Ken Hess On Apple's eBay Shop
Early this morning before I coud even clear the crust out of my eyes, someone sent me an email with a link in it describing a “secret” Apple Ebay store with lower prices than are available on their own site. What up with that? Lindsay Sakraida, dealnews Features Director, sprung this little prize on the world: Some items sell at up to $100 less on this mysterious Apple Ebay store.
There’s no other way of saying it — Hess comes across as being really stupid in this article on ZDNet.
This eBay store isn’t a “secret”, 9to5Mac broke the news in November.
The big question is, “Why?”
The bigger question is, “Do I really care?”
To answer the first question, I think it is as the article suggests, an experiment. Again, why would Apple experiment with Ebay? For one, Apple could just buy Ebay and do whatever they want. Second, Apple could sell igloos to Africans. OK, maybe they could sell igloos to Americans in Africa but I think you get the point. Apple is one of those companies that apparently doesn’t have to lower its prices to compete with the rest of the market.
Why does Hess think Apple would just buy eBay on a whim, seeing as they are more conservative than most technology companies when it comes to acquisitions?
The bigger question is what do igloos, Africans and Americans have to do with an article entitled “What’s up with Apple’s down low on Ebay sales?”.
OK, so back to the story. Why is Apple doing this? And do I really care?
Naturally, it only took 360 words to actually get to answering the aforementioned headline.
I think they’re just looking to dump their hardware inventory and someone came up with the idea that Ebay was a good way to do that.
They have to sell returned products as reconditioned because, well, that’s the law. They’ve sold refurbished products on their own site for ages and as eBay users have a tendency for bargain hunting, offering their (cheaper) refurbished products there is just logical business.
I, personally, wouldn’t buy anything refurbished from Apple or from their Ebay store. I’ve seen refurbished stuff. So called “blemishes” and “normal wear” can mean scarred screens and body cracks. No thanks. I’ll put my own blemishes on my hardware.
To the contrary, the Refurbished Store is actually a great place to buy Apple products, if you are in the market for last generation devices that are “as new”. Apple replaces all external parts on refurbished products — there is no chance of “blemishes” — and they are sold with the normal Apple warranty.
I don’t understand how blatantly incorrect statements can pass by ZDNet editors?