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iPhone Unexpectedly Sold...Need Advice

S

surfer99

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 30, 2006
253
1
VA
So in anticipation of the new iPhone expected to come out in June I decided to sell my current Unlocked and Jailbroken 3GS 32gb on ebay with a 7 day auction and a buy it now price of 800 dollars thinking that there was no way it would sell for 800 and by the time the auction ended we would be that much closer to the release of the new iphone. Well to my surprise the phone sold with a buy it now in literally 2 minutes to a buyer (yes in the USA and yes they already sent the money to paypal, so everything seems legit). So my question now is what should I do?

-Should I just buy a crappy cheap phone from att and wait for the release of the new phone?

-Should I buy another 3GS iphone out right (no 2 yr contract, if thats possible) and then sell it on ebay (possibly at a profit) after the new iPhone is released?

To be clear I bought the iPhone 3GS that I am selling on ebay at the launch of the 3GS in June of last year from ATT with the 2 yr contract discount and got it replaced by apple last week due to small cracks near the dock. Also according to ATT I am somehow up for another discounted phone in June of this year according to att.com

Hopefully I am explaining this clearly enough. Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE:
The ebay buyer has all positive feedback for the past 12 months (lots of it), the address is confirmed through paypal, and this guy hasnt asked me to ship it anywhere but his address thats confirmed in paypal. Only thing I think is weird is that when I recieved the payment via paypal I got this message:

You received an eCheck payment. Like a regular paper check, an eCheck may take 3-5 days to clear. That's why you'll see the transaction status set as "Pending". Your buyer has sent the payment, but if you're shipping a physical item, we suggest you wait to send it out until the eCheck clears. We'll email you as soon as the money is in your PayPal account.We estimate the eCheck will clear between 5/18/2010-5/20/2010."

I dont use paypal very often but have never seen this before. Anyone else have experience with this?

Also I used whitepages.com and when I typed in the adress that was confirmed from paypal this guys name did pop up and with the address listed with paypal.
 
You done well to get $800 for it, especially when here in the UK you could buy the same model brand new for less.

Do Apple sell the iPhone on Pay And Go in the US? I don't see anything except "from $299" for your model, which is obviously on an AT&T contract.
 
I would wait until you actually see this money in your account, unless you can explain why anyone in their right mind would spend that much, especially this close to when 3GS's are going to run dirt cheap. Seems like a scam to me.
 
-aggie- said:
I would wait until you actually see this money in your account, unless you can explain why anyone in their right mind would spend that much, especially this close to when 3GS's are going to run dirt cheap. Seems like a scam to me.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, Ebay and paypal put a hold on the money until they can gurantee delivery. After delivery is verified, you will receive the money after a set amount of days. If the buyer leaves positive feedback before this set days, they money is released. I just sold my old unlocked htc magic on ebay and this is what happened.
 
MotionxxUSxx said:
Unfortunately, Ebay and paypal put a hold on the money until they can gurantee delivery. After delivery is verified, you will receive the money after a set amount of days. If the buyer leaves positive feedback before this set days, they money is released. I just sold my old unlocked htc magic on ebay and this is what happened.
Click to expand...

That's too bad then. My prediction: the buyer says there is a problem with it, gets his money back and keeps the 3GS.
 
MotionxxUSxx said:
Unfortunately, Ebay and paypal put a hold on the money until they can gurantee delivery. After delivery is verified, you will receive the money after a set amount of days. If the buyer leaves positive feedback before this set days, they money is released. I just sold my old unlocked htc magic on ebay and this is what happened.
Click to expand...

This isn't the case all the time, it depends on your tenure with eBay and PayPal I believe.

They held my money once, and it was $50. After that, they have yet to hold any money.

Then again.. I have been with PayPal for a while and eBay since 2004 with 100+ feedback.
 
surfer99 said:
So in anticipation of the new iPhone expected to come out in June I decided to sell my current 3GS 32gb on ebay with a 7 day auction and a buy it now price of 800 dollars thinking that there was no way it would sell for 800 and by the time the auction ended we would be that much closer to the release of the new iphone. Well to my surprise the phone sold with a buy it now in literally 2 minutes to a buyer (yes in the USA and yes they already sent the money to paypal, so everything seems legit). So my question now is what should I do?

-Should I just buy a crappy cheap phone from att and wait for the release of the new phone?

-Should I buy another 3GS iphone out right (no 2 yr contract, if thats possible) and then sell it on ebay after the new iPhone is released?

To be clear I bought the iPhone 3GS that I am selling on ebay at the launch of the 3GS in June of last year with the 2 yr contract discount and got it replaced by apple last week due to small cracks near the dock. Also according to apple I am somehow up for another discounted phone in June of this year according to att.com

Hopefully I am explaining this clearly enough. Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Wow, be sure to keep us up to date, I want to see if this comes back to bite you (I hope not for your sake but just seems too good to be true.) Was it JB & unlocked?

My suggestion, get a crappy phone to hold you over. You can always use that phone for times when you don't want to take your iPhone (like on boat @ the lake...etc).
 
MotionxxUSxx said:
Unfortunately, Ebay and paypal put a hold on the money until they can gurantee delivery. After delivery is verified, you will receive the money after a set amount of days. If the buyer leaves positive feedback before this set days, they money is released. I just sold my old unlocked htc magic on ebay and this is what happened.
Click to expand...

