Foxconn, a Taiwan-based multinational electronics manufacturing firm, started selling second-hand iPhones and iPads in China and tried venturing on Xiaomi’s renowned style of holding flash sales.
The used and traded-in gadgets are available through the firm's e-commerce site, finet.com. Flash sales are also done every Wednesday noon.
The company's first sale received warm support from device enthusiasts, as the available gadgets were sold out as early as 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Although no reports have surfaced about how many gadgets were available, the interest was undoubtedly high as the Web traffic was able to break the portal. By 10 o'clock on Wednesday evening, the website was still intermittently accessible.
However, industry experts say that the huge interest is already expected as Foxconn levied great deals of discount at its certified second-hand devices. For instance, a used 16 gig iPhone 5S is only sold for $338. If the same model will be bought new, the cost is doubled at $724.
The gadgets resales have an official sanction from the U.S. tech veteran Apple, Inc. The supplies of Foxconn's used gadgets come from the tech giant's latest trade-in program, which lets customers trade their old Apple devices at Apple stores with cash.
Apple accepts traded-in devices as long as they are from China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The flash-sale marketing technique is reminiscent of Xiaomi's selling approach, which has been employed by the tech firm on its website since day one.
Foxconn is the largest electronics contract manufacturer in the world. By revenue, it is also the third biggest IT company.