The Apple Vision Pro’s eBay prices are making me sad

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

I paid a batch of wealth for the privilege of getting an Apple Vision Pro brand-new successful February. All-in, with optical inserts and taxes, I financed a small implicit $3,900 for the 256GB mentation of the headset. A time oregon truthful ago, I made a mistake that I’m definite galore aboriginal adopters are acquainted with: I looked up however overmuch it’s been selling for connected eBay.

On Wednesday, a 1TB Vision Pro, implicit with each the included gear, Apple’s fluffy $200 question case, $500 AppleCare Plus, and claimed to person been “worn possibly astir an hour” sold for $3,200 aft 21 bids. The listed shipping estimation was $20.30. Brand new, that operation is $5,007.03 connected Apple’s tract for me. Another eBay listing, this 1 with my headset’s configuration (but sans optical inserts) went for conscionable $2,600 — again with most, if not all, of the included accessories. Several different 256GB and 512GB models sold for around that amount this week.

The communicative is no antithetic implicit connected Swappa, a fashionable reselling tract among Apple users:

Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge Look astatine those heavy discounts.

This, of course, is however the communicative goes for aboriginal adopters, particularly erstwhile you’re buying precise costly tech earlier the mainstream catches on. Apple’s pricing doesn’t assistance matters, particularly erstwhile the adjacent closest competing headset — the Meta Quest 3 — is conscionable $500. It’s a bummer adjacent if they’re yet not each that comparable, astatine slightest successful presumption of their targeted audiences and goals for their platforms.

But it inactive stings, doesn’t it? Knowing I could person saved respective 100 dollars and gotten the highest retention configuration, AppleCare Plus, and a retention lawsuit is peculiarly painful. I similar the Vision Pro plentifulness — possibly much than immoderate different writer astatine The Verge — but if I hadn’t missed the instrumentality window, I would nonstop excavation close backmost to Apple successful a heartbeat conscionable truthful I could get 1 of these deals. Thankfully, erstwhile I’m wearing the headset, cipher tin spot my tears.

Image: Wes Davis / The Verge A representation of a fool.