Make Money

Monday, October 27, 2014
iphone scalpers outside the Apple store in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay district. Photos by Michael Grothaus and Jose Farinha There's a street in Hong Kong that's so packed with people it's hard to move. Not the areas overtaken by pro-democracy protesters—which are, admittedly, also very busy (though still vaguely navigable)—but Kai Chiu Road, the street just outside the Apple store in the Causeway Bay district. Here, the walkways are rammed with people camping out from early morning until late at night. But unlike the protesters a 20-minute walk away—who, this weekend,  canceled a referendum  on what the next step in their campaign should be—they're not here to demand free and open elections. Instead, they're here to make a quick buck flogging brand-new iPhones. In fact, Kai Chiu Road is so full of iphone scalpers I'd go so far as to say it's the ground zero of Asia's Apple gray market. When I arrive I spot a mix of Chinese capitalists, some Apple employees in denial, and a number of locals scalping to keep their families fed. "I got a 128 gold six plus for you," says one of the scalpers within seconds of my arrival. I try to squeeze by him. "Just ten thousand dollars [$1,300]." "Ten thousand is a rip off," I say, pointing to the Apple Store not even five feet away: "I can buy it there for eight." The scalper just laughs. "Apple is out. We buy them all." The woman next to him, another scalper with less inventory, waves her hand in f ...

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