, at every level of business.

 

[Apfpilot]

What value do scalpers present to the end user? All they are doing is being opportunists and needlessly driving up the price to the end user.

I'd rather not make money in a ******** way.

Overslept and want to get a watch the day they become available... Internet didn't work that night and you don't want to wait... That's the value they present.

 

[tresmith]

Another thing I despise is corporate ticket sales to events.

There is some popular event on, the public are told, sorry no more room, all tickets are sold, despite thousands more want to go.
Then you find out a fat chunk of tickets are saved/reserved for corporate people so some fat cats can take others on a business jolly along to the event.

Tickets reserved for corporate give aways probably put more pressure on prices than scalpers.

 

[striders]

So anytime the money doesn't go to the OEM it's scalping. So if I get a rare baseball card in a pack from the store and sell it for more than the pack cost am i scalping too? What about if I wait 5 years.


if the supply of the watch from Apple met the demand of the watch from the market then there wouldn't be a market for them at a higher price. You may not agree with it but it is supply and demand.

What is the PROCESS that cause the money not to go to the OEM? If it is creating issue with the consumer (unnecessary price increase, long delays, etc.), it IS scalping. You buying a rare baseball card and WAIT for 5 years is not scalping. Remember, it is "rare" because you have to WAIT before you can sell it and make profit out of it.

Even if it is the manufacturer that is increasing the price in a way that is described above, this can be an issue. As a matter of fact, it IS illegal - this is called price fixing.

Samsung and LG fined for price fixing display price

Samsung fined for RAM price fixing

----------

Tickets reserved for corporate give aways probably put more pressure on prices than scalpers.

How so? It's not like corporate buying 50% of the available seats in the entire stadium. Most actually will buy the "box" section.

 

[charlituna]

No, not if customers sell them. If I buy something from Apple as a customer, there's no fine print saying I can't sell it to someone else (unless I make it a business).

That's part of the catch. If they believe that you are going to flip it for a profit to take advantage of the limited amounts then yes they can and will cancel. part and parcel with the whole 'right to refuse' gig

 

[striders]

Scalpers provide a needed service. That's why they exist.

Scalpers provide a service to those who have more money than time. If I have the money to waste but don't have the time to waste on standing in line for days then I will pay someone to do it for me.

You may not like the business practice but there's nothing criminal or shady about it. There are middle men everywhere, at every level of business.

Yep, there is middle men everywhere, but depending on how crappy the selling practice of these middle men, consumer CAN and will TRY to do something or tell other about this.. shady practice. Which is the reason this thread exist: to inform.

Look at how people buy car nowadays. The dealer and the salesperson are the middle men.. they're not scalping, but the way they gouge people's money in car selling process resulted in informed website such as Edmund. Heck, the dealer know that their shady practice is such in danger that they will go above and beyond to PREVENT DIRECT car selling, such as those offered by Tesla.

 

[charlituna]

They do have that in their agreement, however that is probably unenforceable once the purchaser has the product

Once the purchaser has the product. But if they have reason to believe that the purchaser will export the product they can, per the quoted sales policy someone else posted, cancel the order. And apparently they have already cancelled a number of orders that were being shipped to a company whose sole business is freight forwarding to counties were the Watch isn't currently on sale and Apple might not have permission to sell yet

 

[nasa25]

Overslept and want to get a watch the day they become available... Internet didn't work that night and you don't want to wait... That's the value they present.

If the scalpers didn't buy the item to resell then who's to say it wouldn't be available even if you overslept.

 

[charlituna]

I sent an email to apple about this. Maybe I will be lucky enough to get a response. I will let you guys know what they say if I do.

You likely won't get a response cause they have a lot on their hands. If you do it will probably be a form letter reply.

Best you can hope for is seeing eBay yank all those auctions cause they don't have the product. Who knows what Apple will do

 

[Apfpilot]

If the scalpers didn't buy the item to resell then who's to say it wouldn't be available even if you overslept.

Possible but not probable.

 

[charlituna]

you really think apple cares. It is a "free" (semi) country. They cannot cancel an order b.c you want to resell it.

Actually they can cancel an order for no reason at all. it's in their policies. An order is not a contract to accept payment and deliver. Even if they accept payment they can cancel it and refund you.

----------

One reason for Apple to discourage resales is because the ultimate owner may be left without a valid warranty. Later the owner may turn into an unhappy customer.

Warranty goes with the serial not the owner. So that's not an issue

----------

Remember every penny counts, Apple is not about to spend valuable time and energy with some watches on eBay that gain additional attention AND income for Apple.

they have so much money that you just can't know if they will or won't 'waste time' on this

----------

You left out the rest of the context: guidelines for a period of ONE (1) YEAR from the date of original retail purchase by the end-user purchaser ("Warranty Period")

This only determines the time of the coverage, the warranty doesn't start when a retailer purchases it from Apple and places it into inventory but when the retail purchaser takes possession. In order for the warranty to be limited to the original purchaser it would have to have language that says something like Bose has in their warranty:

Not true in this case. These are not authorized sellers. So they are the end user for the purpose of the warranty. It's when they bought the items, not when they sold it that determines the warranty

----------

You can list an item on eBay for pre sale as long as the item will be shipped within 30 days of the purchase date and the fact that it is a pre sale is clearly stated in the listing.

There's a couple that I saw that were the ship group for the later part of May and are ending today. If someone buys it they should get it shipped by May 21 and there's no way the seller can guarantee that will happen. And they were selling for 2-3 times the retail price. Thankfully no one wanted to spend the money and there were no bids

 

[Gr33n]

If you don't want to wait i think it's a good idea to buy from ebay.No reason to cancel by Apple since they got the money already.

 

[charlituna]

Apple canceling the orders of those suspected of reselling should be illegal. Because once someone buys a product it's theirs to do whatever they want with it.

It's in Apple's stated sales policy that they reserve the right to cancel orders. And as its just an order you haven't bought it.

As for your drop test claim. that would be a legit case of 'once you buy it'. And apple won't return it damaged. They won't service it if they think you willfully and maliciously damaged it. It's in those policies

 

[diegonzo]

i am one of those buyers from eBay... I really don't get what's the deal about it. Am I paying additional 150 dollars for a watch? Yes... Is it worth due to the fact that I don't live in the US and I want to be one of the first ones to own the gadget? Yes!

Part of why this second market exists is because App,e Watch is not available in all countries at the same time... Maybe we should start there.