Chinese iPhone 14 scalpers are apparently struggling to recover their investment as they are forced to sell the handheld for less than the MSRP.

Like it or not, scalpers are an integral part of the free market, and there is little anyone can do about them. Whether it’s the Playstation 5 or the newest iPhone, they’re always ready to scoop up whatever inventory is available and sell it for outrageous profits to diehard fans with little patience and loaded pockets. That said, scalping does have its risks, and the recent iPhone 14 launch is a clear example of that. Chinese media has been reporting that scalpers have been forced to sell their brand new iPhone 14 smartphones on the street for less than the official launch price just to cut their losses.

Photos of iPhone 14 scalpers sitting on the pavement with stacks of smartphones in front of them have been doing the rounds in China. These are incredulous scenes that few, especially the scalpers themselves, ever imagined. And yet, here we are.

So, what went wrong for scalpers this time around? Well, experts say that it was a combination of factors. Even though scalpers rushed to acquire as many iPhone 14 phones as they could afford on launch day, thinking that they could sell them for a handsome profit in the following days, the landscape was different than previous iPhone launches.

For starters, no one expected Apple to have such a well-organized launch, with delivery times exceeding consumer expectations. Then there was the below-average demand for the handheld in China, with many of those fearing a recession postponing the switch from a previous generation. Finally, there was the fact that the smartphone market has become even more competitive than before.

In conclusion, instead of selling their iPhone 14 phones for a profit of at least 5,000 or 6,000 yuan ($700 – $850) per unit, scalpers were forced to sell them for less than the official launch price, just to cut their losses. Social media is full of posts from scalpers complaining about low demand from consumers, with some claiming that they were forced to sell them for 1,000 yuan ($140) less than the buying price.

Now, photos of desperate scalpers squatting at the gate of Tianhuan in the Chinese city of Guangzhou recently went viral on social media, attracting even more attention to their plight. According to local sources, they are selling new iPhone 14 phones at prices 500 to 1,000 yuan lower than official vendors.

To think there was a time when people sold one of their kidneys for a new iPhone…