Anyone have luck buying a 5S in store?

[Spencerdl]

I'm going to be the only dumbass lining up for an iphone at 5 am 20 days after release date, but if that's what it takes.....

LOL, NOT the only one. Count me in

 

[Spencerdl]

I had to go to the mall today (Lenox Mall in Atlanta, GA) to get some stuff from the Adidas store (which happens to be right next door to the Apple store)...they had "plenty" of 5S's (according to the guy outside giving out the vouchers to the line), but no gold's. The stock is out there people.

I'm in ATL also , but no GOLD, no GO....SMILE

 

[jmr1015]

You guys buying from the Apple store... you realize it is much easier to just purchase online for in-store pickup than to wait in line out front... Just check the website late night/early morning, and keep refreshing. The availability at each store changes from minute to minute.

You will also increase your chances of finding what you want by expanding your search beyond the closest Apple Store to you. There is an AT&T 64gb Gold 5S showing available for pickup right now about an hour drive from my location.

 

[anon(4698833)]

You guys buying from the Apple store... you realize it is much easier to just purchase online for in-store pickup than to wait in line out front... Just check the website late night/early morning, and keep refreshing. The availability at each store changes from minute to minute.

You will also increase your chances of finding what you want by expanding your search beyond the closest Apple Store to you. There is an AT&T 64gb Gold 5S showing available for pickup right now about an hour drive from my location.

No, actually, it is not easier...in fact, ordering it online for in store pick up over the last several weeks has been almost impossible for most people, and only scatter shot for others...when you go to the actual Apple store, and you get there early enough, you get your pick of the day's shipment. That obviously doesn't guarantee you any particular color or size, but it's been a lot more common to find a 5S this way vs. ordering it online, where most people were reporting significant wait times through the end of October (particularly for the gold model).

 

[jmr1015]

No, actually, it is not easier...in fact, ordering it online for in store pick up over the last several weeks has been almost impossible for most people, and only scatter shot for others...when you go to the actual Apple store, and you get there early enough, you get your pick of the day's shipment. That obviously doesn't guarantee you any particular color or size, but it's been a lot more common to find a 5S this way vs. ordering it online, where most people were reporting significant wait times through the end of October (particularly for the gold model).

If you're ordering for shipment to your house, then yes I would agree with you. But for in-store pickup, I have to disagree. It really wasn't that hard for me to get mine this way, and I can jump on the website right now, and over the course of the next hour, find numerous colors and capacities available within a 100 mile radius for in-store pickup... and the capacities and colors available at each location will be changing from hour to hour, and going from available to unavailable.

You can't expect to just jump on and order for in-store pickup. It's not that easy. The shipments get checked in, and people order them all within the course of minutes to an hour. You have to be persistent, and quick, but I find this option much easier than going to the Apple Store every morning and hoping for the best. I found mine within a 36-hour span of starting to check for availability... at an Apple Store 30 miles away. During my process, I literally watched availability at various Apple stores come and go... over the entire course of that 36 hours. But for the color, capacity, carrier, and distance I wanted, it took less than 2 days. Also, that phone showed up in their system approximately 3 hours after opening. Which is when they received their shipment that day. So, anyone waiting outside that morning was turned away and told they had no stock. Which was true, at opening.

 

[Philip Pearl]

No, actually, it is not easier...in fact, ordering it online for in store pick up over the last several weeks has been almost impossible for most people, and only scatter shot for others...when you go to the actual Apple store, and you get there early enough, you get your pick of the day's shipment. That obviously doesn't guarantee you any particular color or size, but it's been a lot more common to find a 5S this way vs. ordering it online, where most people were reporting significant wait times through the end of October (particularly for the gold model).

Exactly right. Often it seems that the small stock of 5S's that come in to Apple stores almost every day go straight out the door to people standing in line or early morning walk-ins. They never make it onto the availability website at all. There's no substitute for calling around to the closest stores more than once a day and inquiring about stock, though obviously folks with actual jobs or students (as opposed to us retirees) can't always do that.

 

[Tre]

Update:

I had ordered 32gb Gold on October 2nd, but when I got the the notice that it wouldn't be delivered until November 4th I cancelled my order.

I'm in the DC area so my plan was to go wait in line at the Tysons mall at 5:30am and see if I could get my hands on the 10 or so iphones that have been arriving per day. Before I did that I had been sporadically checking the iphone stock website (Gold AT&T iPhone 5S Availability) with no luck at all each time.... until randomly at 6:05pm on Friday some showed up at Pentagon City. I immediately ordered for in-store pick up and got a sexy Space Gray 64gb and LOVE IT!!! I wouldve gone crazy if I waited for the November 4th delivery date.

