Malaysian Apple reseller cancels sale after crowds overwhelmed a mall for $50 iPhones

[Yongtjunkit]

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A Malaysian Apple reseller had to cancel its warehouse sale over the weekend after 11,000 people lined up hours before the actual event to buy iPhones priced as low as $50 USD. According to the advertisement leading up to the event, retailer Switch was selling off its stock largely consisting of demo products, including iPhone models 5S to 7, iPad minis and Pros, Apple TVs, MacBooks, iMacs, and iPod Touches. Just 10 units of the $50 iPhone 5S were up for grabs, and only one unit each of the 16GB iPad Air 2 with Wi-Fi, 2011 64GB MacBook Air, and a 24-inch iMac were available for $77, $128, and $255, respectively.

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Enthusiastic buyers lined up at the mall at least 19 hours before the doors opened, despite Switch stating its in FAQ that midnight queues will not be allowed. Lines extended from Switch’s own storefront to outside the mall and into the parking lot, with multiple lines circling around the complex

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“Due to security reason, [sic] we regret to inform you that the clearance sale will be put on hold until further notice,” Switch wrote on its Facebook page. “We are truly sorry for the Demo Clearance Event yesterday. We did not expect the magnitude. We were overwhelmed by the 11,000 [that] turned up,” it added in a separate post.

 

source 1: https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/5/17080590/apple-warehouse-sale-malaysia-switch-cancel-iphone-ipad-imac

source 2: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/03/340552/watch-apple-warehouse-sale-cancelled-after-cheras-mall-swamped-thousands

Source 3: https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/05/apple-reseller-clearance-sale-gone-bad/

Source 4: https://www.soyacincau.com/2018/03/02/this-is-the-queue-for-the-switch-warehouse-sale-for-apple-products-in-mytown/

switch website(update): https://switch.com.my/2018/switch-clearance-mytown-kl-2-4-mar-2018/

 

 

 

 

An apple authorized re seller in Malaysia had to cancel the warehouse sale after the mall was crowded and overwhelmed with people queuing up to buy apple products at a discount. Despite the fact that midnight ques aren't allowed, people still Queue up overnight. The sale offered an iPhone 5s at RM200, a 9.7in, 32GB iPad Pro at RM1,600, iMacs at as low as RM1,000, and MacBooks at prices starting at RM500.  

[SupaKomputa]

And those waited are also resellers haha.

Get $50 iphone sell it for $150 = profit.

[SupaKomputa]

and here's the menu:

[Spotty]

So the quantities of available items were published prior to the sale?

I could understand the first few hundred lining up, but if you knew there were only 5 iPhone 6s' available and you turned up and saw 11,000 people lining up to buy them and you were at the back of the line, wouldn't you realise that you had absolutely no chance of purchasing one and just go home instead of stand out on the street for hours?

[kuddlesworth9419]

3 minutes ago, Spotty said:

So the quantities of available items were published prior to the sale?

I could understand the first few hundred lining up, but if you knew there were only 5 iPhone 6s' available and you turned up and saw 11,000 people lining up to buy them and you were at the back of the line, wouldn't you realise that you had absolutely no chance of purchasing one and just go home instead of stand out on the street for hours?

People are thick as pig shit. They don't think and they follow everyone else. 

[Puddleuk]

This is just hilarious. I would make a joke about apple buyers and sheep but I think someone will beat me to it.

[SupaKomputa]

The first hundreds are the one who see the advertisement directly, others just a pass by asking why people are lining up.

pass by: "why u line up?"

man : "iphone $50"

pass by: "ok i'm in... honey i'll be home late, $50 iphone!"

pass by wife : "whaat? me want too lah, hold the queue for me"

[AlTech]

52 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

and here's the menu:

I don't understand why you listed a 2016 core m3 MacBook as End Of Life.

[Bananasplit_00]

lmfao how do you even expect to get anything???

[Drak3]

59 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I don't understand why you listed a 2016 core m3 MacBook as End Of Life.

Because the Core M3 garbage was basically EoL the day before they came out.

[AlTech]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Because the Core M3 garbage was basically EoL the day before they came out.

Well it isn't EOL as defined by it's OEM so therefore it isn't EOL.

 

Also, the m3 is just as bad as the original core M.

[Eduard the weeb]

Isheep lol

[Cindex]

Man, I'm totally blown away by the idiocy.  There's like 100 items or less, and 11,000 people show up.  I just.....  Don't know.....

[Commodus]

Not to douse too much cold water on things, but c'mon folks -- these would be huge deals in any country, and especially so in Malaysia where the median income is typically lower.  If you could get an iPhone for $50 instead of spending half your monthly take-home on one (even if it is an outdated model), wouldn't you try?

 

Many of those people didn't realize that there would be extremely limited quantities, but still...

[xAcid9]

Meh, Malaysian love to queue for some cheap unicorns. I remember last year there's a grand opening of a PC shop, if i'm not mistaken they offered free RX-570 for the first 3 customers that spend over RM100. Hundreds queued up since midnight and when the shop finally opened in the morning they told all GPUs already booked by the "real" winner. 

[Okjoek]

When you realize you can pay your child laborers less than minimum wage in heroin.

[goodtofufriday]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

Not to douse too much cold water on things, but c'mon folks -- these would be huge deals in any country, and especially so in Malaysia where the median income is typically lower.  If you could get an iPhone for $50 instead of spending half your monthly take-home on one (even if it is an outdated model), wouldn't you try?

 

Many of those people didn't realize that there would be extremely limited quantities, but still...

it was advertised that there was only so many items. Even still, who in their right mind thinks that there is even 11,000 items up for sale? I can't comprehend what these people are thinking. 

[IceCold008]

Seriously got better things to do than wait overnight for an crapple product. 

[tech43433]

if there are 5 most people should know that anyone more then 10 will not get anything it will be gone 

[ATFink]

3 hours ago, Cindex said:

Man, I'm totally blown away by the idiocy.  There's like 100 items or less, and 11,000 people show up.  I just.....  Don't know.....

101 items

 

 

... but seriously, there actually were 101 items for sale. I'm not joking.

[Spotty]

 

[Beskamir]

16 hours ago, Spotty said:

So the quantities of available items were published prior to the sale?

I could understand the first few hundred lining up, but if you knew there were only 5 iPhone 6s' available and you turned up and saw 11,000 people lining up to buy them and you were at the back of the line, wouldn't you realise that you had absolutely no chance of purchasing one and just go home instead of stand out on the street for hours?

Might I point out that these are people that are trying to buy apple products? Aka iSheep with next to no individuality.

 

On a serious note, maybe some of them didn't know there was such a limited quantity?

[kokakolia]

9 hours ago, ElfFriend said:

Might I point out that these are people that are trying to buy apple products? Aka iSheep with next to no individuality.

 

On a serious note, maybe some of them didn't know there was such a limited quantity?

Just tell me how much your Samsung or OnePlus or whichever Android device expresses your individuality? 

[sof006]

I just see all those crowds and ask myself "Are people really this sad?"

[AnonymousGuy]

<insert joke about asians and not being able to critical think to save their lives>

 

Holy shit how the fuck do you see there's only 100 items available and think "yeah I have a chance" when you're not even IN THE FUCKING BUILDING.  Even if you didn't realize that quantities were limited, no retailer would be able to sell any significant volume of cheap Apple products anyways because the at-cost is even far higher than $50.