iPhone

Yet another new culture that one must love about our US of A -- standing in line DAYS before a new gadget came out. Examples? Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and the latest, iPhone. Seriously, I can't imagine needing anything THAT badly. It's a GADGET for God's sake. I've limit down to these few items that I'll stand in line for days for:

- medicine that involves a life and death matter of myself or a loved one;
- my dream house (happened in Hong Kong, when people are only buying floor plans!); and
- if I'm not already an US citizen, citizenship to a Western country

It was RAINING no less, at some places, and people waited DAYS, and NIGHTS, in the RAIN, for the iPhone. Frankly, given the price of an iPhone, how much profit can one make. And, frankly, I'd be PISSED if I had stood in line for ove 24 hours, only to find out that I can STILL buy an iPhone from the apple store online, right now as we speak. Granted, there's a 2-4 weeks shipping time. Given that there wasn't even internet when I was growing up, I think I can wait an extra 2-4 weeks for a techno gadget.

So out of pure, inadulterated curiosity, I went to see how much iPhone was selling for on eBay. The one that was sold 20 mintues ago, 8 GB for $809.99, free shipping and handling. The one prior to that $700 + $20 S&H. Ouch!

Let's do a simple calculation, just for the fun of it (us Asians love our Math!):

Sales Price of iPhone on ebay: $809.99
Cost of iPhone: $599.00 (assuming no sales tax)
Gross profit: $210.99

Shipping and Handling (mailing box, packaging material, shipping insurance): $20
eBay fee (4%, give or take): $32.40
PayPal fee (3%, give or take): $24.30
Expense: $76.70

Net Profit = $210.99 - $76.70 = $134.29


All those work for $134.99 profit? :O Perhaps this will be a good lesson for those who horde new items just to sell them on eBay. ;)