Buying on eBay has been the best experience.

J

joshwithachance

macrumors 68020
I have Sprint, and didn't have an upgrade, so I've been perusing eBay for the past couple weeks waiting to see if anyone would list a gold 5s for less than $1000 and Monday was my lucky day when somebody posted a sealed 16GB one for $650 shipped. I even had a $10 eBay bucks coupon so I got it for $640.

The guy shipped it out Tuesday morning, and I got it yesterday. So that's just 3 business days total, from purchase to delivery. It activated in seconds and it was all went so smooth, from purchase to delivery & activation.

The point is, don't be afraid to shop on eBay. Just make sure the person you're buying from has solid feedback and has been on there for longer than a couple months.

Oh, and the gold 5s is stunning in person. That is all.
 
eBay is generally is awesome - its the rare situation when you get burned - but the burn can really hurt. :(
 
Congrats that's great ! So the phone works without the original owner activating first hence sealed? I thought original owner has to activated first. Did they tell you how they got the phone
 
I bought mine on eBay too. I'm with sprint. bought a 16g silver! sealed in box. activated quickly. very smooth.

now I'm considering exchanging for gold which I might not be able to do.

oh and I wasn't eligible for an upgrade either. I saved some $

now, I sold my s4 on eBay recently. that's another story though. buyer is an *** hole D:
the guy wants a refund cause of something that's wrong with it that I didn't even know about.
 
Awesome story! I've had great success buying my last 6-7 iPhones through eBay. :) Like you said, look for the trusted sellers with great feedback... Even if they do have a negative feedback or two, they are probably still a good seller, just take the time to see why they got the negative feedback ratings...

The one thing that kills me is when you get low ratings for shipping fees even though the buyer knew up front exactly what they were paying for shipping... I recently sold something on eBay that cost me $6 more to ship than what the buyer paid b/c eBay forces you to use signature delivery and the USPS insurance rapes, I mean rates...
 
eBay is great if you're looking for secondhand goods. Doesn't get much better than that on the internet, at least for us folks in the US.

But for anything brand new? I wouldn't touch eBay. Amazon offers a way better shopping experience.
 
It's hit or miss for me.

Unless sellers describe phone as brand new in the box or brand new condition be careful

People definition of "excellent" or near perfect condition is subject to a lot of interpretation. I gotten phones that was in "mint" condition that had nicks on the sides and eBay says unless it's listed as brand new they side with the seller.
 
aneftp said:
It's hit or miss for me.

Unless sellers describe phone as brand new in the box or brand new condition be careful

People definition of "excellent" or near perfect condition is subject to a lot of interpretation. I gotten phones that was in "mint" condition that had nicks on the sides and eBay says unless it's listed as brand new they side with the seller.
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If the seller has a returns accepted policy (which will be listed in the auction), you can ship the item back to the seller, with proof of receipt, and request a refund. Ebay will pull funds from the seller immediately and then investigate. As long as you have proof you shipped the item back, you should win the claim, even if you have to wait for Ebay to render a decision.

On the flip side, if you make a claim but don't ship the item back right away (because you want to seller to respond saying they will refund you, for example) you can lose the claim without easily being able to challenge it. Ask me how I know... :)
 
I sale phones on ebay and have 100% positive feedbacks. Ebay has good honest sellers like me too. This week I sold a 5S and 5C from sprint. Customers satisfied and positive feedbacks. Glad you had a great experience on ebay. Thanx
 
So what happens if the person decides to stop paying their Sprint bill?

The phone is still tied to the SELLERS account if they used an upgrade.

Too many scammers these days. i'm hella paranoid! lol
 
People voice the bad experiences more than the good ones. I've personally never had any problems with Ebay but I feel for those who do :mad:
 
I have sold 50 or so phones on ebay in the past year, and sold 2 gold iphones last week. Every single one of my customers have been satisfied.
 
