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Too good to be true? but is true?

W

wako

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 6, 2005
1,404
1
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This seller sells it at student discounted price, but also has a $100 rebate as well. According to his feedback many people seem to have gotten their rebate and got their item.

Catch seems to be, you have to wait a LONG time before you actually recieve the item. From what I can see some people waited up to a month before they even got their systems, but they all recieved it and say it was worth it.

His feedback seems to say just that as well.


Should I risk it?
 
gekko513 said:
Can't be both true and legal at the same time. Stay away.
Click to expand...

That was my reaction too when I first read the offer. But after taking a look at all the feedback it`s getting harder n harder to to dismiss him as a fraud. It`s not like any other fraud person I`ve seen on ebay(I have many. But didnt fell for any:D ). But this one sounds really genuine. I just dont know how he can sell that cheap though. Dont know bout anyone else but I m certainly interested in the offer. If I had to buy a PC/MAC anytime soon, I`d definitely give him a try. But since I dont need any right now, and I m not in States, I wont.

Try and ask the reseller how can he sell this cheap. Go for it if you are convinced with his explanation. And you can put an example for the rest of the people on MR. In case you do get it cheap, tell everyone and be happy bout it. In case you are cheated, there is no one else named Vikas Soni on MR any more.:D

But in the end it`s your money. Risk it only if you can afford the loss in case it turns out to be a fraud. If you/someone else does try it; just make sure you pay through paypal only. AFAIK loss of upto 1000$ due to any kind of fraud on ebay is covered under Paypal.
 
vikas soni said:
after taking a look at all the feedback it`s getting harder n harder to to dismiss him as a fraud
Click to expand...

Feedback is not the absolute truth, because user accounts are hijacked all the time. Plus fraudulent sellers can have users that trade between each others and give lots of praise and maybe never move a dime.

If it's too good to be true, then it's usually a fraud. Even if you would get the goods, how can you be sure that the seller got the goods legally?

I wouldn't want to use a stolen laptop.
 
buy it now price is $1199. so you save 100 bucks minus shipping plus waiting time. just go to the apple store and buy one for $1299. i wouldn't rely on the mail in rebate. it's not worth the risk.
 
hmm that is true... i would only save 50 bucks and be forced to wait a few weeks for the system and then for the rebate. :eek:
 
Gray market. He probably gets overages from authorized dealers at something near their cost. Dealers are incentivized to buy more than they expect to sell to get a lower wholesale unit cost, or to over-order to get the number they think they really need. The extras get dumped into the gray market via sellers like this one. I thought Apple had more or less put an end to this practice by limiting their quantity discounts, but apparently not. People have to wait because in reality the gray-marketer doesn't know what he'll get from the dealer and when -- which doesn't mean he won't take your money up front.

Personally, I'd stay way from gray market sellers. Some of them deliver the goods, but they're the very definition of fly-by-night.
 
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Face it: There are no, legitimate, deep discounts on new Apple product. Ever. Apple's dealer price is between 4 and 8% off of the retail Applestore price.
The only time there are bargains is on Apple refurbs, or on discontinued models that are dropped in price just after the new model comes out.

If I were running a scam, I would tell people that delivery would be 45 days or more, "in order to get the bulk buy price"
That allows me to take their money for approx 60 days before the first ones start yelling about non-delivery. Also, it gets me past the 45 day time limit that PayPal has on claiming on buyer protection.

I can sell a LOT of goods in 60 days, before folding my tent, emptying my "phony name" accounts, closing the mail drop box at the local strip mall, and disappearing.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Face it: There are no, legitimate, deep discounts on new Apple product. Ever. Apple's dealer price is between 4 and 8% off of the retail Applestore price.
The only time there are bargains is on Apple refurbs, or on discontinued models that are dropped in price just after the new model comes out.

If I were running a scam, I would tell people that delivery would be 45 days or more, "in order to get the bulk buy price"
That allows me to take their money for approx 60 days before the first ones start yelling about non-delivery. Also, it gets me past the 45 day time limit that PayPal has on claiming on buyer protection.

I can sell a LOT of goods in 60 days, before folding my tent, emptying my "phony name" accounts, closing the mail drop box at the local strip mall, and disappearing.
Click to expand...

It's true, people have done this. Only a couple of years ago a scammer was busted for bilking people out of Mac hardware on eBay. Actually, I think he started out as a "legitimate" gray-market seller. A lot of people got their goods before he started taking orders without filling them. Probably he got a lot of orders he could not fill, because the dealer who was supplying him cut off the supply. This is how it can go when you're not an authorized reseller.

