Wtf? Ok Who Listed This One....

[torpor]

I have two Pandoras and could really use $1000 right about now .. hmm .. very, very tempting .. except if I jump in on this silly gig, it could depress the prices, I think.


Well, no. I'll leave the other spare Pandora in the box for now..

 

[apink]

Maybe Craig should just start selling one out of every 50 via ebay through shadow accounts.

$$$

Maybe Craig is selling one out of every 50 via ebay.

 

[coevin]

If I was Craig it's exactly what I would do and personally I think he should try and recover some of the costs by doing this. At the end of the day people want to pay it let them pay it.

 

[Pleng]

I have two Pandoras and could really use $1000 right about now .. hmm .. very, very tempting .. except if I jump in on this silly gig, it could depress the prices, I think.

If I had a second one Id definitely sell it and get one from the second batch. I've been toying with the idea of letting my sole unit go, but I've got a looooong flight in July!

 

[Monk]

There has been at least a slight backlash every time OPT have suggested that they sell Pandoras on eBay before they have supplied to customers/investors who ordered, and paid, back in 2009 - never mind those customers from way back in 2008!

Such customers - some of them at least - also believe that they deserve their Pandoras "reasonably quickly" {cough} and shouldn't be queue-jumped in order to collect more money.

Customers who paid are under no such moral obligation, and can sell their Pandoras if they so wish (although tha tALSO seems to cause a bit of a backlash, strangely).

 

[gruso]

I certainly don't begrudge anyone who is selling, but it does suck seeing it all happen when you're still waiting.

 

[Monk]

I certainly don't begrudge anyone who is selling, but it does suck seeing it all happen when you're still waiting.

THAT I can fully understand (or should that be "" ? ). especially since the costs the unboxed ones seem to have gone for prevent "just paying an extra tenner to get one NOW".

 

[ledow]

I don't understand the hate. If someone wants to sell something they own and someone else is willing to give them what they think is a fair price, there's not much there to comment on. Supply and demand. Maybe people are bitter that someone made 1000's by doing something they couldn't do, or never considered? And it happens with *every* technological purchase - iPad's were on eBay within seconds of being sold, so were iPods, so were PS3's, XBox's, Wii's, anything you care to name. Hell, people were selling Harry Potter books seconds after their launch. It's called business. I have absolutely no interest in the Pandora but if I had one now, I'd almost certainly sell it if I thought I could make 4x more than it cost me. The same even with a device that I *am* interested in. If I can make more money than it would cost to rebuy another device, I'd sell it like a shot.

Sell now, wait for more to be produced, buy 4 of them in six months time. It's only the MUST-HAVE-NOW's that are actually stupid enough to pay more than retail price for a device just to save the wait and, based on the ones that I know, they tend to get bored with their purchases quite quickly and/or want to make money by selling them off soon after.

And if you pre-registered in line to get one of these devices, then you've agreed that they are X amount of people who will receive one before you and that it becomes their rightful property before yours arrives. If they sell it, put it in a blender, spill Coke over it, or decide to throw it in the bin, what do you care? If you were willing to pay 1000's for the very, very first devices anyway, then you should have been bidding on the auctions. If they'd kept it instead of selling it you'd be no nearer your own Pandora. If they hadn't registered for a pre-order, you'd be a handful of places closer and considering that queue estimates are given in blocks of 50, that STILL doesn't mean you'd be getting yours any quicker (and considering they are being produced in batches of many hundreds, it's even less likely you would have "moved up" and it most probably would still arrive at your door at exactly the same time).

Stop the hate - someone saw a business opportunity and took it. They used common sense and made a lot of money very quickly by entirely legitimate means without affecting anyone's delivery estimates. Be more worried about the pillock that thinks that paying 1000's to get a device from the first few produced actually *means* anything. More money than sense, and the world could do with fewer people like that.

When I worked for a business a few years ago, they disposed of dozens of Psion Series 3a's. They literally scrapped them into a skip, because they were never used (so it wasn't a "Beyond Economical Repair" disposal or anything like that - they were just throwing perfectly good things in the bin and not "writing them off their books as broken" or anything). I asked permission, rescued them, sold them on eBay and made £40 profit on each one. Just because they didn't see the business opportunity didn't mean they were bitter towards me - the next time they were scrapping stuff they were happy to let me pick through and take stuff - it meant less disposal costs for them (WEEE reg's, number of skips, etc.) and they were happy for me to do it even if they could have made £40 per device if they could be bothered to sell them themselves.

