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general note for buying iphones off other people

post #1 of 10
4/8/10 at 3:29am
Thread Starter 
After surfing a bit around on craigs and kijiji i notice that there are a lot of people selling unsealed "new" iphones. if you are thinking of buying an iphone from these guys it is fairly important that you ask for the serial number. why? because these unsealed "new" iPhone could be refurb from the phone company (such as rogers).

serial number starting with 5xxxxxxxxxx 3xxxxxxxxx are refurbs from apple. and serial number starting with 7xxxxxxxxx and up are brand new.

Now, im with rogers network on canada, and i have gotten a refurb iphone simply by telling them about some bogus problem. they will send you a refurb phone in 2 days, and you just send the old one back, even if your old phone doesn't have any problems at all they will still do the exchange. Assuming you kept your box for the original anyone could just put it back in box and sell it as "new" the refurb phone will even come with the sticker on the phone just like a new one.

i guess some people don't mind, but for the people that do mind, i hope this helps!
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post #2 of 10
4/8/10 at 11:55am
Thanks for the tip!
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post #3 of 10
4/8/10 at 12:43pm
Good to know . I bought a used iPod touch and the seller said it was 3rd gen and when I got it, I later relised it was actually 2nd gen. So becareful but overall I think it's fine to buy used.
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post #4 of 10
4/8/10 at 6:25pm
I may be a little lost here- why send back your brand new working iphone to get a refurbished one to sell??
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post #5 of 10
4/8/10 at 6:39pm
good info. Thanks for the heads up!
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post #6 of 10
4/8/10 at 11:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterMoJo View Post
I may be a little lost here- why send back your brand new working iphone to get a refurbished one to sell??
its not like that. for example you got a couple of scratches on the back here and there, maybe even dropped your phone once or twice and there are dings on the phone. instead of selling it in X/10 condition, people swap it for a refurb and sell it as "new". but as a buyer, when you read new, you expect to pay for a new phone, not a refurb
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post #7 of 10
4/9/10 at 2:53am
I can't tell first hand, but I've read in other forums that refurbished stuff (particularly from Apple) could end up being a better buy when bought with a discount because they carry the same warranty and since they were fixed they are very well tested. I don't know how precise that is, but I think it is an interesting thing.

But I consider selling refurbished iPhones as new is a dishonest practice, so thanks for the tip about serials!
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post #8 of 10
4/9/10 at 3:22am
Good tip for those buying.

I never like buying off of Craigslist or even eBay when it comes to version sensitive products or when dealing with a lot of money.
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post #9 of 10
4/9/10 at 4:29am
I own a refurbished iPhone 3GS, purchased from AT&T a while back. Nothing wrong with refurbished iPhones, because they go through rigorous testing (as I've read), and come with the 1-year warranty. The glass/shell and all are replaced as well, so they look brand new too. But yes, it would still be nice to know whether you're purchasing a refurbished or brand new iPhone.
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post #10 of 10
4/9/10 at 6:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spareribs View Post
Good to know . I bought a used iPod touch and the seller said it was 3rd gen and when I got it, I later relised it was actually 2nd gen. So becareful but overall I think it's fine to buy used.
If you own the 3d gen 8GB (specifically the 8GB) then yes, they are basically the same as the 2nd gen. However they use a new and faster firmware iirc and are thus 3d gen. They just miss some of the features the higher GB models have... I know this because I own a 3G 8GB iTouch.
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