Most expensive in-app purchase ever: Apple Pay used to buy $1 million Aston Martin

AppleInsider · October 21, 2016 4:08PM

In what is claimed to be the largest-ever transaction made with Apple Pay, a customer used their fingerprint to authorize the purchase of a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 priced at over $1 million.

British automobile auction house Coys of Kensington announced this week that the classic car was bought via Apple Pay for £ 825,000, or over $1 million U.S. The historic automobile specialist says the transaction is the largest known in-app purchase ever made.

Coys also claims the 1964 DB5 -- like the one featured in the James Bond film "Skyfall" -- was the first-ever classic car sold via social media. The Apple Pay transaction was completed on the platform Vero.

Upping the value of the Aston Martin was the fact that it was a right-hand-drive silver birch model with red leather trim. The previous owner gave it a full restoration, including a rebuild of the engine, and overhauls of the suspension and gearbox.

Prior to it being restored and sold, the DB5 was in dry storage for 20 years, where it was not used.

The anonymous buyer got to see the Aston Martin in person at the Mondial de L'Automobile Paris Motor Show, then placed the "buy now" order with Apple Pay through the Coys profile on Vero.

"He was overjoyed to see the car of his dreams and didn't want to lose it," said Coys Chief Executive Chris Routledge. "He was keen to quickly get in front of the queue, so a few days later he hit the 'Buy Now' button on Vero to guarantee the purchase, leaving two other collectors disappointed in his wake."

Other historic cars remain available on the Coys Vero account, though none of them are as pricey as the DB5 nabbed via Apple Pay. They include a Ferrari Daytona valued at £ 800,000, and a Ferrari Dino 246 previously owned by Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant priced at £ 400,000.

Apple Pay launched two years ago with to key components -- point-of-sale tap-to-pay functionality, and in-app purchase authorization. Both components require special hardware in the form of Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor and secure enclave for storing payment information.

slprescott · October 21, 2016 4:19PM

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

zimmie · October 21, 2016 4:28PM

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

redraider11 · October 21, 2016 4:39PM

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

soli · October 21, 2016 4:46PM

redraider11 said:

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

The largest purchase with a Centurion card is $170M to purchase this NSFW painting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_Card

edited October 2016

slprescott · October 21, 2016 4:49PM

Apple's revenue from the deal: $1,500

(... assuming this is covered by the 0.15 percent transaction fee announced when Apple Pay began)

randominternetperson · October 21, 2016 4:50PM

Dammit! Doesn't Apple care about my privacy? If my wife reads this, she'll know how much I paid for that car.

yoyo2222 · October 21, 2016 4:52PM

Did the seller really eat the (3.5%) AMEX interchange fee?

applesauce007 · October 21, 2016 5:07PM

OK. So Apple made about $1,514.28 or £1237.50
Nice chunk of change.

tdknox · October 21, 2016 5:17PM

"Upping the value of the Aston Martin was the fact that it was a right-hand-drive silver birch model with read leather trim." How do you read leather? Is it printed, like a book?

ericthehalfbee · October 21, 2016 5:40PM

No doubt this was prearranged. Otherwise how would anyone expect a mobile payment for $1 million to go through when you tried it?

Still a testament to the security of Apple Pay when someone like Amex would allow such a large purchase. Even though you can have a card with a high limit, that doesn't mean that limit still applies just because you add your card to Apple Pay (for example, tap purchases at terminals have various limits for transaction size and daily amounts).

rotateleftbyte · October 21, 2016 5:41PM

Skyfall was the second bond film to use the Aston. The first one was Goldfinger
I still have my 1960's toy (boxed) model of the aston.
This was the car with the revolving number plates, heavy weaponry and an ejector seat.

Classic Vehicles are for some people serious investments.

paxman · October 21, 2016 5:49PM

Now that is the absolute definition of classic non-autonomous sports car. Such a beautiful design. I once got to ride in one - white with red leather in as new condition.

zimmie · October 21, 2016 6:12PM

redraider11 said:

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

Most AmEx charge cards have no preset limit. A few other brands do the same kind of thing, though I don't know of any offhand that will work with Apple Pay.

soli · October 21, 2016 6:15PM

zimmie said:

redraider11 said:

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

Most AmEx charge cards have no preset limit. A few other brands do the same kind of thing, though I don't know of any offhand that will work with Apple Pay.

Paladium card works with Apple Pay. I can't think of a single Chase card that doesn't work with Apple Pay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium_Card

zimmie · October 21, 2016 6:16PM

yoyo2222 said:

Did the seller really eat the (3.5%) AMEX interchange fee?

Probably not. For transactions this large, the fees are typically negotiated differently. Sometimes they're treated more like a check or EFT. Sometimes, they just roll it into the price.

zimmie · October 21, 2016 6:22PM

ericthehalfbee said:

No doubt this was prearranged. Otherwise how would anyone expect a mobile payment for $1 million to go through when you tried it?

Still a testament to the security of Apple Pay when someone like Amex would allow such a large purchase. Even though you can have a card with a high limit, that doesn't mean that limit still applies just because you add your card to Apple Pay (for example, tap purchases at terminals have various limits for transaction size and daily amounts).

Typically, you call the charge card company and say you want to charge $X on your card. If it's abnormally large (e.g., $1m if you've only ever spent $5k at a time through them before), they will ask for proof of assets before approving the charge. If it's 1.5x-3x your past spending habits, they normally approve it without a fuss. If it's in line with your past spending, you don't even have to call them.

hill60 · October 21, 2016 6:37PM

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

It could be a debit card, limit is account balance, I paid $A28,000 for a car using a visa debit card and eftpos terminal.

Great bargaining tool, name price offer immediate payment.

I also got them to eat the "fee".

edited October 2016

dachar · October 21, 2016 7:47PM

For those not living in the U.K., you can have a debit card on ApplePay. Debit cards take money from your bank account. I used my debit card pre ApplePayto buy a new car. I guess the limit on purchase relates to how much is in your account.

entropys · October 21, 2016 9:31PM

rotateleftbyte said:

Skyfall was the second bond film to use the Aston. The first one was Goldfinger
I still have my 1960's toy (boxed) model of the aston.
This was the car with the revolving number plates, heavy weaponry and an ejector seat.

Classic Vehicles are for some people serious investments.

Thats right. Except for the DB5 in Thunderball, Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, and Spectre

Drives like shit compared with a DBS V12 (Casino Royale)

Bond trivia: in the novels Bond's vehicle of choice was Bentleys, like in the Cambridge picnic scene in the movie From Russia with Love.

edited October 2016

zimmie · October 21, 2016 10:52PM

hill60 said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

It could be a debit card, limit is account balance, I paid $A28,000 for a car using a visa debit card and eftpos terminal.

Great bargaining tool, name price offer immediate payment.

I also got them to eat the "fee".

I believe there's actually a limit on debit card transactions based on your bank's insurance. For example, I don't believe transactions larger than $100,000 are allowed in the U.S. They might be with special advance approvals. I still suspect this was with a charge card, because I can't imagine anyone keeping that much money liquid in an account linked to a debit card. This is SWIFT kind of money. Of course, after the Bangladesh Bank issue and the more recent Banco del Austro issue, SWIFT is looking too rickety to trust, too.

Most expensive in-app purchase ever: Apple Pay used to buy $1 million Aston Martin

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