The guy who did their normal WEEE disposals would take away anything for free (literally, a huge-van-full of monitors), so long as we included a box of old cables. He'd sell the copper in the cables that we gave him, take the monitors down to Heathrow for legitimate recycling/disposal abroad - he'd make 10x more money out of the cables than anything else and got "paid" at both ends by most of his clients (i.e. paid to take the stuff away, and paid by the recyclers / scrap dealers for giving them bulk-lots of old computer gear). He spotted a business opportunity that didn't hurt anyone and took it. My wife won a HDTV in a competition but didn't want it. It wiped the floor with her old CRT 4:3 TV but she really felt no need for it. So I sold it to someone I know and made her £220. The only people cross with that were those who didn't know I was selling a TV that they wanted.

If someone sees a business opportunity that doesn't hurt anyone and isn't illegal, then they should take it. You'd be absolutely mad not to. Personally, I just don't understand why ANYONE would want to over-inflate the prices of a device that is targeted at an extremely niche market, where availability is delayed rather than limited, and where they could easily join the pre-order queues if they really wanted one. But hey, they're the idiot, not the person selling it. If I put up a Picasso on eBay and someone pays millions for it, they are the fool, not me. I might have been able to keep it and it might has increased in value, or decreased - but I've made money for something I owned that I was willing to sell.

 

[hedwards]

I don't understand the hate. If someone wants to sell something they own and someone else is willing to give them what they think is a fair price, there's not much there to comment on. Supply and demand.

Capitalism is the reason why America remains a savage place to live. And I say that as a life long American. This pisses me off for largely the same reason that it pisses me off when the rich get unearned, undeserved tax breaks for having screwed the rest of us over.

Sure it's not terribly rational, but it's a dick move to sell them on eBay whilst the rest of us have to wait for our number to come up. It's kind of depressing to think that I'd be several units closer if people were hocking them online for outrageous sums of money.

Coincidentally capitalism is also the reason why I've been working at this job since a bit before I pre-ordered and have yet to be fully paid for a single day's worth of work. And why they've been stealing out of my paychecks, refusing to pay the overtime they're obligated to pay and generally behaving like dicks.

Capitalist apologistics isn't fundamentally any stronger a position than the people that think it's a dick move. And probably it's a worse one given the tendency to reward bad behaviour with piles of cash.

 

[cobaltage]

My own take on the eBay thing is that it's interesting to see what people with money to burn will pay for a Pandora at this moment. As others have indicated, it's a sign that there is a certain demand for the Pandora, despite the smattering of negative and cynical comments it has received on blogs, etc.

However, the actual amount of money that someone will pay for a Pandora on eBay is not very indicative of anything much about the perceived value of the Pandora. There are so few Pandoras available, that all it takes is five people with lots of money to run one or two auctions up to the $1500+ range. These are the types of people who drop $2000 on a weekend binge without a thought. If 10 were available on eBay, the auction price would drop considerably. The scarcity of the Pandora plays a huge role in the psychology of the auction.

What this eBay thing also indicates is that it's better to know what you want and to have patience, so that you can spend $300 instead of $1500 on the same device. There are always speculators, but there's risk involved in speculation: risk that you won't make as much as what you could have made with the money and time you put into something, etc.

I want my Pandora as much as anyone, so I understand the frustration. But the eBay auctions are another sign that Pandora pre-orderers are highly intelligent. So we can all be pleased that it's going as well as it is. Or something.

 

[WizardStan]

Scum.
Why take a preorder from some else who actually WANTS the device just to sell on eBay?!

No one "took" a preorder from anyone else. Everyone who wanted one had a chance (an 18 month long chance) to order one. By preordering several and selling the excess, they're actually GIVING to someone who actually wants it but for some reason was unable to make the preorder. You would seriously deprive these poor individuals who missed out for whatever reason the chance to get the Pandora they desire so much they are willing to pay up to 3 times the original cost for one? For shame sir, for shame.

 

[Jumpman]

WOW, this is like old times. I go to sleep, and wake up and everyone is up in arms.

This is my listing, and I say as much in the official Ebay thread. I currently just have 4 extra units to sell. I have more coming, but they are in the 3000-4000 range(so I'm waiting with everyone else, STILL). I sell items on ebay for a living, and I personally do a good job of it. The 1600 dollar price is steep, and if someone does not buy it, I won't be offended. I will just lower the price. A unit sold for 1800+, why would I sell this one for 330 dollars?

I bought extra units to support this project, as I was willing to wait longer than most, and not pull my funding. I had set a deadline, and had every intention to cancel my orders if the team did not deliver by that time. I assumed the team would ship all 4000 at one time, or at least very close together. So, I never thought customers in the 1000-4000 would be left waiting and wanting. That does suck, and for that I am sorry, but that is the teams fault, not mine. If the team had gone under, I would be a laughing stock, and no one would care. The team still has much of my funds, and until they deliver my remmaining units, I'm still here supporting, and hoping they deliver "EVRYONES" ASAP! Not just me!