I think your wholesale discount is far too small. The reason you don't see larger discounts on Apple products is that Apple prohibits dealers from advertising them for more than a few dollars below MSRP.
 
IJ Reilly said:
I think your wholesale discount is far too small. The reason you don't see larger discounts on Apple products is that Apple prohibits dealers from advertising them for more than a few dollars below MSRP.
Click to expand...
Ask a dealer...
On some items, like the iMac G5 when it was on sale a while back, the dealer discount was less than $100 on a $1900 machine. I think on one iBook G3 configuration, the dealer made something like $30.

Just for fun I looked it up
MacBook single unit dealer whsl: CAN$1,181.00 Applestore retail CAN$1249
Margin $68 or 5.4%
(Of course, there is dealer's shipping costs on top of that, and the charge card company will take a $28 merchant service charge on the machine plus taxes when you pull out your MasterCard, leaving the dealer with $40 profit.)

Now you can understand why the SalesThing at BigBoxRUs can't be bothered to spend more than 15 seconds with you on a Mac hardware sale. What is commission on $68? He literally makes more money selling a Monster speaker cable for $119 than a MacBook for $1,249.

A dealer buying 1000 or more units like Amazon, will get another percent or three off that.
 
Stay away. Too many "deals" out there that are intended to take advantage of Joe Internet.
 
Flowbee said:
Or just buy it from Amazon. They offer a $100 rebate, no tax, and free shipping.
Click to expand...


Strange they say the product has not been released yet... I wonder when they will get them instock ?
 
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CanadaRAM said:
Ask a dealer...
On some items, like the iMac G5 when it was on sale a while back, the dealer discount was less than $100 on a $1900 machine. I think on one iBook G3 configuration, the dealer made something like $30.

Just for fun I looked it up
MacBook single unit dealer whsl: CAN$1,181.00 Applestore retail CAN$1249
Margin $68 or 5.4%
(Of course, there is dealer's shipping costs on top of that, and the charge card company will take a $28 merchant service charge on the machine plus taxes when you pull out your MasterCard, leaving the dealer with $40 profit.)

Now you can understand why the SalesThing at BigBoxRUs can't be bothered to spend more than 15 seconds with you on a Mac hardware sale. What is commission on $68? He literally makes more money selling a Monster speaker cable for $119 than a MacBook for $1,249.

A dealer buying 1000 or more units like Amazon, will get another percent or three off that.
Click to expand...

Where did you find the wholesale prices of Apple products posted?

A dealer in this area routinely sells Apple products "sales tax free," which translates to an 8% discount. Does this dealer lose money on every Mac he sells?
 
IJ Reilly said:
Where did you find the wholesale prices of Apple products posted??
Click to expand...
Ummm.. from our wholesalers, who are the authorized Apple distributors? It's not publicly posted of course. This is, granted, the single unit price, which would be more typical of a small independent than a bigbox or a volume dealer.

IJ Reilly said:
A dealer in this area routinely sells Apple products "sales tax free," which translates to an 8% discount. Does this dealer lose money on every Mac he sells?
Click to expand...
If they buy in big enough quantity, they may be making a bit. Or cheating on their sales tax remissions. Also ask, how many of those machines walk out with extended warranty contracts, esp. if it is private rather than Applecare? That's where they make the profit, not the machine.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Ummm.. from our wholesalers, who are the authorized Apple distributors? It's not publicly posted of course. This is, granted, the single unit price, which would be more typical of a small independent than a bigbox or a volume dealer.
Click to expand...

That would be the very most expensive way to buy, of course, and hardly anyone would. Also, since these are Canadian prices, I assume they include the 7% GST. In the U.S., these taxes are added at the point of sale.

CanadaRAM said:
If they buy in big enough quantity, they may be making a bit. Or cheating on their sales tax remissions. Also ask, how many of those machines walk out with extended warranty contracts, esp. if it is private rather than Applecare? That's where they make the profit, not the machine.
Click to expand...

Cheating would hardly be likely. They take out display ads in the Los Angeles Times, which tends to get the attention of the tax collectors. You're correct, the extended warranties are profit centers, but as you also pointed out, credit card fees can eat up 2-3%. So I suspect they must be getting a wholesale price about 10% under MSRP or they could not be making enough to pay for all those display ads in the Los Angeles Times.
 
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