Bottomline, CHECK THIS WEBSITE THROUGH OUT THE DAY AND ORDER FOR IN-STORE PICK UP WHEN IT SHOWS: Gold AT&T iPhone 5S Availability (I ended up donating $10 to the website)

Good Luck!

 

[anon(4698833)]

If you're ordering for shipment to your house, then yes I would agree with you. But for in-store pickup, I have to disagree. It really wasn't that hard for me to get mine this way, and I can jump on the website right now, and over the course of the next hour, find numerous colors and capacities available within a 100 mile radius for in-store pickup... and the capacities and colors available at each location will be changing from hour to hour, and going from available to unavailable.

You can't expect to just jump on and order for in-store pickup. It's not that easy. The shipments get checked in, and people order them all within the course of minutes to an hour. You have to be persistent, and quick, but I find this option much easier than going to the Apple Store every morning and hoping for the best. I found mine within a 36-hour span of starting to check for availability... at an Apple Store 30 miles away. During my process, I literally watched availability at various Apple stores come and go... over the entire course of that 36 hours. But for the color, capacity, carrier, and distance I wanted, it took less than 2 days. Also, that phone showed up in their system approximately 3 hours after opening. Which is when they received their shipment that day. So, anyone waiting outside that morning was turned away and told they had no stock. Which was true, at opening.

I guess we have a different definition of "easier"...I found it easier to just go to the store early enough to get the one I wanted on the day I wanted it. People who have used your method have found themselves stuck in a loop of waiting and backorder fulfillment...when they could have just gone to the store and bought one without going through all of that.

Can you get one quickly with online ordering with store pick up? Maybe.

Can you get one quickly by going to the store early and waiting? Definitely.

You're basing your logic on an online stock finder that isn't even close to fully accurate. You're also having to check on this stuff...my method is simple, go to the store, wait for it to open, get an iPhone. Doesn't get any easier than that, lol.

 

[sunnysideup22125]

I guess we have a different definition of "easier"...I found it easier to just go to the store early enough to get the one I wanted on the day I wanted it. People who have used your method have found themselves stuck in a loop of waiting and backorder fulfillment...when they could have just gone to the store and bought one without going through all of that.

Can you get one quickly with online ordering with store pick up? Maybe.

Can you get one quickly by going to the store early and waiting? Definitely.

You're basing your logic on an online stock finder that isn't even close to fully accurate. You're also having to check on this stuff...my method is simple, go to the store, wait for it to open, get an iPhone. Doesn't get any easier than that, lol.

I've had no luck with the in store pick up and I think if could go early enough to a store I'd have my phone by now. But I'm not the primary on the account and my mother has made it more than clear that she's not iPhone hunting and that I'll just have to wait for our online order to be shipped.


On Order: 64gb GOLD 5s AT&T
Ordered: 11:04 am est 9/20
Order Status: processing...est shipping Oct 24-28 delivery by Nov 1
Mental Status: questionable...the longer I wait the more crazed I become about checking my order status.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

I showed up to an Apple Store this morning 20 minutes before they opened for retail and walked out at 10:10AM with a space gray 32GB
that I got for someone else. Just be there early like Sean said.

 

[linsiris]

My brother had an iP4 and he's not the one to stay in line/camp for days or preorder...but then I arrived and told him it was time to upgrade but it wasn't likely since the 5s were scarce. Long story short we went to the mall and he just asked in the apple store about it, they said they had them all and 10 mins later he walked out with his shiny 16GB AT&T space grey. He's one lucky guy!

 

[km12345]

I guess we have a different definition of "easier"...I found it easier to just go to the store early enough to get the one I wanted on the day I wanted it. People who have used your method have found themselves stuck in a loop of waiting and backorder fulfillment...when they could have just gone to the store and bought one without going through all of that.

Can you get one quickly with online ordering with store pick up? Maybe.

Can you get one quickly by going to the store early and waiting? Definitely.

You're basing your logic on an online stock finder that isn't even close to fully accurate. You're also having to check on this stuff...my method is simple, go to the store, wait for it to open, get an iPhone. Doesn't get any easier than that, lol.

Come on Sean, just because you lucked out doesn't mean everyone does. No need to continue to remind us of it. Not many people are gonna be living near an apple store to afford to do this more than once or twice. Early and waiting doesn't mean squat. People check online and see it and buy it quicker than waiting inline. Also if space grey or silver then its possible but gold 16gb for att is by far the most difficult at least in my area(ma). I've been told by the apple store sales people are turning people away because they didn't have any 5s despite the waiting in line.

Anyways for anyone looking to buy one, the best method is to check the website obsessively. You can buy it before the apple store employees even know if they have one. Yup it's even faster than people waiting in line. I know because of how I bought mine.

