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Any tips for selling iPhone on Craigslist?
- Thread starter pruppert
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A couple of times when I sold on Craigslist, I included a photo of the phone. Then somebody would write me and say "I am very interested in your item, can you take a look on this website and see if it is the same as you are selling?" If they do this, don't click on the link, just delete the email.
Also, if they don't specifically mention your phone in their email (I'm interested in your item, Is your item still for sale, etc.), then you can bet it is a scammer.
Put in your ad something like, "If the ad is up, the phone is still available." That way when someone writes, "Is the item still available?" just delete email. It is a scammer.
Also, if they don't specifically mention your phone in their email (I'm interested in your item, Is your item still for sale, etc.), then you can bet it is a scammer.
Put in your ad something like, "If the ad is up, the phone is still available." That way when someone writes, "Is the item still available?" just delete email. It is a scammer.
I don't agree. How about all the scam stories using Ebay?
I have sold seven iPhones on Craigslist and have never had a problem.
Meet inside a public place , never go to any one's house or deal in a parking lot. Do not answer any emails that ask you to mail it. Get there early and be inside before they get there. If able bring a friend.
Also make sure have removed your sim card and erased all info, I understand probably know this, but cant hurt to say again. And be firm in price, they will try to get you to come down. Patience and you will get your price but I would research and see what the average price is going for you in your area.
Also make sure have removed your sim card and erased all info, I understand probably know this, but cant hurt to say again. And be firm in price, they will try to get you to come down. Patience and you will get your price but I would research and see what the average price is going for you in your area.
Main difference between getting CL and eBay is, you getting robbed goes with the eBay TOS. Well, that and they can give you bodily harm.
Unfortunetly, there are enough people who take advantage of eBay's/Paypal's "The BUYER is never a scammer/The Seller is trying to rip you off" unless proven otherwise, in triplicate, with Mother Teresa's stamp of approval, that I would never sell something like that on eBay. To many stories of stuff like "This isn't what I was told I was getting (say a 3GS or 4)" then you get sent back shattered 2G iphone kinda thing - and eBay goes with the buyer.
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About two months ago, I sold my black iphone 8gb 3G for $200 within 3 hours after posting the ad on craigslist. I got about 15 email offers. Some of the emails/offers I received (which were ignored/deleted) had responses like: "u take check???" and "ill buy it but we have to meet at X parking lot" and "i only give money order". Eventually, I got an email/offer from someone that I felt comfortable with, so it was at that point that I offered my cell phone number for them to call me and finalize the deal, we met at the local mall, in the food court, and the payment was made in cash. The phone was sold without a sim card, it was completely wiped and needed to be connected to an itunes account to be activated.
Some advice:
1. Don't post your phone number on craigslist, give out ONLY an email address for the initial contact. Only offer you phone number if you are comfortable with the potential buyer.
2. Meet in a very public place. (as stated above, we met at a food court at the local mall).
3. Accept only cash. I cannot stress this enough. ~DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT CASH~
the following isn't necessary IMO, but I did it anyway for peace of mind.
4. Unbeknownst to the buyer, I also brought the receipt showing that I owned/purchased the phone, a printed copy of the craigslist ad of the phone for sale, and I also took pictures of the phone's serial numbers. The buyer did not know that I had these items, but I brought them in the unlikely event that something went wrong.
Finally, be prepared to walk away. If the buyer shows up at the mall with a money order, check, gold necklace, ect ect or anything else EXCEPT CASH, walk away from the deal. If the buyer wants to meet anywhere else EXCEPT a very public place, walk away from the deal.
You hold all the cards, not them, you dictate (nicely) where the transaction will take place (very public place) and that you will only accept cash. There is a LOT of scamming and bad people on craigslist, and you must be firm for your own protection. If you must walk away from the deal for whatever reason, it's no skin off your back because when you re-post the phone for sale the following week you'll get 15-20+ offers again.
Some advice:
1. Don't post your phone number on craigslist, give out ONLY an email address for the initial contact. Only offer you phone number if you are comfortable with the potential buyer.