Buying on ebay is superb I have only had one package take a really long time to get to me and the seller sent another and I got both around the same time (3GS otter box clip) .Crazy to say but 80% of electronics,car parts etc etc all come from ebay and feedback means everything but like another poster said even a few bads and they can still b a good seller and that's where the 2nd side of ebay comes in I have been selling since the hay day when me and my mom would go to yard sales to buy things and sell a plate or pottery for 50x + what we paid for it and even then you get the scammers and if you have 100% feedback like me they love to threaten you with negative feedback. I have honestly sent a message to someone who opened a case on me and said look will $20 get you to drop the case? It always works because through the return shipping and fees I'm gonna pay that regardless.I could go on forever buy ebay is really an AMAZING marketplace and a dream to buy from but can also be a sellers nightmare up quick and in a hurry especially for someone like me who does it as more of a hobby and not a power seller.
 
joshwithachance said:
.......Oh, and the gold 5s is stunning in person. That is all.
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Thanks for letting us know. Can you please link to your blog so we can keep up?


As far as ebay goes, never really had an issue. If you do things correctly there should be no issue. Just sold an extra space grey and gold iPhone that I piked up and cleared $1100 between the two.

scotrinaf said:
The one thing that kills me is when you get low ratings for shipping fees even though the buyer knew up front exactly what they were paying for shipping... I recently sold something on eBay that cost me $6 more to ship than what the buyer paid b/c eBay forces you to use signature delivery and the USPS insurance rapes, I mean rates...
Click to expand...
Why would you ever ship anything without insurance and if it's a high dollar item why wouldn't you expect signature on delivery? You'd be stupid NOT to take those safeguards. PLUS if your insurance rate is above a certain dollar amount (I think it may be $400) they automatically add signature needed.... Save yourself a few bucks that way.
 
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aneftp said:
It's hit or miss for me.

Unless sellers describe phone as brand new in the box or brand new condition be careful

People definition of "excellent" or near perfect condition is subject to a lot of interpretation. I gotten phones that was in "mint" condition that had nicks on the sides and eBay says unless it's listed as brand new they side with the seller.
Click to expand...

Mine was described as in excellent condition and this is what I received! The phone is bent and they couldnt even be bothered to clean it. This has put me off Ebay and will only buy direct from Apple from now on.
 

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I really want to like eBay...

But I just purchased my first iPhone (4S, 64 GB) that was supposed to be unlocked. I need it for an upcoming international trip. Got the phone today, and popped in my T-Mobile SIM card, and found that the phone is still locked to AT&T. Seller replied right away saying he would contact AT&T about the unlock. Can the unlock be done remotely or am I going to need to return the phone?
 
JainaSJedi said:
But I just purchased my first iPhone (4S, 64 GB) that was supposed to be unlocked. I need it for an upcoming international trip. Got the phone today, and popped in my T-Mobile SIM card, and found that the phone is still locked to AT&T. Seller replied right away saying he would contact AT&T about the unlock. Can the unlock be done remotely or am I going to need to return the phone?
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Remotely. You will then need to restore using iTunes. Wait for the seller to respond....
 
"Remotely" would be great, but I can't even get passed the 'insert valid SIM' card page in order to restore the phone. iTunes has the same message..won't let me do anything to the phone.
 
rich32gb5s said:
Mine was described as in excellent condition and this is what I received! The phone is bent and they couldnt even be bothered to clean it. This has put me off Ebay and will only buy direct from Apple from now on.
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I got a bent phone too after being called excellent condition. The real kicker? The seller swore it was 100% not bent after i sent it back. He even posted a false positive telling people I lied to eBay.

Got his lil but reported for that.
 
rich32gb5s said:
Mine was described as in excellent condition and this is what I received! The phone is bent and they couldnt even be bothered to clean it. This has put me off Ebay and will only buy direct from Apple from now on.
Click to expand...

Yuck! I'm sorry you had to go through that. Did you make a claim?
 
Buying on ebay has never been the problem. I bought a 3GS a few years ago and sent payment within 5 minutes of the auction ending. I had the phone in my hand the next day.

The buyers are the problem. Too many people try to game the system and lie that they got broken items, etc.
 
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