Call me stupid, but why buy an iPhone off eBay for $1200.00 when you can go to the local store and pick up one for half that price????? Some people must have wwaayyyyy too money (and time) on their hands.
Hi guys, just found an UNLOCKED IPHONE on ebay, seller advertises that he will refund 300% of the money if it doesnt work, looks like it could be the real thing! (by the way, I'm not the seller!)
Mac Specs: Black Macbook C2D 2GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD
If you look closely, you'll notice that the vast majority of the phones where the asking price is higher than retail are NOT selling. For the ones that are going for exorbitant prices, you can tell that there's a scammer artificially jacking up the prices. It's only the phones that have a low starting price that have a good number of people bidding on them, but even then, those prices are hovering between $500 and $600. Nobody is bidding beyond that point.
It's a simple matter of supply and demand. There is a ton of supply and not enough demand. Don't get me wrong, demand is high, but not to the point of selling out en masse like consoles. If there were none available in stores, then yes, the iPhone would be selling for ridiculous amounts on eBay. But the fact of the matter is that you can easily walk into most Apple/AT&T stores and just buy one without a problem. So it simply doesn't make sense to pay more than retail prices on eBay.
I feel really sorry for those people who bought a bunch with the intent to sell them online for profit. It's sad because they're actually losing money for setting the price so high and not getting any bidders at all, and for those people who are actually able to sell theirs, they're losing money because of eBay charges, not to mention the time spent waiting to get them. I know the people who do this sort of thing regularly didn't touch the iPhone because they knew that there would be plenty of stock. The amateurs got screwed big time
CNET did a little research on the Ebay sales. Apparently sellers are only averaging about $50 profit on the sales, and I don't think that includes selling fees or shipping (if free shipping is offered which many are). So, no, they aren't really selling.
Quote:
Hi guys, just found an UNLOCKED IPHONE on ebay, seller advertises that he will refund 300% of the money if it doesnt work, looks like it could be the real thing! (by the way, I'm not the seller!)
uh huh, sure. I'll get right on that. Let me guess, seller bought a bunch hoping for big profits, didn't happen. Then he thought,
"Well, I'd rather kill my rep on Ebay, what little I have, and make some money than take a bath on these iPhones! Maybe I'll solicit on some of those Mac fanatic forums too!"
and made this auction promising unlocked phones with an insane guarantee that he will never own up to. At least some crazy story of how they got to be unlocked!
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