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Buying a JB Plus of Craigslist- What should I be worried about?

G

gadgetfreaky

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 28, 2007
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1- he has a receipt- shows full price paid on Verizon (Im on att so want to make sure it's unlocked)
2. 1k cash meeting in a bank
3. box is unopened in original packaging

that's only a 50 buck premium so frankly im worried its a scam or I can get screwed somehow

what am I missing??
 
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gadgetfreaky said:
1- he has a receipt- shows full price paid on Verizon (Im on att so want to make sure it's unlocked)
2. 1k cash meeting in a bank
3. box is unopened in original packaging

that's only a 50 buck premium so frankly im worried its a scam or I can get screwed somehow

what am I missing??
Click to expand...
Apple care?
 
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Make sure you open it and test it thoroughly. Put in your sim card make sure its compatible. Make sure there's no iclould lock on it. Swipe through everything. Test the camera, speakers, everything. If he tries to hurry you along then that's a red flag. If its really legit he wont mind waiting for you to go through everything. Even though its unopened you'd be surprised how many ppl try to sell defective/stolen items just resealed.
 
coney718 said:
Make sure you open it and test it thoroughly. Put in your sim card make sure its compatible. Make sure there's no iclould lock on it. Swipe through everything. Test the camera, speakers, everything. If he tries to hurry you along then that's a red flag. If its really legit he wont mind waiting for you to go through everything. Even though its unopened you'd be surprised how many ppl try to sell defective/stolen items just resealed.
Click to expand...
There might people who won't allow them to open....but since it was from Verizon maybe the buyer could verify the box and receipt? But yeah..I would ask the seller to open it.
 
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pat500000 said:
There might people who won't allow them to open....but since it was from Verizon maybe the buyer could verify the box and receipt? But yeah..I would ask the seller to open it.
Click to expand...
The minute he opened it tho it devalues
Isn't that a bit much? If i have the recipet and the box is unopened And the recipept shows full price is paid??
 
Meet at Verizon store, have a rep run the serial to ensure it is "whitelisted", not stolen aka clean IMEI or on a payment plan.

They will check it even if you are on AT&T. If it is good on their system, you'll have no issues for sure on AT&T.
 
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iPhone1 said:
Meet at Verizon store, have a rep run the serial to ensure it is "whitelisted", not stolen aka clean IMEI or on a payment plan.

They will check it even if you are on AT&T. If it is good on their system, you'll have no issues for sure on AT&T.
Click to expand...
There are imei website checkers - I can do that from the number on the outside of the box
 
gadgetfreaky said:
Isn't that a bit much? If i have the recipet and the box is unopened And the recipept shows full price is paid??
Click to expand...

You don't know the box is unopened. All you know is it's shrink-wrapped. Lots of people have access to shrink-wrap machines.

Do you know the receipt is real? Is it a sheet of paper or a thermal roll?

Your danger is either there's no phone in box or the phone in the box was bought on a payment plan which the seller won't continue with.

Or it could be legit. It's possible.

If you hand over money without having opened the box and verified the phone is fully functional and matches the receipt, you're being foolish.
 
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deeddawg said:
You don't know the box is unopened. All you know is it's shrink-wrapped. Lots of people have access to shrink-wrap machines.

Do you know the receipt is real? Is it a sheet of paper or a thermal roll?

Your danger is either there's no phone in box or the phone in the box was bought on a payment plan which the seller won't continue with.

Or it could be legit. It's possible.

If you hand over money without having opened the box and verified the phone is fully functional and matches the receipt, you're being foolish.
Click to expand...

7/7 Plus are no longer shrink wrapped. They have that plastic on them that is typically on the phone that bends and releases at the edges. I'm saying that wrong, but it's not shrink wrapped. But your point stands, they could re-wrap it somehow. But be on the lookout for the "new" wrapping.
 
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deeddawg said:
You don't know the box is unopened. All you know is it's shrink-wrapped. Lots of people have access to shrink-wrap machines.

Do you know the receipt is real? Is it a sheet of paper or a thermal roll?

Your danger is either there's no phone in box or the phone in the box was bought on a payment plan which the seller won't continue with.

Or it could be legit. It's possible.

If you hand over money without having opened the box and verified the phone is fully functional and matches the receipt, you're being foolish.
Click to expand...
Yeah maybe I put the cash on the table and have him pop in the sim

1000 is just too cheap
 
gadgetfreaky said:
The minute he opened it tho it devalues
Isn't that a bit much? If i have the recipet and the box is unopened And the recipept shows full price is paid??
Click to expand...
I've had this happen on an iPad Air when they came out. iPad Air I was selling was sealed. Buyer wanted to open it to make sure it was there before giving me the cash. My mistake. Once he opened it, he tried haggling down the price we agreed upon. I said no. So he didn't want it anymore. I was so pissed.
 
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Juarez7514 said:
I've had this happen on an iPad Air when they came out. iPad Air I was selling was sealed. Buyer wanted to open it to Erich it was there before giving me the cash. My mistake. Once he opened it, he tried haggling down the price we agreed upon. I said no. So he didn't want it anymore. I was so pissed.
Click to expand...
Exactly
 
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If you can, verify the receipt and obtain his contact information if possible. Also, having a bill of sale for the transaction is helpful as well.
 
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gadgetfreaky said:
The minute he opened it tho it devalues
Isn't that a bit much? If i have the recipet and the box is unopened And the recipept shows full price is paid??
Click to expand...
You know how easy it is to shrink wrap a boxed item? When I worked at Microcenter years upon years ago we had a customer, that we never caught, that would buy Apple accessories and then return the box full of carefully place and glued rocks and shrink wrapped. The jerk got us for more than a few wireless keyboards and trackpads.

I don't think there is any extra value to "unopened" here. If the seller won't let you open it and go through the activation process far enough to see if it's already linked to an account, walk away. If he pressures you at all, walk away.
I mean, unless he's looking to make an extra $50 bucks there is no reason he can't just return it and get his money back.
 
He can always say it's stolen after he sells it to you... then it would be blacklisted.
 
noobinator said:
7/7 Plus are no longer shrink wrapped
Click to expand...
The plastic film surrounding the box on my iphone7 ordered from AT&T and delivered to my door sure looked and felt and acted like shrinkwrap. Fairly substantial, but shrinkwrap. Not at all what you described.
 
gadgetfreaky said:
1000 is just too cheap
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's basically the thing.

Another thought - I wouldn't be at all surprised if shortly before you were to meet at the bank you got a call/text claiming car trouble and changing the meeting location to somewhere substantially less safe.

Clearly something about this deal has you spooked. Intuition is usually a smart thing to follow.
 
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