Woman buys her way to front of iPhone line in failed attempt to stock up for eBay sales

53 Comments

By popular request, we bring you the story of the woman who bought her way to the front of an iPhone line at an AT&T store (for $800, which meant she bought an 8GB iPhone plus accessories for the guy who was #1 in line) with the intent to buy $100,000 worth of Apple iPhones to sell on eBay.

On problem: she didn’t know about AT&T’s one iPhone per customer limit:

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too-numerous-to-mention for the heads up.]
What do you think, real or fake set up or a combo of both?

53 Comments

  3. Perfect. I wanted to learn more about that story. I had heard parts of it, but couldn’t really imagine that someone was stupid enough to not know about the 2 phone limit at the Apple Store, or the 1 phone limit at the AT&T Stores. To bad they didn’t follow her reaction to learning her plan sucked.

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  10. I live in Dallas and I know someone that was in the area of that store that day. They actually told me about this before it was on the local TV news, and they swore that it was all real.

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  11. “It was clearly a staged re-enactment of what might have taken place. No way was it true live coverage. “

    Perhaps… but notice that there was no follow-up footage of the woman. She’s probably too pissed/humiliated to appear on camera again.

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  13. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to sue the guy she bought the first-in-line space from, on the basis that he knew her scheme would fail. If she’s low enough to attempt a buy-out/ebay scam, she’s low enough to find an attorney to represent her. Destined to fail.

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  14. The two Apple Stores in my city STILL are in stock; and I am still laughing at the news showing a line outside stores on TV the day of the launch–Apple had the last laugh with a 6 pm launch, everyone got a chance to get one & they’re still available..

    Chris

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  19. @grigori …she can’t sue for her failure to acquire public knowledge. Serves her right. I’ve been victimized by people like her on Ebay, I don’t even sell my used Macs or lap tops on there any more. I go to places like Power Max and Ifixit and pwrbookresq. Legitimate site that give you fair market value for you apple stuff in trade for new stuff or just a check.

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  20. I was near there, and heard about it before it went on the news. The reporter that interviewed me was the same reporter on the footage. He is the main on location reporter for FOX here in Dallas. It’s real.

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  22. You might have gone to ebay if the stores had actually been sold out-they weren’t (and aren’t ), so the ebay ploy should be considered a total failure. Anyone who NOW goes to ebay truly is a moron.

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  23. Yes, it was real, it was on local station and their web site. For those who are incredulous, remember, the hype was such that every singe local TV news crew had their people at their AT&T or Apple stores filming the lines, interviewing people. This was a massive media event (or did everyone already forget??). As soon as they saw that there was an ‘entrepreneurial’ person with (what sounded like) an interesting plan, they jumped on it. She should have know that there was a limit; she couldn’t have know that Apple (and, to an extent, AT&T) had enough devices for almost everyone in line.

    She still might have a chance to get at least some of that money back, if she decides to sell the device on e-Bay (or Craig’s list) now, since apparently as of today, the stores completely depleted their stock of iPhones.

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  25. I have seen iPhones for sale on Ebay in the UK.

    Makes me laugh if anyone from the UK or Europe buys them as they wont work outside the US as AT&T have no network presence in Europe.

    I feel sorry for the poor idiots who spends over the retail price on Wbay who thinks the iPhone will work in Europe.

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  26. Actually, she is very lucky!

    iPhones on ebay are NOT selling for big profits. Or in many cases, not selling at all.

    If she bought $100,000 worth of iPhones, she would have lost much more that just $800.

    And she made it on TV.
    (granted, that’s not the type of publicity I would have wanted)

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  30. Fscking eBay vulture. Serves her right. Pisses me off when people buy up stock of a hot item to profit from it on eBay, preventing the people who REALLY want the product from getting one unless they’re willing (and able) to pay a hefty premium.

    Now if only Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo could pull off a launch like this.

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  37. my dad lives outside of texas (wylie)

    he saw this on the news, apparently it is all true.

    and most ebay scums take out loans for big purchases and then make a small profit after they sell their shit.

    mdn word: problems. muhahaha

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  38. “I have just one question: How does such an obvious retard get her hands on $100K in the first place? Now that’s weird!”

    If she’s like a lot of people who think they’ve figured out a get rich quick scheme, she probably re-financed her home to pull out all the equity.

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  42. It’s too bad you can’t view this video on the iPhone.

    Yes. I agree. I saw this article first on my iPhone, at a pit stop between gigs. But only just now watched the video, on a Mac, after arriving at my destination.

    Is YouTube H.264 conversion only for the iPhone/AppleTV/LG Phones? Or will their website videos eventually be converted as well?

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  45. Being a teacher who runs a school broadcast, and uses Macs by the way to generate graphics and edit all the footage, it wouldn’t have been hard for someone to create that footage themselves.

    Not that we make fake news stories.

    And the mic? We have our own official mic as well when we do interviews. So those folks could have bought one somewhere.

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  46. Who’s the dick head who would pay 1000 or more for the same product you can get in the shop for half the price.

    By the way I’m over stocked with Playstation 3’s if anyone wants one. I have 25. 200 dollars each. please buy one.

    Reply

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