AppleInsider Staff
For the second time in as many years, Apple appears to have teamed with eBay on a low-profile Factory Outlet store to market Apple Certified Refurbished products — such as iPhones and iPads — alongside full one-year Apple warranties at aggressive price points.
The ">eBay.com store front, discovered by AppleInsider over the weekend (1, 2, 3 — thanks, Max), is dubbed the "Factory Outlet eBay Store" and currently lists about half dozen factory restored and unlocked GSM iPhone 5 models for between $449 and $499.
Although there's no direct language on the eBay storefront to suggest Apple's involvement, it displays many of the hallmarks of the iPhone maker's earlier partnership with eBay to sell refurbished iPads. In particular, the "Apple Certified" iPhone 5s currently on sale are billed as being "exclusive" to the eBay Factory store, they each come with a full one-year Apple Warranty, and they each have been completely restored, burn-in tested and professionally repackaged with a "final quality inspection performed by Apple."
Current Factory Outlet eBay Store Listings:
64GB White iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $499 $350 off MSRP at eBay.com
64GB Black iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $499 $350 off MSRP at eBay.com
32GB White iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $479 $270 off MSRP at eBay.com
32GB Black iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $479 $270 off MSRP at eBay.com
16GB White iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $449 $200 off MSRP at eBay.com
16GB Black iPhone 5 (Factory Unlocked for GSM) for $449 $200 off MSRP at eBay.com
The move is likely an effort on Apple's part to diversify its inventory distribution of existing devices in the months leading up to this Septembers annual iOS device product launches. Apple made a similar move back in March of last year when it launched a Apple Certified Refurbished Products Store that sold refurbished iPads at $100 less than on Apple's own online store.
All traces of that original storefront ultimately disappeared from eBay before the 2013 iPad launches. AppleInsider later learned that the effort was part of a 3-month pilot program that Apple chose not to renew. Thus far, this year's store has only listed Apple Certified refurbished iPhone 5 models. AppleInsider will be tracking the store's listings in its Price Guides (under the Certified Refurb & Closeouts tab) and on its Deals site.
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32 Comments
These are iPhone 5, not 5s.
These are iPhone 5, not 5s.
That's what the article says. 5s as in multiple models, not 5S as in the latest model. We will try and further clarify the title. Thanks.
Ships from Georgia... Looks like Californians may even be able to skip paying the sales tax, too. Of course, they will make sure to report the purchase on their CA tax return later.
At these prices, I'm not sure why anybody would buy the 16GB or 32GB model, the price difference with the 64GB is really not much.
That's what the article says. 5s as in multiple models, not 5S as in the latest model. We will try and further clarify the title. Thanks.
The phone after the 5 has a small s not a capital S. It's 5's not 5s. I'm assuming it has been altered since we commented.
That's what the article says. 5s as in multiple models, not 5S as in the latest model. We will try and further clarify the title. Thanks.
The phone after the 5 has a small s not a capital S. It's 5's not 5s. I'm assuming it has been altered since we commented.
Right and wrong. The s is lower case in the model number, but 5's is possessive, not plural. Referring to multiple iPhone 5 units as "iPhone 5s," despite being confusing, is correct.