Oh, I don't disagree with that - what seemed odd is that an early production example would have sat unused for 13 years.
Again, this isn’t odd.
Some (probably more than some) people buy… stuff because they can, then don’t use the stuff they buy. They put it into a closet or into storage for years until they get sell it, get rid of it, or give it away.
I bought a late 2011 MBP early this spring for, like, less then a tenth of what it sold for new. Since getting it, I have put a full 25 per cent of all the charge cycles onto its original battery, which was made at the same time the computer was (or, to be precise, the week before the laptop was assembled). The laptop was unusually clean inside before I added new thermal paste and cleaned the not-very-dusty fan. IT was, by most intents, nearly new.
In 2019, I picked up an 11-year-old 17-inch MBP which needed only a new logic board (because of the bad Nvidia GPU revision) and battery. The cosmetics of the entire system and interior were virtually pristine. It probably got use until the 602 revision of the GPU failed within two years, then shoved away into a closet with a 2008 white MacBook which had a pinched backlight wire (and also not heavily used). Total cost for acquiring both was a bag of locally roasted coffee.
It amazes me frequently how often people buy stuff then either barely use said stuff or altogether buy stuff and then stick said stuff somewhere it never gets used. It’s a privilege many do not have, but it’s stunning how often that privilege still exists in a world of haves and have-nots.
Obviously, inventory management is what it is and some retailers turn over inventory more quickly than others, but I guess I would have thought it would be more likely that a late-production example wouldn't get unpacked and used. Just seems odd for someone in, say, August or September 2010 to go down to their Apple reseller, buy a shiny new Magic Trackpad, take it home, and not even try it out once... and yet presumably not return it, just leave it sitting around for their kid to sell 13 years later.
In my experience (including years of working in different aspects of retailing), the earliest buys of a mass-selling item frequently get bought out of an optimism or a belief that someone in their lives will want it, rather than any kind of immediate pragmatism — especially when there’s a belief by the buyer that the item being bought and left packaged might one day be some kind of collector’s item they’ll get big money for flipping after a few years of holding onto it. What most don’t realize is “a few years” tends to be longer than most of their lives — a generation or two.
Other folks, meanwhile, who come in to buy something, exactly
when they need it, even when the thing they need is near the end of its selling cycle, are going to buy and use it because they need it to complete a certain set of tasks before them at that time. Sometimes they buy remaining or clearance stock, but other times, such as in products which allow buyer customizing (like a computer or a car), they will customize the order to better fit their needs and, generally, will be the likeliest to use those items as intended.
(The eBay listing said their dad "liked to buy things and then put them on the shelf."... and I suppose the serial number data backs up that story, as strange as it seems)
They would be one of those, well, hoarding optimists who bought multiple units at the time. Given their commonality, I hope you didn’t pay near or more than the original retail price for it.
