“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
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
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.
Well consider the value of buying the first iPhone and just keeping it wrapped a few years. The value of an unopened iPhone could be substantial. From a collector’s viewpoint that would make sense. For the quick sell off’s, well I agree with the consensus.
Road Warrior, the signature. Brought to you buy the original.
@ me
the 3 that i sold were all to people in the U.S. who didn’t have access to the sale (Apple Store or AT&T). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with spreading the iPhone love to folks across the country who wouldn’t have one otherwise while turning a profit in the process. cough capitalism cough cough
youre not from around here, are you ?
Thanks to Apple they have been able to cripple most of the morons that want to screw people out of buying an iphone at a normal price.
Apple prepared properly and produced way more iphones then any other recent major product lauch from any company and has successuflly been able to bring the iphone into the hands of the people that deservere and desire one for them selves, not to just rip people off and try to suck up the supply just to make a profit.
Whys that?
“Wow. I’m hurt. Sound like a typical lesbo comment.”
Like all of my comments?
-lesbo
<< … the select few who are greedy like the lady who brought $100,000 IN CASH to gobble up as many iPhones as possible… >
She wasn’t being greeedy. Foolish- yes, stupid- probably. The $100000 she brought in was HER money. She didn’t rob the United Way fund. American Capitalism- oh yes, I forgot- It’s all our fault.
Does anyone here know the definition of the word scam? Because based on your comments I am pretty sure most of you don’t.
And the days of selling things at inflated prices are “well and truely over”? You can’t be serious can you?
I think you can get disability money from the government for that kind of monumental level of stupidity. You should apply Petey.
Ok people, this is the way it works. It’s an auction. You have something to sell, people offer to pay whatever it is they are willing to pay for it. A transaction is completed. There is not much more to it than that.
You don’t want to get “scammed” by the so-called “scammers”? No problem, get up earlier than they do and wait in line. But if someone spends a day in line to buy something that later on becomes scarcely available, offers it up on an AUCTION site and lemmings fall all over themselves to pay WAY above sticker price that is their business.
Why be mad at the sellers? It’s the morons who are willing to pay double for a product who are the really idiots here. They create the market for what you term to be “scammers”.
Stop being ignorant of the facts here.
@ aProudAmerican
So, what if a corporation with loads of cash swooped in a bought up all the resources of an essential service, that people needed, and sold it back to the public for an ever-increasing government protected profit?
Like, say, healthcare.
Would that be okay?
Oh, wait…
Not to mention you can by them online at the applestore
PPS: I would like a Apple Store in NZ please
and Telecom to be beaten as they are as mean as AT&T or worse
Ran by people who charged for calling emergency number from a cell phone, can you believe that. I use to work on there help desk for Internet called Xtra, They really pushed for money and did not look after staff at all, and the technology was not top notch.
Sad really, IT being ran with no drive for a better ness, or by people who liked Computers.
Telecom pushed a weak goverment so it was hard for other companies in IT, NZ now is facing tough ecomonic times
part perhaps to this as people re very savvy with IT, web and Service
AB
Keyword Chrissy:>
to the public for an ever-increasing government protected profit?
Government, Why are they protecting that,
PS: I hope you understood my telecom note:
I dont like them, I tghink i want the world to know Telecom NZ are bad.
@ChrissyOne
“Like all of my comments?”
You are anything but a typical les. You are extraordinary! And I got video to prove it…LOL j/k
@aProudAmerican
Nobody said she was a thief… she is greedy.
greedy |ˈgrēdē| adjective ( greedier , greediest ) having or showing an intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth
PC people suck by the way I just need to say that ,
Can you believe how annoying it is to do a search on a PC, some stupid Dog jumps and starts fin around,
also, when you want to type a letter word has so many options it sucks, and Stops me from writing down what I need,
Sometimes a letter is to a friend or loved one, and a Stupid MS office thing comes up which is bad taste,
Also When I open IE it crashes on any PC,
Also I need to say this: Num lock is off by default on a PC,
This is stupid , why else would you have numbers on keypad,
To move cursor
Arrh MS is such a stupid company why do people keep sticking up for them, its like friend in a gang.
