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Buying a financed iPhone on eBay safe?
- Thread starter ACGary
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You sound like you know what you're talking about. There is a lot of disagreement without clear consensus, but I sense that you're right and not just because it's what I want to believe. I hope you're right about Verizon not being one to blacklist. Thnx
I'm sorry but that situation just isn't true, I've verified it with carriers. They would like you to think that, but it isnt. Plus the unlocking industry is so strong, pretty much any phone can be unlocked if youre willing to pay enough and go to the right place. Ive even had a T-Mobile iPhone unlocked by having its status changed from T-Mo to unlocked like it was the unlocked version in Apple stores on Apple's verification servers. Costs a pretty penny but it's possible. But any purchase not from the carriers is still dangerous because they can report it for the insurance at any time.
It is, unlocked is irrelevant as it's not blocked in software. The IMEI is blocked on the network. I don't know why you mention insurance since insurance isn't involved when people stop paying for their financed phones.
Because insurance claims are when it is blocked, not owing money to the carriers. The carriers don't care because they get a new customer from the person who buys the phone and sell off the old account to debt buyers. It's not worth it financially for them to do that. The insurance companies are a different story however, that's their whole profit or loss.
So what you're saying is phone companies don't care if people stop paying for their $800 smartphone and then resell it to someone to use on likely a different carrier...
No.
Think of it this way:
I own a car dealership. You come and finance [monthly payments] a new car [phone] - plus insurance [monthly network access] from me. You promise to pay every month for the car - and the insurance - and that lets it on the road.
But, instead of paying me - you sell the car to someone else for good money.
I get no money for the car - you get lots of money for the car.
Do I:
A. Cancel the insurance [remove driving/network access], and go after you for the full amount of the car the that is owed?
B. Let you go with no hassle, because then maybe after you sell the car to someone else - they will come to me and buy insurance [Just a monthly plan] for that car.
Obviously, A.
Carriers cancel the device on the network, and go after the full amount owing. They don't want that device coming back on their network from a different person. They want new users to buy new phones.
They go after collecting the money, but they don't take it off the network. With cars there is title ownership and they can repossess. With phones they get a fair amount of business from people who don't want a monthly phone payment but want a fairly good recent phone.
It wasn't a used iPhone. The post is about buying phones off ebay. Doesn't matter what kind of phone.