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We've got to STOP the scammers/Scalpers

Pagemakers

Pagemakers

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 28, 2008
2,951
1,227
Manchester UK
I queued patiently for hours today at the Trafford Centre store in Manchester UK and happily walked away with a 64GB grey iPhone.

What disheartened me the most was 60% of the people in the queue were not genuine customers, just scammers out to make fast buck on eBay and the likes.

In my part of the queue I was surrounded by 50 or more non-english speaking asians and it was very apparent that they were not potential iPhone 5 customers (not a racist attack, just an observation). They seemed to know lots of people in the queue and trust me it was a VERY long queue - maybe 1000+

When I finally purchased my phone the Apple guy said to me that I was only the second genuine customer he has served all day.

As I left the shopping centre they are all amassed in the car park, loading up a van before re-joining the queue again!

It makes my blood boil that these scammers prevent genuine customers from purchasing a device at the correct price.

Nobody wins, only the scammers.

There must be something we can do to stop this. The 2 phone purchase limit is not doing it.

A quick shout out to all the Apple sales guys who don't get any preferential treatment when making their purchases. They have to wait in line on their days off just like the rest of us.

Commiserations to all you guys who waited patiently and left with nothing. I guess you can pick one up on eBay for £1,500!
 
As much as I agree with you, what can be done to stop it? As long as people are stupid and impatient enough to pay these inflated prices then the scalpers will keep doing it.
 
There was a similar "problem" in glasgow. In the end about 50-100 people who were queuing left because the 5s had sold out pre-8am.

Obviously it's terrible for the fans who actually want one, but credit where it's due - these guys will make hundreds of quid for just standing in a line for a few hours. It's easy money for them!
 
Nope I disagree and think it helps promote a healthy market place.

You buy at one price and sell at higher = profit....just can't see whats wrong with that...if the demand is there good luck to them, it goes on in so many walks of life, always has done always will.
 
Feel you anger mate, that is why I only order online now.

Same thing happens every launch. Sadly Apple cannot do much about it, would be a PR disaster for them, all these profiteers will claim they are genuine customers.

Sadly these models are not going for sale in the UK, they are going to be sold in Asia. Genuine local fans are being disappointed by profiteers
 
It promotes a really bad release day atmosphere. The poor staff in the store are clapping in hundreds of people who couldn't care less about the product. Just loading up vans.

It was a really big let down today. It wouldn't be so bad if they actually had stock for everyone. But today was made much worse with low stock.
 
Pagemakers said:
I queued patiently for hours today at the Trafford Centre store in Manchester UK and happily walked away with a 64GB grey iPhone.

What disheartened me the most was 60% of the people in the queue were not genuine customers, just scammers out to make fast buck on eBay and the likes.

In my part of the queue I was surrounded by 50 or more non-english speaking asians and it was very apparent that they were not potential iPhone 5 customers (not a racist attack, just an observation). They seemed to know lots of people in the queue and trust me it was a VERY long queue - maybe 1000+

When I finally purchased my phone the Apple guy said to me that I was only the second genuine customer he has served all day.

As I left the shopping centre they are all amassed in the car park, loading up a van before re-joining the queue again!

It makes my blood boil that these scammers prevent genuine customers from purchasing a device at the correct price.

Nobody wins, only the scammers.

There must be something we can do to stop this. The 2 phone purchase limit is not doing it.

A quick shout out to all the Apple sales guys who don't get any preferential treatment when making their purchases. They have to wait in line on their days off just like the rest of us.

Commiserations to all you guys who waited patiently and left with nothing. I guess you can pick one up on eBay for £1,500!
Click to expand...

There is a similar group of 8 in front of me. What is driving me nuts is that there were originally 2, then all of the sudden 6 more show up and join their friends. WTF!
 
meechy said:
Who are they "scamming"

Please elaborate.
Click to expand...

They are not scammers, they are profiteers.

And, people hard done would be local Apple fans. Would you be disappointed if you turned up, waited in line for 3-4 hours to learn that 60% of the stock was sold to people who are going to resell them for profit??

These guys stopped me from buying products in store on launch day.
 
Unfortunately, nobody is scamming anyone. It's just people taking the opportunity to satisfy market forces.

There are plenty of silly greedy people out there who must be first with the latest gadget. Without them, the market wouldn't exist. Human nature I suppose.
 
wrkactjob said:
Nope I disagree and think it helps promote a healthy market place.