@ ChrissyOne…
Health care would be one example, true …
but Enron also comes to mind
@aProudAmerican
“She wasn’t being greeedy.”
Let’s see. $100,000 worth of 8GB iPhones is about 160 iPhones w/taxes included.
She was hoping for $800 to $1200 (or more ) per iPhone to sell on eBay.
That’s $128,000 to $192,000 possibly more.
In a small degree, that’s greed. She was so giddy with excitement that she reeked of greed. I seriously hope she learns from this because she made an absolute fool of herself on camera.
Glad to hear that at least some of the bloodsuckers (unlike marcus aurelius) failed to cheat the morons who pay too much on eBay, although they deserve to be cheated.
Give her a Break she was proberly Bored has no life She has a chance to do some- think cool, fun
<he wants to be part of the Cool tech world and use ebay
Sell iphones like a youngone
SOOO what,
PS: has anyone seen how bad Chinas ecology is yuck ,
Greed, and the desire for profit are two different things. If she’d had a head for wealth, instead of opportunism, she would have bought AAPL stock and made some easy money without standing in line.
In Seattle, we call this “Mine the miners”, and it’s a tradition that goes back to 1897 and the Alaska Yukon gold rush. Clever northwest pioneers realized that, instead of trekking into the Great White North to die in a freezing hole, the real money was to be made by selling provisions to these intrepid fools. Many businesses founded in this era still operate to this day (including that of a shrewd shoe salesman and ex-miner named Nordstrom).
Half-wits like whats-her-name think about a fast buck, they DON’T think about wealth. Call it capitalism if you like, but like any tool, capitalism can be used wisely or poorly. Sometimes you win, sometimes you look like an idiot in the national press.
Choose wisely.
-c
re: 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?
—-
Comments:
1. Apple are no more locked down than Microsoft.
2. Prove to me it costs $3000 for an iPhone! – Show me the proof!
3. Apple’s reputation with the planet is good, if not better than almost all the other computer manufacturers – even Greenpeace has praised Apple (and they are a total bunch of fanatics!)
Finally, you obviously waited in-line for an iPhone and got in the store only to be told that they have run out of stock.
Boy are you one bitter and twisted, screwed up person…
IF YOU DONT LIKE APPLE OR ITS PRODUCTS DONT LOOK AT MAC NEWS WEBSITES!
petey was they guy real,
Was he not joking, poor dude
I want a real debate why apple Sux one we can have fun with
PS: who has seen the movie sunshine its quite cool, also Tripods this was such a cool Movie,
PS Hey Chrissy can you be my Girlfriend?
of you don’t.
And the days of selling things at inflated prices are “well and truely over”? You can’t be serious can you?
I think you can get disability money from the government for that kind of monumental level of stupidity. You should apply Petey.
Ok people, this is the way it works. It’s an auction. You have something to sell, people offer to pay whatever it is they are willing to pay for it. A transaction is completed. There is not much more to it than that.
You don’t want to get “scammed” by the so-called “scammers”? No problem, get up earlier than they do and wait in line. But if someone spends a day in line to buy something that later on becomes scarcely available, offers it up on an AUCTION site and lemmings fall all over themselves to pay WAY above sticker price that is their business.
Why be mad at the sellers? It’s the morons who are willing to pay double for a product who are the really idiots here. They create the market for what you term to be “scammers”.
Stop being ignorant of the facts here
—-
FUCK YOU REALITY CHECK!
MY ‘STUPIDITY’ AS YOU PUT IT, IS BASED ON 40+ YEARS LIVING ON THIS PLANET.
Tell me – how many years is your extreme stupidity based on? and what time does your Mummy come along and put you to bed?
If you are stupid enough buy anything on Ebay that is priced more than teh retail price then YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT.
