iPhone and not wanting to be burned (possibly stolen phone)

[themoffster]

I'm in the market for a new iPhone as mine is a 4S and the battery is awful on iOS7 and I'm loving what iOS8 looks like.
I recently had to replace the wife's phone as it was broken by our wee one who dropped it on a wooden floor.

This got me thinking.... If i buy a broken one off ebay and use the same 'out of warranty replacement (it was £120 or there a bouts replacing the wife's) it would work out cheaper than buying a new phone outright.

Is there a way I can be sure that the phone I buy (which doesn't work) isn't stolen or dodgy in some way? I'd love a new phone, but can't afford the outright costs, but I'm not wanting to do anything illegal as I know how annoyed I would be if my phone was stolen.

 

[Tumbleweed666]

Is there a way I can be sure that the phone I buy (which doesn't work) isn't stolen or dodgy in some way?

No.

 

[960design]

Nope, we really cannot be sure of anything.

Only purchase from trusted sellers and you should be good.

Make sure they Settings->General->Erase All Content and Settings ( this will request a password to clear Find My iPhone to prevent getting a bricked device ).

 

[Tumbleweed666]

Make sure they Settings->General->Erase All Content and Settings ( this will request a password to clear Find My iPhone to prevent getting a bricked device ).

Its a broken phone. One that doesn't work. So thats (a) not possible and (b) irrelevant since he plans to hand it in and get a new one for an out of warranty repair.

Not convinced this cunning plan would work financially though. Also if its got liquid damage (something else you might not know about beforehand) would they replace it under the out of warranty deal?

 

[nnacrumors]

Is there a way I can be sure that the phone I buy (which doesn't work) isn't stolen or dodgy in some way?

If you buy off of Craigslist and can meet them in person at an Apple store then I believe you can have a Genius check the phone if it's lost/stolen and if its not then make a change of ownership into your name.

YMMV, if you go this route call and ask the Apple store genius beforehand that this works before buying anything.

Good luck!