With most stores sold out, iPhones selling for $1,000 on eBay
In the evolving manner of online ticket scalpers, people are snapping up dozens of Apple 3G iPhones -- now sold out in most states -- and selling them on the Web for prices hovering in the low four-figure range.
While some eBay auctions had reached pricetags above $1,000, most iPhone 3Gs listed early Wednesday were going for between $800 and $900 -- far above the $200 and $300 retail price for the 8GB and 16GB model, respectively.
Bidding on one auction for a seller's 17 black, AT&T-enabled iPhones had started at just one cent apiece yesterday.
Most of the people hawking iPhones are based in various parts of the United States, judging from the listings on eBay. A lot of them appear to be first-time eBay sellers, possibly trying to make a quick buck from the short supply and high demand for the device. A similar tack was taken by many individuals last year after the first iPhone launched.
A few of the sellers only have a couple of iPhones on hand. Many, however, are selling at least two dozen of Apple's 3G handsets today, and some as many as 50 units or more.
It's unclear how these sellers picked up all that iPhone loot. With the previous generation, anyone could purchase the device. But sales of the iPhone 3G require registering the handset with an active AT&T Wireless account during the purchase. That change drastically slowed down the sales process at Apple and AT&T stores during the first days after launch, and led to lines over 6 hours long in some locations.
If you really want an iPhone 3G, and you can't find one elsewhere, the abundance of iPhones currently for sale on eBay might hold a solution. On the other hand, you could easily wind up paying four or five times as much on the auction site right now than you would otherwise.
It has to be an all too familiar feeling for anyone who's ever surfed around various online ticket sites, in a frustrating last minute search for reasonably priced tickets to just about any music concert.