Apple's somewhat unofficial eBay store has begun undercutting the company's own refurbished prices, offering MacBooks for up to $100 less, and savings of up to $50 on iPads and iPods.
Apple's Refurbished Outlet eBay store, where the company sells Macs, iPads and other products at significant discount. Currently, shoppers can find the following deals:
- A 13.3-inch MacBook Air at eBay.com with 128 gigabytes of solid-state storage for just $899, which is $100 less than Apple's direct refurbished price.
- Refurbished 64-gigabyte iPod touch models at eBay.com for $229, a savings of $50 from Apple's traditional store.
- And the 32-gigabyte iPod touch at eBay.com is also available refurbished for $179, or $30 off what Apple normally charges.
- Verizon 3G-enabled iPad 2 models: the 64-gigabyte model at eBay.com is offered for $529, while the 32-gigabyte version at eBay.com is $429, both a savings of $50 from the Apple Store.
has been tracking Apple's "secret" eBay store and has witnessed the company adding more inventory on a daily basis as of late. The company's somewhat unconventional approach to selling inventory is in addition to across-the-board price cuts the company instituted on its MacBook Pro with Retina display models last month.
Aggressive deals on Apple's MacBook lineup continued throughout the month of February, when resellers began offering discounts of as much as $350 off of the company's premium laptop lineup.
Apple's changes come after the company saw a 17 percent year over year drop in Mac sales in the December quarter. The company largely attributed that reduction to limited availability of its latest iMac models, but also admitted that cannibalization from the company's own iPad may have played a role.
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