Apple store finally blacklists scummy iPad scalpers!

Good to hear they are starting to come down on these people. This morning at the Boston store, a few guys that happened to get tickets for today's sale decided they didn't want the models that were available and decided to sell their tickets. Apple employees quickly reacted, however as soon as they walked away they continued to sell them. Obviously the nice thing to do was to hand them off to other people in line.

Too bad they didn't implement this early enough for me - I wasted two hours today and yesterday going to my nearby Apple store.

After I played with it at the store on Thursday, I decided to upgrade (I already have 1st gen 32GB). One of the Apple guys told me get there early tomorrow. So I got there at 8am Friday, the gate at the Apple store was already opened. There were about 20 guys in front of me so I thought I was good to go. I cheerfully asked the guy in front of the line if there's any for sale and what time he got there. He looked at me for a second and looked away, like I was talking to myself. OK whatever, perhaps he missed his coffee getting there early. 5 minutes later a rep came out asking me what model I wanted. Every model I named (wifi only all capacities either color) are all out. Then he finally said all he has left was 16GB white Verizon 3G. Why couldn't he have just said that instead of asking me and the few guys behind me... I passed as I wanted wifi only.

So I started chatting with the Apple guy. He said the guys in front of me were there since 6, and that some had already been handed out tickets to. His advice was get there earlier if I can. So I set my alarm last night for 6am. Leisurely went through my morning routine and off I went. Arrived at about 6:45. Never been to the mall so early LOL, surprised that the entrance to the mall was already opened.

Somewhat surprisingly, the couple in front of me yesterday was the first inline (they passed on the 16GB Verizon too). The real surprise came as I gazed a bit further down the line - the mirror I talked to the day prior was there again. Actually it was the same group of people! There were about 40 people inline this time, half of whom were there yesterday; they didn't leave the day before when the guy made the announcement of what was available, so they'd already bought theirs. It was obvious why they were there again.

An Apple guy came out about 8 to announce that they were getting ready to see what they have for sale this morning (as in they don't already know what they have ). The hour went by pretty quick, has a nice chat with guys in front and back of me. 10 minutes later came the bad news. The first 30 guys in front bought their entire stock today; he was actually very specific to point out that it was TWO to EACH customer, so I guess they got in around 60 units. Sure I was disappointed, but there were a few older guys and a lady that were REALLY upset. The Apple guy admitted those same people have been there before, but there was nothing he can do about it

So this blacklist thing seems to be up to the individual store, not corporate.

I registered just to share my experience. It seems the probability of running into these scalpers (organized or otherwise) are quite high around the NYC area (I'm in NNJ); the demeanor of all those who got in on today's shipment suggests they're not local in the area... I'll just wait my five weeks and ordered online.

It is an electronics product for heaven's sake. Before you bring out the pitchforks, breath-in, breath-out...

Apple has changed their policy before, so there's no reason why they can't change it again. Before, they had a no cash rule, and when they started to get bad

Apple has changed their policy before, so there's no reason why they can't change it again. Before, they had a no cash rule, and when they started to get bad publicity because of some poor old lady who couldn't purchase an iPad and it was all over the news, Apple was forced to do some PR damage. The current scalping issue has been written about on news publications and many other places on the internet but hopefully TV news will pick it up and then Apple will be forced to do something about it. No company wants bad PR, and Apple quickly changed their minds last time when the story broke about that poor old lady.

The problem with that argument is that you can replace "electronics product" with pretty much anything, other than food and water.

Deep breaths... count to ten... breath in... breath out... breath in... breath out...

While I'm not a fan of professional queuers either, it isn't like they're doing anything immoral.

The same number of people get iPads no matter who buys them. The net happiness of the planet is not affected by these scalpers. It merely changes who is happy. Because these people were willing to provide a service, somebody else got the iPad they were lusting after.

Expressing annoyance seems healthy. But come on, let's get a bit of perspective about what actually constitutes "scum of the earth" and what merits treating people like "dirtbags" and "low lifes". And really, do you actually wish death ("drowning") upon them!? Your point would be better made without the mentally unbalanced tirade.