iPhone flops on eBay

Posted Jul 6th 2007 8:20AM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Newspapers, Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), Marketing and Advertising

In an early sign that perhaps the debut of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) much-anticipated iPhone might not have been as big of a hit as it was cracked up to be, sales of the phone on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) have been disappointing for the entrepreneurs who waited in long lines hoping to cash in on the hype. Many sellers are breaking even or even losing money on their attempts to sell the phone on eBay.

But maybe this is actually a good sign. Overwhelming demand leading to huge windfalls for resellers would indicate that Apple was unprepared -- After all, Apple gains nothing when its products are resold at huge mark-ups on the secondary market. According to the New York Times:

Demand for the phone was remarkably strong in the first days. Analysts estimate that Apple and AT&T stores have sold around 500,000 phones so far. One analyst ventured a guess as high as 700,000. But Apple appears to have anticipated demand and contracted with manufacture

rs in Asia to build far more. Apple has said it expects to sell as many as 10 million phones by the end of 2008.

Of course, the adequate supply at the retail level may rob Apple of the hype element of phones being resold on eBay. But given that this is the most hyped new release in the history of mankind, I think Steve Jobs and company will be OK.

Tags: AAPL, Apple, ebay, iPhone

Print this

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-06-2007 @ 9:01AM

givemeabreak said...

iphones on ebay?? No wonder ebay sellers didn't sell the phones as they anticipated -- MOST of them had the iphones priced at double retail value and some were higher than double -- what kind of deal was that? Most ebay buyers are very smart these days and looking for a real "BARGAIN"?!!

7-20-2007 @ 6:52PM

P. Reyes said...

Katie Hafner's article this morning, "Iphone Futures Proved to Be a Bad Investment" was quite amusing. I beg to disagree. If your intention, as were people mentioned in the article, is to "rip" off the public, then yes, "your futures to be a bad investment"! The general public is getting smart. People are tired of being ripped off by "alligators"! Yes, these alligators may have made bundles in the past, for newly released electronics, or even sports and other entertainment tickets. Don't try to sell us your blunder for $3000 on Craigslist or ebay! If you lost money in your investment of 3, 4, or more Iphones, then we say, "Good for you"! Who's the sucker now?
Apple still remains a great investment...they are still the winner...they sold their product, didn't they? and they're still selling them...

7-09-2007 @ 11:49AM

Mike said...

Situations like this always lead some parties way over-estimating the opportunity for individuals to profit. Think about it - in this case, the E-Bay option has nothing on the Apple.com option - who would you trust more to get you something quickly, the Apple on-line store or some individual selling on EBay? Which product has the best warranty/return policy/etc.? If Apple had ended up out-of-stock for a week or more, then they might have made some minor profit.