Apple Vision Pro pre-orders are now live, and it sounds like the scalpers of the world were well prepared. A new report claims that scalpers have been employing “thousands of bots” to secure pre-orders for Apple’s headset, only to list those pre-orders on eBay.
Looking at the listings and some of those prices are… absolutely insane. At the lower end we have auctions still lingering below $3,000, but there are sellers who want up to $10,000 for a 256GB Apple Vision Pro headset. And no, that price does not include shipping or insurance.
Kasada claims to have heard “chatter within the botting communities” over the past month, with scalpers seeing the Vision Pro as one of the biggest events in the 2024 calendar. Apparently this is down to expectations the headset will be in high demand, the opportunity for high markups and Apple’s flexible return policy minimizing the financial risks.
Anyone that’s attempted to pre-order a Vision Pro headset will know that it isn’t as simple as slapping it in your basket and checking out. Apple has implemented a Face ID-based system to scan your face and ensure the headset will fit properly when it arrives.
Unsurprisingly Kasada notes that scalper bots found a way around this by hardcoding a developer’s face scan value into the bot. Bots were also able to bypass purchase limits, with one bot allegedly checking out with 1,592 pre-orders — albeit not as part of the same purchase.
You can still pre-order the headset from Apple
The crazy thing is that the Vision Pro isn’t even sold out. It did seem to sell out pretty quickly over the pre-order weekend, but you can still head over to the Apple website and pre-order the headset.
You may not be able to find an in-store pickup, and our delivery estimates were scheduled for the end of February. So while you won’t get one for release day, you’re also not paying over the odds for it. Ordering from Apple also ensures that the headset has the correct for for your face, and not something completely random.
But as we saw with the launch of the PS5, scalpers are pretty shameless when it comes to making a profit. The only thing you can do is not partake, and be sure to buy the latest gadgets from a legitimate retailer. And with something as expensive as the Apple Vision Pro, you’re going to want to make sure that you have a valid warranty that won’t leave you several thousand bucks out of pocket in the event something goes wrong.
Let’s just hope Apple can keep on top of whatever non-scalper demand there is for the Vision Pro. We don’t want to end up in another PS5 restock situation.
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