Op. you wanted gold but settled with grey? You may regret this later if you truly wanted gold.

Sent from my GOLD 5s using Tapatalk HD

 

[jmr1015]

I guess we have a different definition of "easier"...I found it easier to just go to the store early enough to get the one I wanted on the day I wanted it. People who have used your method have found themselves stuck in a loop of waiting and backorder fulfillment...when they could have just gone to the store and bought one without going through all of that.

Can you get one quickly with online ordering with store pick up? Maybe.

Can you get one quickly by going to the store early and waiting? Definitely.

You're basing your logic on an online stock finder that isn't even close to fully accurate. You're also having to check on this stuff...my method is simple, go to the store, wait for it to open, get an iPhone. Doesn't get any easier than that, lol.

I've been using the Apple Store main website. Not a 3rd party stock finder. The Apple store's website availability is pretty accurate as far as I know... and there is no backorder fulfillment on in-store pickup. If it is available for in store pickup, it is available. Pay for it, and it is yours. You just have to go pick it up. If it's not available for in-store pickup, the website won't even let you complete the order.

and while waiting outside a store for it to open might be easy for some, I find checking the Apple store website or app whenever I have a free couple minutes throughout the day to be far less hassle. That way, I just walk in the store, sign my signature on their pad, and walk out. No lines or waiting.

But like you said, I'm sure we all have different definitions of easy.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Come on Sean, just because you lucked out doesn't mean everyone does. No need to continue to remind us of it. Not many people are gonna be living near an apple store to afford to do this more than once or twice. Early and waiting doesn't mean squat. People check online and see it and buy it quicker than waiting inline. Also if space grey or silver then its possible but gold 16gb for att is by far the most difficult at least in my area(ma). I've been told by the apple store sales people are turning people away because they didn't have any 5s despite the waiting in line.

Anyways for anyone looking to buy one, the best method is to check the website obsessively. You can buy it before the apple store employees even know if they have one. Yup it's even faster than people waiting in line. I know because of how I bought mine.

Op. you wanted gold but settled with grey? You may regret this later if you truly wanted gold.

Sent from my GOLD 5s using Tapatalk HD

I'm not going by my situation. I'm going by REGULAR reports on the multitude of websites and forums I check nearly daily (reddit included, which is a pretty good conglomerate of regional reports across the country, and even a sprinkle of international. You say "not many", but I'm reading about A LOT of people just going to the Apple store, waiting until they open and getting their choice of color (with Gold being particularly hard to find, but that is a given, and we're just generally talking about 5S's here, not specific colors). Early and waiting apparently means a heck of a lot more than "squat" for all the people who have scored an iPhone by simply doing such, instead of waiting for online ordering or reading stock reporters online.

I'm not going to spend the time to take a poll, but my guess is that a majority of the people who regular post on our website are also within a reasonable distance to an Apple store to try my method out without much investment at all. 30 miles is NOTHING...but my guess is we have a pretty substantial amount of people here who live even closer than that to an Apple store.

I don't care if you're reminded of my experience...the only thing "lucky" about my experience was the fact that I found two GOLD iPhone's...no doubt about that, pure luck. But there were plenty of other iPhones ready, and I feel that Atlanta's market is reflective of most major metropolitan markets. I have a friend in Boston who has bought about 15 iPhone's and resold them...a few of them being gold. Sister lives in San Fran, she walked in on release day and got hers as did her boyfriend a few days later. This isn't an isolated theory bud, this is just the way it is.

 

[Tre]

case in point..... both methods are good. No one gives a **** which is considered easier.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

Well what'dya know. I just scored a Gold iPhone 32GB AT&T for in-store pickup from the same Apple Store I picked up a 32 in Space Gray. Just happened to check the site.

Just check every so often when you get a chance, people. You'll score something.

 

[qbnkelt]

Nothing, nada, niente, zip......:crying::crying::crying:

 

[km12345]

Nothing, nada, niente, zip......:crying::crying::crying:

What's wrong????

 

[tbaptista]

Wow! It's amazing the wait times people are having for the 5s. Luckily I got my gold and silver the Tuesday after they went on sale. It was worth getting up at 3am and ordering online from Verizon. Best of luck to you all in getting your phones ASAP.

 

[kristopherlarry]

Walked Into The Local BB & Found A Land Of Gold 5S'.... Bet They Won't Last Long... Happy To Have My New 32g One...


& Now Proud Owner Of A Gold iPhone 5S 32gb, iPhone 4, iPad 3 32gb, iPad Mini LTE 32gb, Apple TV3 x2..... No Better Ecosystem...

P.s... & Waiting 4 A 32g i5S In Gold.... Becuz I'm Sassy... LoL