Ok bad apple things:>
OK so real bad things, I know, When Steve retires we may not have anyone cool, Except me,
also, O I know iwork is a bit crap, you could say that, But o well
Appleworks was nice , Office Arr Poo man I can even smell office on a PC is smells like sacks
PC people play game killing and SIck porn
mac uses make music
art
and Science
“PS Hey Chrissy can you be my Girlfriend?”
See my post @ Jul 06, 07 – 10:59 am
-c
reality your a looser do you have porn on your PC,
and a gun and a fan on you pc to cool it down
LOL LOL
haha and a 5 button mouse.
Its sad to see this site devolve into petty bickering. It seems to me the iPhone, as good as it is (I love mine), brought a new group of people to the apple table that do not share the traditional apple values or community, manners, helpfulness, etc.
If you are here to flame, please go back to whatever site you came from.
arrrh Dam Bu dam pooh
Why always like this, dam dam Are Cruel world,.
Why
somehow there was never any doubt in my mind that “reality check” would think like that….
the world is full of pricks who have no morals and blame others failings for their habit of screwing people over. always blame the victim, that is the scum bag way….
alays like this, What a Joke why stop being a lisbo now,
Stink, POO your mean, , … OK Kate ?
hi
“Office Arr Poo man I can even smell office on a PC is smells like sacks
PC people play game killing and SIck porn”
i am sorry even babble fish was no help for this….
are you trying to communicate with us? blink once for yes, and twice for no….
FUCK YOU REALITY CHECK!
“MY ‘STUPIDITY’ AS YOU PUT IT, IS BASED ON 40+ YEARS LIVING ON THIS PLANET.
Tell me – how many years is your extreme stupidity based on? and what time does your Mummy come along and put you to bed?
If you are stupid enough buy anything on Ebay that is priced more than teh retail price then YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT.”
40 years on this planet and a little thing like reading comprehension has escaped you huh? Go back to my post, and re-read, but this time do it really really slowly. Maybe ask an adult near you for help. And then maybe, just maybe, you will see that I never defended the concept of buying things for double the price on eBay.
Guess who the idiot is here Petey? There are only two of us but based on your apparent intelligence level, or lack thereof, I will give you 3 guesses. And something tells me you still might be stumped…
: shen
hahha Ha Shen , Boring well why don’t you say something , as its a bit hard when no one is chatting :
you know what I was saying,
Bu I am picking you are from UK , Ireland originally and working in Admin
Now now kids , No icecream.
sell what ya want on ebay who cares,
Anyone that waited 21 hours in line is a f*cking moron. I walked into the Apple Store at 8pm on launch night, waited approximately 5 minutes in line for a cashier, and walked out with an 8GB iPhone. As for those trying to profiteer on eBay and Craigslist, they’re getting exactly what they deserve.
shen come on ??
Petey punch him man, smack him one dude
he said you mother is ugly
any girls here,
MW: children
really
I am bored, life suck, Australia sucks
Australians are Dumb as shit; they are the lowest on planet earth for intelligence
The Media makes you so depressed is such horse shit,
They food is just cheap fast meat & chips
The buildings look likes poo they have the architecture of a dogs den
There government is proactive as fungi
I can’t stand them, America; poor bastards have to keep the world running
English, like to be improvised and angry
I am coming to US, hope your ready people I will meet American Girl and be rich, and visit Steve and drink coffee,
The end
I love how one person’s investment translates to Americans are fat, lazy, greedy earth destroying bastards. How is this lady’s tactics any different that a stock market investor? I believe stock is traded world wide, correct?
” . . . fat, lazy, greedy earth destroying bastards.”
HEY! I’m not lazy.
Has he gone?
You guys need to look up the definition of a scam.
In money exchanges hands, followed by an exchange of product, there is no scam.
The deal, however, good or bad, is in the eye of the beholder.
Whoops… “In” should have been “If.”
“”MY ‘STUPIDITY’ AS YOU PUT IT, IS BASED ON 40+ YEARS LIVING ON THIS PLANET.”
What’s your next comment, Life’s like a box of chocolates?
40 years and Mummy still caring for your retarded ass?
They are failing because supply of iPhones exceeds demand.
Apple would probably prefer it to be the other way around.