You buy at one price and sell at higher = profit....just can't see whats wrong with that...if the demand is there good luck to them, it goes on in so many walks of life, always has done always will.
Click to expand...

That is not what a Healthy market place is. What you described is profiteering, and only that.
 
Personally, I think it is wonderful. Apple gets to move a ton of product, market share goes up, shareholders do well, Apple then has money to make even better stuff.

So what if some of these iPhones are being shipped overseas for a profit. Globalization. It's here, in your Apple store.
 
Pagemakers said:
I queued patiently for hours today at the Trafford Centre store in Manchester UK and happily walked away with a 64GB grey iPhone.

What disheartened me the most was 60% of the people in the queue were not genuine customers, just scammers out to make fast buck on eBay and the likes.

In my part of the queue I was surrounded by 50 or more non-english speaking asians and it was very apparent that they were not potential iPhone 5 customers (not a racist attack, just an observation). They seemed to know lots of people in the queue and trust me it was a VERY long queue - maybe 1000+

When I finally purchased my phone the Apple guy said to me that I was only the second genuine customer he has served all day.

As I left the shopping centre they are all amassed in the car park, loading up a van before re-joining the queue again!

It makes my blood boil that these scammers prevent genuine customers from purchasing a device at the correct price.

Nobody wins, only the scammers.

There must be something we can do to stop this. The 2 phone purchase limit is not doing it.

A quick shout out to all the Apple sales guys who don't get any preferential treatment when making their purchases. They have to wait in line on their days off just like the rest of us.

Commiserations to all you guys who waited patiently and left with nothing. I guess you can pick one up on eBay for £1,500!
Click to expand...
I have seen a few on eBay this morning that have come from the Manchester store and a couple of 16GB models are around the £875 to £900 mark! I can't believe people would pay that out for a phone especially at a higher premium!

Then again if people are buying, you can't blame sellers queuing and purchasing for a profit. There are no laws against it.
 
They aren't scammers. They're doing good deeds.

Wouldn't you pay the higher price if you knew that you could just go to eBay and your phone is guaranteed?

You don't even have to stand in the heat.
 
JFC said:
There is a similar group of 8 in front of me. What is driving me nuts is that there were originally 2, then all of the sudden 6 more show up and join their friends. WTF!
Click to expand...

Oh HELL no! You didn't say anything? I would of said something, made a scene, then let an Apple Employee know that a group of BFF's thinks it's okay to cut everyone else in line.
 
meechy said:
Who are they "scamming"

Please elaborate.
Click to expand...

I guess scamming is the wrong word. I'm not really sure what to call it.

It's just distasteful that these guys are benefiting they way the do at the detriment to genuine customers who want to buy the product.

It's not sour grapes on my side - I got my phone.

Queuing was a thoroughly unpleasant experience today. It was almost a gang culture - very hostile.

Past queues have never been like this.
 
Definitely not an issue you can stop, ultimately they queue up just like everyone else at crazy o clock. Scalpers jumping the queue is a bit **** but that's based on whether the queue has security or not.

What I was surprised is how little media attention it has. When I queued for 3GS it was a friendly bunch of apple fanatics who all shared the same passion. You can tell they'll be using that device to oblivion, this year I decided to queue only to discover the crazy amount of scalpers taking up the spaces and even going to proper apple fans and selling them their iPhone tickets for £40-£200.

If there were more exposure on this it would really detract people from queuing and feeling like **** afterwards knowing people are doing this. I definitely would not have turned up. The whole place stunk of greed.
 
JFC said:
There is a similar group of 8 in front of me. What is driving me nuts is that there were originally 2, then all of the sudden 6 more show up and join their friends. WTF!
Click to expand...

This is precisely why I would never, ever line up for a product sale. You should refuse to be a part of it, and you win by not participating.

People generally suck, especially in crowds.
 
Also if attention was made on it, it could potentially put pressure on apple to counter this trend.

They did the same with the Apple ID Genius Bar requirement. Bands and musicians sign CDs and posters with the fans name making it harder to resell. It would make things inflexible but that's Apple's problem to balance and resolve
 
Don't really let things like this bother me. If someone out there is willing to pay 2X retail for the same device, doesn't that make them the "real" customer and you the cut-rate opportunist?

Besides, it only helps keep my resale value up there.
 
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