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NYSF37

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2012
21
0
I'm selling my girlfriend's iPhone 5s on Ebay. She bought it online through her Verizon upgrade a few weeks ago and decided that she'd rather sell the 5s and keep her 4s. My question is, as it is still in the factory shrink wrap, would it be important to remove the SIM card? I would prefer not to do this as a sealed phone has more value than an opened box. I'm almost certain the phones aren't activated until someone calls or visits a store, and as of right now the phone has none of her information on it, but are there any ties to her Verizon account on the SIM card whatsoever? I'm trying to cover all my bases here. Thanks.
 
Haha yeah I've read horror stories about that. I was selling to only the U.S. and Canada, listed it last night, and someone already gobbled up the buy it now price (I did not think it would go for that much, averages show it going for $60-$70 less than my price, brand new). That was four hours ago, and the buyer still hasn't paid, and he has zero feedback, AND the account was created TODAY, so I'm a bit skeptical. BUT he does live in Virginia...
 
Haha yeah I've read horror stories about that. I was selling to only the U.S. and Canada, listed it last night, and someone already gobbled up the buy it now price (I did not think it would go for that much, averages show it going for $60-$70 less than my price, brand new). That was four hours ago, and the buyer still hasn't paid, and he has zero feedback, AND the account was created TODAY, so I'm a bit skeptical. BUT he does live in Virginia...

I always require buyers to have a PayPal account and to "Pay immediately upon Buy-It-Now" so I don't have those worries... You can go under order details and find the buyers phone # if you want to contact them.
 
I always require buyers to have a PayPal account and to "Pay immediately upon Buy-It-Now" so I don't have those worries... You can go under order details and find the buyers phone # if you want to contact them.

Yes, ALWAYS require immediate payment with BIN. It's not like an auction where the winning bid may have been placed days ago. With BIN the buyer is purchasing the item right then, so it makes sense they should pay at that time, right?
 
I always require buyers to have a PayPal account and to "Pay immediately upon Buy-It-Now" so I don't have those worries... You can go under order details and find the buyers phone # if you want to contact them.

I required the buyer to have a PayPal account too, but was unaware of the "pay immediately" option. I'll definitely take advantage of that from now on.

Yes, ALWAYS require immediate payment with BIN. It's not like an auction where the winning bid may have been placed days ago. With BIN the buyer is purchasing the item right then, so it makes sense they should pay at that time, right?

Exactly. And the value of the phone is going down day-by-day, so I want to sell it sooner rather than later.
 
I bought my 5S on eBay and was the same scenario as you are in. Opened the sealed box, removed the preinstalled SIM and put in mine. Worked perfect.
 
Unlike AT&T, Verizon does not require you to activate with SSN and everything.

Thus, I don't know if Verizon will automatically switch your gf no to the sim on the 5S when they turn it on. If they do, then you should take out the sim first.

As per the buyer side, All Verizon iPhone 5s come unlocked. They can just pop out original sim and put any sim they want to get it working.
 
I was under the impression that if you bought an iphone with an upgrade and never activated it on that line you would be charged full price?
 
I was under the impression that if you bought an iPhone with an upgrade and never activated it on that line you would be charged full price?
No. If you bought it at subsidized pricing, you just entered a new contract that you cannot get out of without paying ETF and will not be eligible for another upgrade for another 2 years. If anything happens to your old phone during the new contract and it cannot be repaired under warranty, you will need to replace it at full retail price.

Logically, why would carriers care if you activated your new phone? If you do not want to use it, it's your business; they have you tied to a new contract regardless.
 
No. If you bought it at subsidized pricing, you just entered a new contract that you cannot get out of without paying ETF and will not be eligible for another upgrade for another 2 years. If anything happens to your old phone during the new contract and it cannot be repaired under warranty, you will need to replace it at full retail price.

Logically, why would carriers care if you activated your new phone? If you do not want to use it, it's your business; they have you tied to a new contract regardless.

Okay. I was just speaking from experience. I've seen it happen to two people. Thanks for input.
 
Yes, ALWAYS require immediate payment with BIN. It's not like an auction where the winning bid may have been placed days ago. With BIN the buyer is purchasing the item right then, so it makes sense they should pay at that time, right?

For new ebay accounts immediate payment required option with BIN is not selectable.
 
Haha yeah I've read horror stories about that. I was selling to only the U.S. and Canada, listed it last night, and someone already gobbled up the buy it now price (I did not think it would go for that much, averages show it going for $60-$70 less than my price, brand new). That was four hours ago, and the buyer still hasn't paid, and he has zero feedback, AND the account was created TODAY, so I'm a bit skeptical. BUT he does live in Virginia...

That's ok then! lol. No American is going to rip another American off are they ? If you can avoid eBay altogether especially with phones. Not a good place. Take a bit less and sell to family , friends or recycle sites.
 
Really don't understand why people still use eBay. Just post it on Craigslist, meet in person, and exchange in cash.

It's not like you won't get any responses from Craiglist. I remember putting up my iPhone 3G a long time ago and I received literally 200 emails in less than 24 hours. Told them to meet me at my lobby and it was an easy exchange.
 
Haha yeah I've read horror stories about that. I was selling to only the U.S. and Canada, listed it last night, and someone already gobbled up the buy it now price (I did not think it would go for that much, averages show it going for $60-$70 less than my price, brand new). That was four hours ago, and the buyer still hasn't paid, and he has zero feedback, AND the account was created TODAY, so I'm a bit skeptical. BUT he does live in Virginia...
You were expecting a new 5s to sell for $60-70?

BTW. Your auction winner might be a competing seller just bumping you off the market for a while.
 
For new ebay accounts immediate payment required option with BIN is not selectable.

May be true, but I found out that you have to have a premier or business PayPal account in order to access immediate payment requirements.

That's ok then! lol. No American is going to rip another American off are they ? If you can avoid eBay altogether especially with phones. Not a good place. Take a bit less and sell to family , friends or recycle sites.
Really don't understand why people still use eBay. Just post it on Craigslist, meet in person, and exchange in cash.

It's not like you won't get any responses from Craiglist. I remember putting up my iPhone 3G a long time ago and I received literally 200 emails in less than 24 hours. Told them to meet me at my lobby and it was an easy exchange.

I've had great success (no Borat voice intended) with selling/buying phones on eBay until now. Even sold to someone in Europe.

You were expecting a new 5s to sell for $60-70?

BTW. Your auction winner might be a competing seller just bumping you off the market for a while.

No, I'm saying that when I listed the phone, the Buy It Now price that I set was about $60-$70 higher than the average Buy It Now sale price for the same phone in the same condition. Make sense? That's an interesting point you made about the competing seller, though, I never thought about that. BTW, buyer still hasn't gotten back to me.
 
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