Any Profit for Selling an I-Phone on E-bay?

[gigahertz20]

Alright, the iPhone goes on sale at 6pm today, is it worth buying one and trying to resell it on E-Bay for a profit?

I just drove by my local AT&T store 30 mins ago to see if anything was happening, nobody was there out in front. They did have a sign up saying the phone will go on sale at 6PM today though. I'm thinking if I stop by the store a few hours before it goes on sale and there is a small or maybe no line, I could buy one and resell it on E-bay for a profit.


I'm a college student and I'd gladly wait out in front of a store for a few hours to make some easy money. I camped out for a PS3 in front of a Sam's Club for 8 hours, I was the 3rd one in line. When they opened up they only had 2....I was so pissed.



Anybody know what the supply and demand for this will be? I googled it but couldn't get any definitive answers....some people said there will be plenty available and others said there won't. Anybody have a clue?

Crap I just read that if you buy the iPhone from an AT&T you will most likely be required to purchase the 2 year contract, if you buy it from an Apple store you are not....GAY!

http://www.iphonematters.com/a...ut_a_new_contract_256/


This looks promising...

"Jobs: iPhone Supply May Not Meet Demand"

"The number of iPhones manufactured by Apple may not be enough to meet customer demand when the smart phone goes on sale tomorrow, CEO Steve Jobs said."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133582/article.html

 

[Capt Caveman]

No. From what I understand, there is plenty of supply.

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
No. From what I understand, there is plenty of supply.

It's been hyped up so much that they should have plenty. Coupled with the fact that they've had ages to plan for launch day I wouldn't bother myself.

 

[PottedMeat]

Hahaha, if you found a way around having the contract, its more likely you will get scammed than make a profit. Net profit -$500 Yay!

 

[Spineshank]

I cant see you making much of a profit off of em.

 

[JJChicken]

In any case, the majority of apple purchasers would never buy off eBay.

 

[NakaNaka]

Originally posted by: PottedMeat
Hahaha, if you found a way around having the contract, its more likely you will get scammed than make a profit. Net profit -$500 Yay!

You don't need a contract to buy one. All activation is done online through iTunes after you go home with your iPhone.

And I bet you might be able to make a couple bucks or break even, but this is not going to be a Playstation situation. Jobs has said he thinks they will meet demand but he's not sure because they had to estimate a couple months back.

 

[lupi]

http://images.apple.com/chatte...410B/img/mainimage.jpg

 

[Sqube]

Will they even let you walk out of the store with an iPhone unless you activate it then and there?

That said, I don't think you'll be able to make money off of this like you could in the early days of the PS3.

 

[Ns1]

No.

Reasons? it's a $600 dollar phone. The number of people who are willing to pay a premium over an already ridiculously expensive phone are very limited. There may/may not be professional campers already there thinking the same thing as you (think iLoser). They will flood the ebay market also. Scammers will be on the hunt also, causing a large proportion of early auctions to end in failure due to scam attempts. This will cause other would be scalpers to believe that the market is GREAT and that people are really earning 1200+ per phone, while the auctioner's are getting emails like "hi, will you please send to my friend in nigeria. I will send you western union for xxxx".

This will further cause MORE people to buy iPhones in a pathetic attempt to resell them on ebay for a profit. This cycle will continue until people realize that nobody is willing to shell out 800+ for a phone (which is the price that YOU would need to make after taxes + fees).

 

[mugs]

I camped out for a PS3 in front of a Sam's Club for 8 hours, I was the 3rd one in line. When they opened up they only had 2....I was so pissed.

Sucker. :laugh:

I don't think you can expect to make very much profit on an iPhone on eBay. Unless you get Paris Hilton to rub her crotch with it or something, then you might get the fetish crowd.

 

[jtvang125]

Aren't the quoted prices ($499 and $599) with a 2 year contract? If so, wouldn't the price for the phone without a contract be even more and that's if they'll sell you one without a contract. So by tacking on your profit on top of the high price without a contract the thing will probably be close to $1000. WTH is going to buy a $1000 phone.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
Aren't the quoted prices ($499 and $599) with a 2 year contract? If so, wouldn't the price for the phone without a contract be even more and that's if they'll sell you one without a contract. So by tacking on your profit on top of the high price without a contract the thing will probably be close to $1000. WTH is going to buy a $1000 phone.

Hipster douchebags mostly.

 

[gigahertz20]

*Update*

Here is one on E-bay already at $1,100

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...260133707633&rd=1&rd=1

I guess I should have waited this morning to buy one. I went down to the store a hour ago to check it out. The people there said 30 came in and 30 sold out at opening.

You have to buy a 2 year contract to use the phone, but not as soon as you buy the phone. For example, you can walk into the store and buy one, then at a later date purchase the contract.

 

[jpeyton]

$15,000 and rising.

I love n00b eBay sellers.

 

[Ns1]

dude, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE AUCTION ENDS AT

how many of these sellers are actually going to get said money?

enjoy that 500 charge from eBay while you fight to get your fees refunded from you.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
dude, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE AUCTION ENDS AT

how many of these sellers are actually going to get said money?

enjoy that 500 charge from eBay while you fight to get your fees refunded from you.

I know; that's why I love n00b eBay sellers.

During the PS3 launch, it was a lot of fun watching systems go for $20,000+ to zero feedback bidders.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

$600 for a first gen phone? I think not. I can see the posts now "This POS!"