I always thought I would just sell my extra's to the next group of people who missed out on the first batch(4001 and higher). I never though I would be selling to the diehards here on the forums, and maybe I'm not, I really don't know. I'm currently selling hundreds of items on Ebay, and all I want is the best possible price I can get, the same way everyone here goes to work and tries to get the best amount of pay they can for the job they do.

I have sold hundreds, maybe even thousands of products well under retail value, and no one has ever told me you suck for doing so. They take the deal and run. I now have a few of a hot item, and I'm trying to sell them at the best possible price. Several customers below me ordered more than one Pandora for any number of personal reasons, and if the team had only shipped 500, I would have missed out also. If the demand is not there, no one will pay that price, and I relist this item. Life goes on, the world continues to spin, and my guitar gently weeps!

Chris

 

[rmm2131]

He deserves it. He bought several and never hid the fact that he did. He is a great supporter of the project from day one and also has to do this stuff to stay alive, you know people need money to buy food and all that.

This witch-hunt is starting to piss me off.

This seller is a good guy and it is his choice to do what he wants with what he bought with his money.

We'll all get our Pandoras so let's be civil and wait.

EDIT:
Hey Chris, good luck with your auctions.

 

[Arialia]

Hello i'm very happy to see the success of the Pandora

I'm one of people who couldn't pre-order first batch for several reasons ( my husband was very afraid about 'fake' and it was a lot of money for us ) but i had made all i could to promote Pandora in French community , very happy than Cpasjuste join to team dev

Also i want to preorder for the second batch now as i have the money .

So i'm no hate with ebay pandora's : they make business and had support the team by money as lot of us couldn't do that, but i'm very surprised to see amount of bid ...

So thanks for all pre-ordered : without you Pandora doesn't live now.

 

[Loon]

@Jumpman / Chris :

Don't let the negative comments get you down, good luck with the sales, hope you make a fortune.

Just wish I'd had the balls to order a few extra units and get them on Ebay.

@ all those complaining :

This is free market capitalism in action, get used to it.

 

[Trip]

I don't see why anyone would have a problem with this. Yeah It's a bugger seeing these things getting sold on ebay whilst your still waiting for your own to be delivered but Chris backed up the devs by buying multiple units and taking a bigger risk. Now he's getting paid for taking that risk and I personally hope he gets paid well

It's also fantastic advertising for the Pandora

 

[Oscaruzzo]

Well, that IS a lot of money... I ordered one and am still waiting for it, but actually I'm VERY tempted to sell it on ebay as soon as I get it, and then buy one from the second batch. Actually deciding what to do will be difficult :huh:

 

[EdCa22]

Well, that IS a lot of money... I ordered one and am still waiting for it, but actually I'm VERY tempted to sell it on ebay as soon as I get it, and then buy one from the second batch. Actually deciding what to do will be difficult :huh:

Yeah, me too. I'm trying to pay off some debt at the moment and although I want the Pandora and I collect this kind of stuff (OMG it even says first batch on it!) I also really, really want and need to pay off that debt. I don't know what I will do when it actually arrives. I kind of wish I had never seen this thread.

 

[Jumpman]

@Jumpman / Chris :

Don't let the negative comments get you down, good luck with the sales, hope you make a fortune.

Just wish I'd had the balls to order a few extra units and get them on Ebay.

@ all those complaining :

This is free market capitalism in action, get used to it.

Thanks to everyone who has given me their support. I'm not trying to piss anyone off. I've been pushing for all 4000 units to be built as long as anyone here. It sucks that the team was only able to make 1000, but they had there reasons, and I'm sure the next 3000 will go smoother than the first 1000 did(better quality, faster assembly).

Hopefully in a few months when interest has dropped, and I still need to sell my remaining units, those who are complaining now will step up and pay full retail, even if the market doesn't call for it. Since there is such a big issue with my profits today.

@Mr Loon
Yeah, I stopped caring what others thought a few years out of highschool when I realized that no would was taking care of me, but "ME"! The same way no one here is helping the team with there bills month after month during the many delays they suffured. So is life, I don't have a problem with the complaints really. People feel the way they feel, that's there GOD given right. I won't take that from anyone, at anytime!

Chris

 

[Perky_Goth]

@ all those complaining :

This is free market capitalism in action, get used to it.

So is selling Credit Default Swaps. Doesn't mean it doesn't have a negative impact in the world.
I'm not going to insult him because it's not worth it. But it is not a good thing.