Even though we're still in the mockup and rumor stage of the iPhone 5, that hasn't stopped some Chinese retails for putting the device on sell in advance. Yes, you read that right. As you can see in the picture above, their using one of the mockups we've seen floating around. However the most eye grabbing part of the posting is the price..

Sellers are planning to purchase the iPhone 5 upon release in Hong Kong and/or the US, then bring it back to mainland China. Some are only asking around $160 for a deposit and that's not too bad, but “Dahai99888” is requesting you front them $1,000. Crazy huh? Wait 'till you hear this. Zhuji is asking a ridiculous $8,600 for a reserve iPhone 5.

Reuters has spoken with some sellers:

“Demand is high. Yesterday someone just bought two phones. Altogether we have about two dozen orders,” said one seller on Taobao who went by the nickname Xiaoyu.

Although it seems inconceivable for most of us to pay this price just to reserve the next generation, or any iPhone, it's another story in some parts of China, particularly the mainland. Even with being made in China, it's pretty difficult to get your hands on an iPhone. With demand so high and supply limited, these scalpers can make some serious cash. Apple themselves dislike this (of course), and are trying to put a stop to it by forcing customers who pre-order online to show a photo ID when picking them up at the store.

As always the case when big cash is involved, the scalpers aren't just going to stop.

“It's not so easy to bring the phones from overseas, there's a limit to how many you can carry in...If we could bring in a few thousand that will be great!,” said Xiaoyu.

What do you think of all this? Do you agree with what these people are doing?

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