"We're sorry, but this is a serial number for a product that has been replaced. "

jamaggic said:

recently bought a factory unlocked 3GS from Australia (works great),,, went to the Apple support page to check its warranty status and got the above message.
Does this mean the phone is refurbished? Stolen? any ideas...

Click to expand...

Where are you located? I don't know if this is your situation, but iPhones can only be serviced in the countries they were purchased in. i.e. an US Apple Store/AppleCare can't service an Australian iPhone.

Sounds like it might be a refurb.

i have a 3g that says that as well but i also have a 3gs that is a refurb but when i check warranty on that is says its still warrantied until the end of the year...

If you go to Apple's Australian site and enter the serial number there, does it return the same thing? I wonder if the serial#'s are country specific?

use the serial number from the phone, not the box.

Perhaps it's a phone that was turned into Apple for replacement and somehow was kept afterwards.

Probably a stuff up. Call Apple.

Did you buy this from ebay australian seller?

jamaggic said:

recently bought a factory unlocked 3GS from Australia (works great),,, went to the Apple support page to check its warranty status and got the above message.
Does this mean the phone is refurbished? Stolen? any ideas...

Click to expand...

Did you buy this from ebay australian seller? I am also in same boat. can you write me back? Is the seller name is sys solutions/Nahar?

This sounds like a replacement or refurb handset that has been sold to you in the box belonging to the original phone (as you probably know, Apple only switch out the phone itself, the owner keeps the original box/accessories). Normally, Apple also hand over a replacement barcode sticker for the box but maybe the seller didn't use it.
It is not necessarily a big deal -in fact, I would bet that most replacement or refurb handsets have been tested to an even better degree than an original handset!
Like others have said, try entering the serial number from the handset itself and not the one printed on the box

You bought this from an eBay seller?

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that you're an unwilling accessory to insurance fraud.

Probably something along the lines of, the eBay seller took out insurance on their iPhone, then "reported" it to the insurance agent as stolen, so the insurance company replaced the phone. Then the insurance company automatically reported the original phone to Apple to get them to shut off the warranty. Meanwhile, to get rid of the evidence, the eBay seller sold the original phone overseas on the grey market for a tidy profit.