2. Meet in a very public place. (as stated above, we met at a food court at the local mall).
3. Accept only cash. I cannot stress this enough. ~DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING ELSE EXCEPT CASH~
the following isn't necessary IMO, but I did it anyway for peace of mind.
4. Unbeknownst to the buyer, I also brought the receipt showing that I owned/purchased the phone, a printed copy of the craigslist ad of the phone for sale, and I also took pictures of the phone's serial numbers. The buyer did not know that I had these items, but I brought them in the unlikely event that something went wrong.
Finally, be prepared to walk away. If the buyer shows up at the mall with a money order, check, gold necklace, ect ect or anything else EXCEPT CASH, walk away from the deal. If the buyer wants to meet anywhere else EXCEPT a very public place, walk away from the deal.
You hold all the cards, not them, you dictate (nicely) where the transaction will take place (very public place) and that you will only accept cash. There is a LOT of scamming and bad people on craigslist, and you must be firm for your own protection. If you must walk away from the deal for whatever reason, it's no skin off your back because when you re-post the phone for sale the following week you'll get 15-20+ offers again.
Include pictures. Make your ad unique. Have either a great price or a cool feature (perfect condition, many cases included, custom back, etc.). There are thousands of iPhones on CL, make someone wanna buy yours.
Just a tip I use with selling things on Craigslist, recently sold my 3GS.
I signed up for a google voice phone #, (http://www.google.com/voice). Sort of designated it my 'CL phone #'. It forwards to your real one, and you can set up blocks / screens / time of day to accept/reject calls, basically anything.
I only use it for CL, so i'm comfortable giving it out (there isn't a way for them to get your actual # unless you give it to them)
I signed up for a google voice phone #, (http://www.google.com/voice). Sort of designated it my 'CL phone #'. It forwards to your real one, and you can set up blocks / screens / time of day to accept/reject calls, basically anything.
I only use it for CL, so i'm comfortable giving it out (there isn't a way for them to get your actual # unless you give it to them)
I have purchased several phones on eBay. I have been scammed, in one way or another, every time. One the phone didn't work at all, and the other two times the phone was not at all as described.
Paypal made no difference. They didn't do anything about it.
I will never buy a phone, or anything high priced, on eBay again. I would rather have the chance to see the iterm in person before I actually hand over the money.
Paypal made no difference. They didn't do anything about it.
I will never buy a phone, or anything high priced, on eBay again. I would rather have the chance to see the iterm in person before I actually hand over the money.
And exactly how do you respond when they send back a brick and say that they received no phone. They win a paypal dispute and now you get to try to get the police involved and try to recover your funds or phone.
Sells on craigslist, no fees, cash is in hand, with proper planning, pretty safe and no way for anyone to screw you. Sad its come to this, but high ticket items are just a huge risk on sites like ebay with its current buyer can do no wrong policy.
Craigslist is as safe as you make it.
I sold my iPhone last night and met the seller at a local store with people around. I usually bring a friend. In terms of cash, bring a fake money marker. They sell them at Staples and office supply stores. Other than that, just use common sense. Don't turn your back on your product or the seller/buyer. Take cash only. Simple.
I sold my iPhone last night and met the seller at a local store with people around. I usually bring a friend. In terms of cash, bring a fake money marker. They sell them at Staples and office supply stores. Other than that, just use common sense. Don't turn your back on your product or the seller/buyer. Take cash only. Simple.
Been buying & selling on Ebay for 10 years.
Only sell to those with positive feedback
Only buy from those with positive feedback who have been around awhile
I sell big ticket items every year around December on ebay $300 to $1200 and have never had a problem. Once you build up your feed back and good history Ebay/Paypal is your friend and will side with you over some random scammer.
I didn't have a problem last year when that Ultimate Ear Vi10 deal happened. Sold 1 dozen pair of those too, Hong Kong, London, Singapore, etc. Won't sell to Indonesia or Russia though.
