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General => General discussion => Topic started by: Exonian on 17 August 2013, 16:40
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I've been on the hunt for an iPhone 5 recently for my teenage son.
Now, obviously buying through ebay you'd get paypal protection for a while if it turned out to be dodgy but does anyone know any simple tricks to check the IMEI number to make sure it's not either stolen or locked to a contract that could get it blocked at some point in the future?
Obviously the IMEI number could be checked to see if it's stolen but what about a contract phone that might not get paid up?
For example gumtree sales.
I've seen one local to me that the guy will sell for £300 cash and he has an ebay account but low feedback (100% though as a buyer) and not had that account active that long.
I've done the usual google searches but some of the info that comes up is quite old.
Any advice welcome or do I just play safe and insist on PayPal?
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:lipsrsealed: :laugh:
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:lipsrsealed: :laugh:
Yeah quite. :whistle:
BUT...
It ain't coming up as stolen when talking to the network...
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The biggest pitfall of buying an iPhone privately is that you end up owning an iPhone.
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The biggest pitfall of buying an iPhone privately is that you end up owning an iPhone.
So true.
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Some things in life is just too good to be true? It might not be stolen but it might be a reject pile for a reason.
If you are not prepared to loose £300 odd quid then back yourself up. I find Bum tree is only good for mechanical stuff that can be fixed, electronics world of pain! :whistle:
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Have a look on Asda Direct they have some good deals on sim free phones.If it was me I would sack the iphone.I have a iphone from work and a Samsung galaxy S4 for home use,the Samsung is far better imo. :smiley:
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Run a report on CheckMEND. It costs £2 and will tell you everything you need to know about the phone. Really though, you should buy a Nexus 4. They're the dog's bollocks :nerd:
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He must be spoiled son....buying iPhone 5 for teenager :shocked: :shocked:
this might help
http://www.imeidetective.com/
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:grin: at the andrones he didn't ask about other phones he asked about buying a 2nd hand iphone lol i never feel the need to tell people not to buy an android phone so why is it Android users feel the need to tell iphone users to buy Android :grin:
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Here we go....
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Buying a used iPhone is ok, if you know where it's come from, but even then you can have problems.
My wife got an iPhone from her brother, and even then we had to jump through hoops to get it unlocked to use on another network.
If you can go to the guy's house (the one advertising on gumtree), then at least you'll know where to go back to if it goes wrong.
But as with buying cars second hand, you are essentially buying it sold as seen (unless otherwise stated). "Buyer Beware" is the term.
£300 is a fair bit of risk to take.
I would be looking at somewhere like a Computer Exchange store (CEX), where you'll get a decent return policy, or look at one of the many refurb stores on ebay. You do get buyer protection on ebay and I think you'd get more protection if you bought with a credit card too.
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Thanks for the advice and links guys, much appreciated as always.
I just didn't have 100% confidence in gumtree guy so left that one alone, I wouldn't buy one off ebay as they do fetch silly money mostly and ebay take 10% plus of fees so it inflates the prices a lot. Most things I buy and sell are via forums so you at least have a bit of a feel about the person you're buying from and most of the guys I've bought stuff off on forums have been really nice people and some have become good friends!
Why not and Android? Well that's his choice not mine! Having said that I have a 4S bought second hand with no problems (touch wood!) a while ago.
And no, he's not a spoilt teenager :grin: he saved up for it himself out of Christmas, Easter, Birthday money plus he ebayed loads of his old Xbox games and sold his 3GS to his mum!! So not all bad!
And the good news was I managed to pick up a white 5 the other week (he wanted black but beggars can't be choosers) off a guy I work with, unboxed but otherwise almost mint and unlocked for £285 so one very happy son!
:cool:
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Should have waited a little longer and the price of the 5 would have dropped as the 5S and 5C are being announced today :lipsrsealed:
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He's glad he didn't wait! :grin:
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Yeah, I bought a new iphone 4 8gb sealed for £140. was locked to EE though and they want £100 to unlock it (assuming you don't want to jailbreak it).
Biggest pitfall I have came across yet.