Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

I bought a sealed iPhone 5 on craigslist and worried.

JayLenochiniMac said:
There's no indication even in the OP that it's stolen good. If the "silver bag" has his nano SIM, it's perfectly understandable that seller would want to keep it if he bought it on his own. When you sell iPhones, you always take your sim out and keep it.
Click to expand...

A new sealed iphone being sold via craigslist..... with a silver tab being pulled off (the door alarm sensor I'd imagine)....

Not stolen? Yeah right.
 
Texting him and saying all that stuff is almost insulting, I'm sorry but if that was me, depending on what kinda day I was having I might report it after that. People like that get on my nerves, and I even have an easy-to-remember custom license plate hahha.
 
i am gonna chime in here because no one has done so yet.

when you buy a T-Mobile, SmartTalk or Virgin Mobile iPhone, from, Lets say Walmart, the phone comes with a little silver envelope/pouch taped to the front of it. It contains the SIM card for the provider you bought it for and some other documentation. When you buy the phone, that SIM is registered to you as part of the sale. Your account is attached to that sim card. So he can sell the sealed iphone to you, but put that sim card into any other phone to use his account.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
Well anyways, I texted him saying that I have his plate number and kindly asked him to not report the phone lost or stolen since it isn't beneficial to him in any way.
Click to expand...

That's a horrible thing to text to someone (what many would call a **** move). This person didn't do anything wrong and you decided to treat him like a criminal. Getting his plate was fine, but you should have sent him a text thanking him instead of insulting him.
 
So here is another thing (I have tmobile and have traded and bought phones on craigslist quite a bit)... If he has insurance he may be able to report it lost and get a "new" one and yours would be blocked. Or if he is paying it off he could just bail on the account and the phone would be blocked a couple months down the road.

You could call tmobile or even go to the store to check the imei and it will be clear right then... the problem will occur later on if he doesnt pay his bill (assuming it wasn't paid in full as he said it was)... There is no way to check if it was paid in full (except if he shows you the receipt)...
 
Nothing new, each time you buy a USED phone no matter it be eBay or Craigslist, you will always take a chance, the seller can report it stolen down the road 6 months later. You guys jump the gun to fast with your scenarios:D.


OP was wrong to allow seller to take anything once the phone was opened, that would be like buying a used car from someone for $30,000 cash and then the seller taking out the radio after you already paid him. :rolleyes:
 
sim667 said:
A new sealed iphone being sold via craigslist..... with a silver tab being pulled off (the door alarm sensor I'd imagine)....

Not stolen? Yeah right.
Click to expand...
A silver bag in the context of an iPhone and a silver tag in the context of just merchandise would be completely different things.

----------
rgctx said:
Nothing new, each time you buy a USED phone no matter it be eBay or Craigslist, you will always take a chance, the seller can report it stolen down the road 6 months later. You guys jump the gun to fast with your scenarios:D.


OP was wrong to allow seller to take anything once the phone was opened, that would be like buying a used car from someone for $30,000 cash and then the seller taking out the radio after you already paid him. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Nothing was taken from the phone it would seem, just something related to the original purchase of the phone which is more related to the purchase itself than the phone.
 
Why not just buy the phone at Apple store in first place? if someone is selling phone for less than regular price that is new, that makes no sense, unless it's stolen.
 
rgctx said:
OP was wrong to allow seller to take anything once the phone was opened, that would be like buying a used car from someone for $30,000 cash and then the seller taking out the radio after you already paid him. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

this is the dumbest thing ive read in this thread, besides the OP texting the seller. the envelope contained the sellers possibly activated sim card and other info pertinent to his original purchase. they will do the buyer here no good. and even if the sim is deactivated, it cant be of any use ever again. so who cares he took it. i would have too if i was the seller and if i was the buyer, i wouldnt have cared less. you are uninformed.

and if you really wanted to make a car analogy, its lets say he bought a used car and the seller left a personal item in the vehicle which he forgot about. since you paid already, you gonna be a jerk and not hand it over?
 
dictoresno said:
this is the dumbest thing ive read in this thread, besides the OP texting the seller. the envelope contained the sellers possibly activated sim card and other info pertinent to his original purchase. they will do the buyer here no good. and even if the sim is deactivated, it cant be of any use ever again. so who cares he took it. i would have too if i was the seller and if i was the buyer, i wouldnt have cared less. you are uninformed.

and if you really wanted to make a car analogy, its lets say he bought a used car and the seller left a personal item in the vehicle which he forgot about. since you paid already, you gonna be a jerk and not hand it over?
Click to expand...
If anything, it's essentially like buying a car from a dealer and before you drive off with it the dealer goes inside and takes some dealer documentation for that car (perhaps some shipping paperwork from the manufacturer to the dealer or something like that) that was in the glovebox. Would anyone really think anything weird of that?
 
C DM said:
If anything, it's essentially like buying a car from a dealer and before you drive off with it the dealer goes inside and takes some dealer documentation for that car (perhaps some shipping paperwork from the manufacturer to the dealer or something like that) that was in the glovebox. Would anyone really think anything weird of that?
Click to expand...

There ya go. Perfect analogy.
 
Taking car tags is useless if dealing with professional criminals.

My buddy had gun pointed at him on Craigslist deal in parking lot at Publix in Miami. He pulled his own gun out. (The seller was in the car) and pulled away. My buddy was buyer and took pic of license plate.

It was kinda of fuzzy but we got the tags to show up. Took it to police. Guess what? Tags was stolen. Can't trace criminal.

Phone number they used? Also random google voice number. IP address was from public library.

Some people on Craigslist are professional criminals. They thought they had easy robbery with iPhone sell. Cause my friend was bringing $500 for iPhone 5 (this was late last year) so $500 was a decent price for iPhone 5 when it was only a couple of month released.
 
Op if you are really paranoid he might report it stolen.
Do what I did, find a fault with the phone and take it to Apple for a replacement and then it can't be blocked.
 
Haha. I have never seen so many paranoid people. Especially the OP when he could of asked the seller what was in the bag when he took it off during the sale. Instead of coming on here asking a forum and letting it get out of hand.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
The silver bag everyone wonders about was attached on the bottom of the box. He had said he already sold another sealed iphone before he sold one to me and he had the silver bag from the other iphone he sold to, and it was just suspicious because he removed that silver bag off the box saying i don't need it, but why would he keep both of them in his pocket?
Click to expand...

Question answered upthread it seems.
 
If you are so paranoid why not just purchase directly from apple. OP you are wrong for texting the seller.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
There's no indication even in the OP that it's stolen good. If the "silver bag" has his nano SIM, it's perfectly understandable that seller would want to keep it if he bought it on his own. When you sell iPhones, you always take your sim out and keep it.
Click to expand...

If.

What if it was an electronic tag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back