eBay Prices Are Soaring for Watches That Apple Isn't Even Shipping Yet

It’s not uncommon for a popular new tech product to fetch high bids on eBay.

But there are dozens of listings on the auction site for the Apple Watch, even though Apple won’t ship any orders until later this month — and many won’t ship until weeks or months later.

Screenshot by Re/code

In most cases, sellers are listing what they say is a confirmed order for a watch from Apple. The listings vary in terms of expected ship date, anywhere from orders set to ship in the next couple of weeks to those not due until next month or later.

Prices on eBay range from $525 for the low-end Sport model to several thousand dollars for some of the midrange models. There are a few listings for the high-end Edition models, but those can cost tens of thousands even directly from Apple.

The notion of buying and selling the latest “it” device on eBay is not new. It’s a trend that dates back more than 15 years to when the Palm Pilot was the must-have gadget.

What’s less clear than in the past is just how many takers there are for the eBay listings, as most products were listed as “buy it now” sales rather than auctions. There has been only modest bidding on the few auction-format listings.

The eBay frenzy comes as Apple has sold through its initial supply of Apple Watches, with current wait times projected at a minimum of four to six weeks and stretching into June for popular options.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you join us?

Our biggest supporters are our readers — and we’re so grateful to everyone who has made a contribution during our September campaign. We’re less than 1,000 contributions away from reaching our goal for the month, which in turn will allow us to say yes more often when our incredible journalists come to us with questions they want to answer and projects they want to pursue. Will you make a contribution before the month ends and support our policy coverage through 2024 and beyond?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via