iPhone 5S unlocks on eBay - Are they legit?

jw6961 said:

I see lots of people selling unlocks on eBay for AT&T iPhone 5S for around $3.00...

Are these legit? They claim to be able to unlock the phone within 12 hours or so, and all you have to do is restore your phone in iTunes, and the phone will be permanently factory unlocked. They ask for the IMEI # of the phone. Is there any danger in sending this to them?

Anyone have any experience with any of these services?

TIA.

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IMEI unlock sites have been around for a while and are generally legit. However, I believe anyone offering IMEI unlocks for the 5s would be breaking the law.

There was a change where it became illegal to unlock newer devices except by the carrier but they can still unlock older devices.

Buyer beware.

I've never unlocked a phone but I was looking at Google links last night and it was mentioned that third-party unlocks can be problematic when restoring or upgrading a phone. Again, I have no first hand experience on this.

To be honest I'm wondering if that is a solution to get around the AT&T 14 day wait period when upgrading a phone.

I have used the ebay unlock services probably five times and each time it went flawless, no issues at all beyond having to wait two days one time (no big deal). Check feedback comments for references specifically mentioning the unlock and you should be fine.. Worse case scenario is you totally get scammed and are out what? A few dollars? Read the instructions and make sure you meet the requirements (carrier, phone model, country) before buying.

Use fastgsm! Just unlocked 3 iPhones and a GS4 thru them. Highly recommended

Yup. Totally legit if you find the right seller. Stick to the rules, check feedback, how long they've been in business, check how many unlocks they've sold and go from there. I unlocked my 5s day one. The seller even posted a cell phone number on eBay to text IMEI and for in person feedback and he responded back to me via text when it was done so I knew when to sync.

nebo1ss said:

IMEI unlock sites have been around for a while and are generally legit. However, I believe anyone offering IMEI unlocks for the 5s would be breaking the law.

There was a change where it became illegal to unlock newer devices except by the carrier but they can still unlock older devices.

Buyer beware.

Click to expand...

Yup. Officially it is against the law now for you to unlock your phone without your carrier's permission (i.e. unofficial means of unlocking) Will you get in trouble? probably not, and most of those high ranked sellers/sites will unlock your phone.

But i never want to risk my IMEI getting blacklisted. So the only people who gets it are cell phone carriers and/or apple.