I think it’s really weird when Apple continues to sell the original $299 HomePod after a few months of discontinuation.But now, it’s starting to make sense — not only are some people still willing to pay a premium for a speaker that’s a bit smarter, they’re also willing to pay More than what Apple charges.
We looked at eBay sales numbers after we found out Tweet by Chance Miller, Editor-in-Chief of 9to5Mac, we quickly discovered that it wasn’t just a joke: The average Apple HomePod sold for $375 over the past week. That’s 25% more than what Apple charges.
Sure, some HomePods are worth more than others—a used speaker without a box might set you back just $220 before eBay fees, but we’ve seen some factory-sealed, non-refurbished HomePods sell for over $500. In fact, some sellers boast that they let Apple replace their old HomePods with brand new devices so they can flip them.
When I filter out expensive sealed box outliers, the average selling price last week was close to $350. That’s still $50 more than brand new!
Note that prices may drop if Verge readers flood the market.eBay screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
It’s subtle, but you can see the HomePod’s value in the eBay chart above have It has been appreciating in value over the past year since it was discontinued. That’s pretty much unheard of for a gadget like this, aside from the scalping we’ve seen on consoles and GPUs recently.
Why HomePod? This is a good question. It’s perhaps part of Apple’s history; you’ll need two of them for stereo or more for whole-home audio; unlike its more affordable successor, the HomePod Mini, it’s acoustically good. My colleague Jen Tuohy also explained that the smart home is one of the few places where Siri really excels. She thinks people are realizing this is the only option other than the worse-sounding HomePod Mini.
So this is the currently working theory.
