iPhone dead after swim - cheapest way to get a new phone?

[travod]

I have the SIM card and I just want another iPhone 5C to throw it in and act as if nothing happened. Why the **** do phones without contracts cost $450 on the Apple website? Where can I pay $100 to get a phone?

 

[Shadowbech]

Swappa.com, craigslist, Gazelle, or even ebay? I would check out those sites and see if you can get one for your budget.

 

[Applejuiced]

Bring it to Apple and pay the out of warranty replacement fee.
They'll give you another one for $329.

 

[bhayes444]

I have the SIM card and I just want another iPhone 5C to throw it in and act as if nothing happened. Why the **** do phones without contracts cost $450 on the Apple website? Where can I pay $100 to get a phone?

They cost that much because that's what Apple deems they're worth. Since you don't like that, then do as Shadowbech suggested and go to eBay, Swappa, etc. and buy a used phone.

 

[Merkie]

iPhones don't cost $199, that's a subsidized price. Out of contract price is $649 (even higher in Europe where the 6 starts at €699).

 

[travod]

I said new phone but meant just a replacement. Why doesn't Apple sell refurbished phones?

 

[maflynn]

Why doesn't Apple sell refurbished phones?

They do, as noted above, it will cost you 329 to get your water damaged phone replaced with a refurb

 

[ucfgrad93]

Bring it to Apple and pay the out of warranty replacement fee.
They'll give you another one for $329.

That is what I would do. Don't have to worry about being scammed.

 

[rui no onna]

They do, as noted above, it will cost you 329 to get your water damaged phone replaced with a refurb

For the 5c, it's $269.

Out-of-warranty* cost:
iPhone 6 Plus: $329
iPhone 6: $299
iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5: $269
iPhone 4s: $199
iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, Original iPhone: $149

 

[travod]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Next question is, if I buy a used iPhone and make sure that the activation lock is off according to https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/ - is the phone completely in the clear? Can it still be reported stolen even if the lock is off?

 

[C DM]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Next question is, if I buy a used iPhone and make sure that the activation lock is off according to https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/ - is the phone completely in the clear? Can it still be reported stolen even if the lock is off?

It can be reported as stolen to the carrier, even after you have activated and been using for some time, which is unrelated to Activation Lock or anything like that. Unfortunately there isn't much that you can do to truly know for sure that something like that might not happen when getting a used phone.