Hmm...I sold a BB Bold 9000 last summer after I got my 3GS and no hold was put on the funds. Ditto for my 16GB Touch. Both of them ended up selling on Saturdays so there was something of a "hold" until Monday, but after that the funds were free and clear.
 
MotionxxUSxx said:
Unfortunately, Ebay and paypal put a hold on the money until they can gurantee delivery. After delivery is verified, you will receive the money after a set amount of days. If the buyer leaves positive feedback before this set days, they money is released. I just sold my old unlocked htc magic on ebay and this is what happened.
Click to expand...

I sold a 3GS about 3 weeks ago for $700 and there was no such hold. It depends on your feedback and length of your membership. I've been on eBay since 1998 and never had a hold and I have sold some big ticket items (4 iPhones included).
 
Make sure that the buyers address is confirmed with the paypal account. 2 years ago I sold two Nanos, address was not confirmed, paypal contacted me 10 minutes before I was about to leave and said the account used was stolen and the address was changed. So the actual account holder contacted paypal and stopped the payment. I almost lost 2 nanos!
 
Geckotek said:
Wow, be sure to keep us up to date, I want to see if this comes back to bite you (I hope not for your sake but just seems too good to be true.) Was it JB & unlocked?

My suggestion, get a crappy phone to hold you over. You can always use that phone for times when you don't want to take your iPhone (like on boat @ the lake...etc).
Click to expand...


Yes it was JB and unlocked.

So if everything works out in terms of my sale you suggest that I just go to ATT and tell them I need a crappy cheap phone to tie me over? Do I just take my sim card out of my iphone before I ship it off (after its clear that I will in fact get the money obviously) and then place it in my cheap att phone? And will I just call ATT and tell them that i need my number to be switch to the cheap phone?
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Make sure that the buyers address is confirmed with the paypal account. 2 years ago I sold two Nanos, address was not confirmed, paypal contacted me 10 minutes before I was about to leave and said the account used was stolen and the address was changed. So the actual account holder contacted paypal and stopped the payment. I almost lost 2 nanos!
Click to expand...

According to the email I got from paypal the address is confirmed and once again it is an address in the US
 
Scooterman1 said:
Also, look to see if the Buyer has any kind of rating/feedback from previous sales or purchases.
Click to expand...


Just looked and the buyer has tons of feedback. Been an ebay member since '03 and has roughly 225 positive feedbacks in the past 12 months and no neautral or negative feedback. All comments were positive.
 
anonymouz1828 said:
I was going to congratulate on $800 deal but it makes sense .. "too good to be true" .. i hope it is not a scam.
Click to expand...

yea I dont know what to think. Guy has been an ebay member for many years with tons of postive feedback, has a confirmed address in the U.S., and hasnt asked me to ship it to nigera or anything. What do you guys think?

Only thing I thought was weird is that in the email from paypal says this guy used an "echeck payment" which is described as (quoted from my paypal email):

"You received an eCheck payment. Like a regular paper check, an eCheck may take 3-5 days to clear. That's why you'll see the transaction status set as "Pending". Your buyer has sent the payment, but if you're shipping a physical item, we suggest you wait to send it out until the eCheck clears. We'll email you as soon as the money is in your PayPal account. We estimate the eCheck will clear between 5/18/2010-5/20/2010."

I have never seen this before but I dont use paypal very often so I dont know what to think. Any ideas?
 
just buy crappy phone in meantime... buying 3gs and selling soon may be more of a headache than you bargained for
 
800 bucks? get an iphone 2g for $200 and use the $600 for the new phone. then atleast youll have a backup when you sell the new one next year lol.
 
surfer99 said:
Yes it was JB and unlocked.

So if everything works out in terms of my sale you suggest that I just go to ATT and tell them I need a crappy cheap phone to tie me over? Do I just take my sim card out of my iphone before I ship it off (after its clear that I will in fact get the money obviously) and then place it in my cheap att phone? And will I just call ATT and tell them that i need my number to be switch to the cheap phone?
Click to expand...

Yeah, pull your SIM. Don't even call AT&T, just pick one up off Craigslist and put your SIM in it. Done.
 
unless you can see all $800 sitting in your paypal account by logging in to your account, the sale has not completed. I've dealt with one e-check before and it did indeed go through, but be careful. Often these "alternate" methods of payment are attempts to confuse the seller.

My girlfriend tried to sell her 2G last summer and it took 4 sales to get a legit buyer. Every other one used buy it now nearly instantly, and never paid.
 
surfer99 said:
yea I dont know what to think. Guy has been an ebay member for many years with tons of postive feedback, has a confirmed address in the U.S., and hasnt asked me to ship it to nigera or anything. What do you guys think?

Only thing I thought was weird is that in the email from paypal says this guy used an "echeck payment" which is described as (quoted from my paypal email):

"You received an eCheck payment. Like a regular paper check, an eCheck may take 3-5 days to clear. That's why you'll see the transaction status set as "Pending". Your buyer has sent the payment, but if you're shipping a physical item, we suggest you wait to send it out until the eCheck clears. We'll email you as soon as the money is in your PayPal account. We estimate the eCheck will clear between 5/18/2010-5/20/2010."

I have never seen this before but I dont use paypal very often so I dont know what to think. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I'm in an organization that takes Registrations/Orders one time per year. I have received eChecks through Paypal before. This is normal. You should have it appear as clearing in the time they indicate. Don't be alarmed by this. Just follow the suggestions that Paypal gave you. I receive the same email when someone pays this way.
 
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