eBay reported that resellers are making fortunes on listing Apple’s iPad 2 on the auction site because they set the selling prices as high as 53% above retail.

The company released stats this week that show the average selling price of a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 since its launch three weeks ago has been $697, $198 over Apple's retail price. That represents a profit of 40%.

Meantime, the average auction price of the 64GB Wi-Fi model has reached $963, or 53% above retail, while the 64GB Wi-Fi/3G iPad 2 averaged $1,235, 49% higher than the list price of $829.

"Supply of the iPad 2 is short, and there's a great deal of uncertainty about whether Apple can meet the demand in the short or medium run," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, in explaining the high prices.

eBay's data comes from the sales of approximately 12,000 iPad 2s on the auction site.