“David Flashner thought he had it wired: buy two iPhones last Friday when they first went on sale, keep one and sell the other at a profit so big it would pay for most of the first one,” Katie Hafner reports for The New York Times.
“Mr. Flashner wasted no time. He began advertising the extra phone while still in line at an Apple store in Burlingame, Calif., south of San Francisco. During his 21-hour wait, he posted half a dozen different ads to Craigslist — with prices ranging from $800 to $1,200 — and waited for the calls to come in,” Hafner reports.
“But no calls came because consumers expect that stores will soon have phones in stock. He continued to advertise the extra phone through the weekend, and ended up with just one call, which went nowhere. On Wednesday, he returned the phone,” Hafner reports.
“Mr. Flashner, 25, who manages an audio-visual equipment rental company, is not the only would-be iPhone reseller whose plan failed to follow the script,” Hafner reports.
Full article here.
Supply and demand. First the product has to be sold out (as it was yesterday – some Apple Stores have since ben restocked) and you have to have extended periods of drought (we’ll see) to build up any eBay frenzy. Nobody with a brain would buy an iPhone for some exorbitant price off eBay during the first few days when they could just walk into an Apple Store and buy one at normal retail price.
I’m glad to see that the opportunists weren’t able to scam their way into free iPhones.
Like that dumb woman in Texas that wanted to buy out the store, leaving all of the true fans that had been waiting in line for the entire day with nothing more than a couple new acquaintances and a serious need for a shower.
I think the smartest thing Apple & AT&T did was limit the number of phones each customer could purchase.
serves them right
To bad suckers
That’s American greed..uhh, capitalism at work.
I bought 4 iPhones on the 29th. As soon we brought them home our eBay ads had already ended. Sold 3 for an average of 879 each. Kept #4 for free. There are plenty of people that have profited, but not many. A lot of it has to do with catching the right people at the right time.
The quote you posted states Craigs List which is not eBay. I did an eBay search on Monday for completed auctions and several went for $1400-$!500. One even went for $2500 but since the buyer was brand new I doubt the transaction went through. Never underestimate peoples desire to have something rihgt away, and their willingness to pay for it.
Sick of computer actually , anyone see Americas Cup
PS: is there still going to be a Ultra port mac ?
I’m still getting the kick out of the lady featured on (I believe) FoxNews who paid a kid $800 for his first place in line & had “thousands of dollars” to purchase a whole bunch of them…
Only to find out that her 1st place didn’t matter because they had plenty in stock..oh an yeah, she didn’t read the rules that only 1 iphone per customer at the AT&T stores…boo hoo.
Glad to see the scammers get scammed for once.
I bought two iPhones, a 4gb and an 8gb. I put the 4gb on eBay and made $110 after fees and shipping. Hey, I just got an 8gb iPhone for the price of a 4gb iPhone. Can’t complain. I think a lot of people were willing to pay a little more and wait a day or two just to avoid all the crowds.
America has allot of fat people huh, why don’t people stop eating so much?
Or eat more vegetables :>
PS: iphone uses RISC processor huh so will be same as g4 LOL
PPS:
Gates if you has been cooler we would have had iphone years ago
“Greed is good…” sometimes.
PPS:
We have a world separated now not by race or Social class we have a world defined be technology boundary’s
Mac people
and PC
I don’t see how people that wanted to do this are “scammers”. Like the MDN take says, unless there’s a supply shortage, it’s unlikely folks would spend much more than retail for the phone. And if folks are willing to pay more, so what? It’s called supply and demand, and if some one has the resources to blow, why is that a problem?
hands up who likes me?
Shiva015
It’s kind of a scam because people like the ass above bought 4 phones or more with no intention of using most of them. Only to sell them to others for a profit. So they created a false shortage. Of course this may mean that people far away from Apple/ATT stores could get them without driving to a store. Who knows.
I have an unopened iPhone. Not sure whether to activate for myself, take it back to the store, or sell it, or keep it as a pristine collectors item.
While we’re criticizing people we know nothing about:
Do people in NZ not know how to spell?
MDN MW:
friends
ie: let’s just be.
Americans give more to charity than any other people. So…go diddle yourself.
Kate
ROFL!
Hard luck sucker!
The days of people doing this to make money on Ebay are well and truely over!
Everyone has tried this on Ebay and these days everyone is wise up to it too.
Whenever an Apple Store Opened people would que for days just to get a goody bag which contained all sorts of Apple Gear, which they would then sell on Ebay.
Glad to see people all know about this scam and arent buying this stuff anymore.
@you sorry I not really criticizing, don’t worry
:> Its a health thing more than being bad people, people are subject to their conditions,: I was not implying Fat + greedy etc
hah fun fun : I eat pizza all day
who wants a free email , @iphonesnap.com
What really makes me laugh my ass off is the idiots who do buy teh iPhones off Ebay that are not even living in the USA.
Doh!
The iPhone wont work in Europe you idiots and dont expect to be able to use it as a mobile phone!
Some people should have been shot at birth – it would have benefited the human race!
@ @anthony
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Hey guys I have worked out way for more data in two wave lengths anyone want me to explain its not that hard: using a phase shift of 180 / 4
People are not buying these things on EBay because everyone knows it is a brain-dead locked down phone from the most user hostile computer company on the planet – Apple.
Apple goes to extremes to screw over its user base by locking down their software, computers and now the massively overpriced iphone. Who can afford a $3000 phone? Steve Jobs shows that he hates minorities by not producing products for the poor. Only the rich can afford a phone (or the middle class if you don’t mind going into massive debt).
Thank goodness for Microsoft and companies like HP and Dell that produce computers for the rest of us. These companies are also green – they have fantastic records for recycling computers so they don’t damage the environment. Not Apple, they have the worst reputation on the planet. When do we see Steve with a gas mask on because he has destroyed so much of the environment that he can’t breath the air anymore?
@ Kate
Wow. I’m hurt. Sound like a typical lesbo comment.
It’s obvious that Kate doesn’t recognize sarcasm from truth.
I’m all for capitalism but it’s the select few who are greedy like the lady who brought $100,000 IN CASH to gobble up as many iPhones as possible only to be disappointed she could only buy one per customer.
I meant no harm and will never mean no harm to my friends from across the pond…except for Kate who had to insult me. So, back at ya, love.
Mac Realist
You don’t really believe that do you?
LOL, so who wants to see my wave length idea?
Just using frequency’s of two wave with a time delay between them
OJK sorry Bored
here some help for the PC people, HP hardrives are OK.