I also have over 2000 feedback on ebay buying and selling over the last 6 years. The thing is most people that sell Iphones people are not seasoned sellers and know what to look for in a hacked or stolen account or know what to look for in a scam. If an experienced ebay seller by all means, sell by ebay. And after you count fees to ebay and paypal, insurance and postage, craigslist is just plain easier for one big sale, in my opinion.
But that is not the case with most people selling iphones, and scammers love to deal with inexperienced ebay sellers.
This... also, deal only in hard cold cash; oh and if you are still nervous, make it $20s, not $100s. No checks.
ebay is a scam fest, I avoid it at all costs. It used to be reliable, but not anymore.
Regardless of how many hoops you jump through to ensure you do a safe and fair trade over ebay, if the buyer is a scammer (their feedback is irrelevant, as they don't receive it anymore) all they have to do is make ONE complaint to paypal and they receive back ALL their money and they still have the item.
Now it becomes YOUR burden to provide evidence/proof to counter their claims (lies), and regardless of what you say/show/prove the odds are still heavily stacked against you and you will end up losing the dispute. End result, the buyer (scammer) has your money and your item. The buyer always receives the benefit of the doubt from both Ebay and Paypal, selling anything over $100 on ebay is a HUGE gamble and there are simply too many ways to be scammed. It's a joke. Avoid it.
Craigslist is safer IF you follow the advice given in this thread about how selling on craigslist.
1. Accept cash only.
2. Meet in a public place (mall cafeteria ect or whatever)
Regardless of how many hoops you jump through to ensure you do a safe and fair trade over ebay, if the buyer is a scammer (their feedback is irrelevant, as they don't receive it anymore) all they have to do is make ONE complaint to paypal and they receive back ALL their money and they still have the item.
Now it becomes YOUR burden to provide evidence/proof to counter their claims (lies), and regardless of what you say/show/prove the odds are still heavily stacked against you and you will end up losing the dispute. End result, the buyer (scammer) has your money and your item. The buyer always receives the benefit of the doubt from both Ebay and Paypal, selling anything over $100 on ebay is a HUGE gamble and there are simply too many ways to be scammed. It's a joke. Avoid it.
Craigslist is safer IF you follow the advice given in this thread about how selling on craigslist.
1. Accept cash only.
2. Meet in a public place (mall cafeteria ect or whatever)
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Agreed about eBay being a joke for sellers. I was scammed $500 on a phone. Paypal is the worst company ever. I used to be a PowerSeller back in the day and managed to make a decent living for a year, but after Paypal became mandatory, and after I got ripped off half a dozen times - with ScamPal always supporting the buyer despite my feedback - I had to quit.
Conversely, I've been selling my older stuff on CL with no problems. Just use common sense and practice safety. SAme thing applies to buying. You will encounter lots of low-ballers and some unpleasant people, but if you are diligent, you won't get conned.
Agreed about eBay being a joke for sellers. I was scammed $500 on a phone. Paypal is the worst company ever. I used to be a PowerSeller back in the day and managed to make a decent living for a year, but after Paypal became mandatory, and after I got ripped off half a dozen times - with ScamPal always supporting the buyer despite my feedback - I had to quit.
Conversely, I've been selling my older stuff on CL with no problems. Just use common sense and practice safety. SAme thing applies to buying. You will encounter lots of low-ballers and some unpleasant people, but if you are diligent, you won't get conned.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)
Just conducted another successful CL transaction --helped friend sell her iP4. With eBay, I would have had to wait days for the auction to end, have to package the phone, ship it, and hope that the buyer doesn't screw me over. Plus, the funds would be tied up for a week. Selling anything in the $200 to $800 range on eBay makes little sense because of the outrageous fees. Eprey is necessary for getting rid of crap that no one locally wants, like the Sony Xperia X10.
Just conducted another successful CL transaction --helped friend sell her iP4. With eBay, I would have had to wait days for the auction to end, have to package the phone, ship it, and hope that the buyer doesn't screw me over. Plus, the funds would be tied up for a week. Selling anything in the $200 to $800 range on eBay makes little sense because of the outrageous fees. Eprey is necessary for getting rid of crap that no one locally wants, like the Sony Xperia X10.