Apple is limiting iPhone Duo orders to a maximum of two per customer in the US, UK, and elsewhere after shipping dates slipped into January of next year within minutes of pre-orders opening. The move appears to be an attempt to tackle scalping, where people buy large volumes of supply-constrained devices in order to resell them on eBay for well above the retail price.
Engadget reports that it tried to add more than two iPhone Duo units to its cart on Apple's stores in the US, UK, Japan, and Spain, and received a notification advising it of the limit. The notification said: "A maximum of 2 iPhone Duo can be purchased per customer. Please adjust the total quantity of iPhone Duo in your order before checking out." The same limit applies regardless of configuration. Scalpers have already listed dozens of iPhone Duos on eBay, some with prices exceeding $5,000.
It is not the first time Apple has imposed such limits. The company has done this in China multiple times, applying restrictions to both walk-in and online purchases, and in the US with the iPhone 5 back in 2012.
9to5Mac notes that industrial-level scalping is hard to defeat. Organized gangs use multiple virtual credit card numbers, email addresses, and delivery addresses to circumvent limits, while others pay people to place orders on their behalf. Still, it is good to see Apple attempting to reduce the scale of the problem, and the company may be using other behind-the-scenes measures to detect bulk purchases. Some customers have already seen improved estimated delivery dates, and shoppers living near an Apple store may have better luck with a walk-in purchase, just not on day one.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing