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is it illeagal to sell in contract iphone

freedomisle said:
It would seem your biggest mistake was to settle for a partial refund through eBay. My suggestion would be to take it up with eBay again through their telephone support. Explain you mistakenly settled for a partial refund when realistically the phone is contracted to someone else & the company it's locked to have refused to unlock the phone.


Also HEK is right, don't pass this onto someone else. This could be solved through a long phone call to eBay.
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Yeah, i ended my ebay listing for the phone, it is not on ebay now, I went with asking for a partial refund on the suggestion of a forum member here in mac rumors when i was asking about this phone being locked.

I dont know if i would get anywhere with ebay, they closed the case, do they open them again?

I also managed to get a hold of the seller, and i mentioned negative feedback for them since they have received 2 from buyers after me, and they got right back with me saying if i gave them back the money that was partially refunded to me, they would pay off the phone and get it unlocked, i replied back to them that if they did these things first and the phone is successfully unlocked, i would give them the partial refund back, because i how do i know they would get the phone unlocked for me once they got that refund back again? they might just take my money and run again.
 
Sossity said:
Yeah, i ended my ebay listing for the phone, it is not on ebay now, I went with asking for a partial refund on the suggestion of a forum member here in mac rumors when i was asking about this phone being locked.

I dont know if i would get anywhere with ebay, they closed the case, do they open them again?

I also managed to get a hold of the seller, and i mentioned negative feedback for them since they have received 2 from buyers after me, and they got right back with me saying if i gave them back the money that was partially refunded to me, they would pay off the phone and get it unlocked, i replied back to them that if they did these things first and the phone is successfully unlocked, i would give them the partial refund back, because i how do i know they would get the phone unlocked for me once they got that refund back again? they might just take my money and run again.
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Did you contact the seller through ebay? If so, that's good since ebay can see the message. I would contact ebay before you make any further monetary exchange with the seller. Ebay has the power to pull money out of people's accounts, so you wouldn't have to worry about the seller taking the money and running.
 
I wouldn't send any money to that eBay seller either.

I would try Craigslist, but clearly state the history of the phone. There will be interest if the price is low.
 
Sossity said:
thank you for your helpful response, that is all i am asking now is for some help, unlike some (I mean some, not all; most have been helpful, and I thank you) posters who feel a need to make me feel worse than i already do on top of what i am going through here.

I know the best source is to call att, i hope somebody will know something and be able to help me. I tried contacting their online chat lines, but got nowhere, all refused to help me telling me to call the wireless mobility department.
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Even if you bought the phone off some dude from ebay, his signed contract does not automatically transfer over to you.

Eg. If you get a phone under contract and it gets lost and a random stranger finds it on street. Now that stranger does not have to start paying contract charges.

If you contact AT&T, you may loose phone and money both. Why are you scared of selling the phone and moving on?
Is there anything you would want to come clean about?

1. You cannot use it (Carrier Locked)
2. You cannot unlock it

Sell it and pass it on to someone who is on AT&T network. There will still be some interest even if it is being sold for $600. The phone might eventually get blacklisted after 4-5 months if the original person who sold you the phone did not honor contract payments. Or it may continue to function as normal. Just be clear that the phone is locked.

You are not obliged to continue the contract.
 
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Since you originally got it off eBay yourself and it was not unlocked like advertized file "the eBay Money Back Guarantee" and get your money back...you have 30 days. If paid by PayPal, you have 120 days.

What is the URL the eBay page you got it from so we can see it.
 
Contracts and Next type of financing agreements are tied to the line/account and not the phone. The phone is yours to do what you want with it. That's really all it comes down to.
 
joeblow7777 said:
You own your phone. Period. Your contract is basically an agreement that says that the service provider sold it to you at a subsidized price under the condition that you stay under their plan for the specified period of time. Thus, you may sell the phone (which is fully your property) any time you wish and continue the service for the duration of the contract on a different device.
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Why don't you read a thread from the beginning? Subsidized phones are not even being questioned here! o_O
 
I think your mistake was settling the deal with the eBay seller when it wasn't as advertised. That will make it impossible to do what S.T.A.R. recommended. If you hadn't done that, you could have probably gotten a refund. It seems that most people commenting didn't read through the comments.

You have kept saying that the phone is "under contract". Locked and under contract are two completely different things. Its sounds like you bought a new phone that was carrier locked. I would re-sell it as an AT&T locked phone. Anyone on AT&T would buy it and not care. You just need to be prepared in case there is something else amiss with this phone when the buyer tries to activate it, and be prepared to do a refund (don't spend the money until you get confirmation from the buyer that it works). You may also be able to take it into an AT&T store and have them test it to see if it will work. They should be able to pop an AT&T SIM into it and see what happens, I would think. I've been on AT&T for years and bought and sold "locked" AT&T phones without worry.
 
I agree that your biggest mistake was getting a partial refund from eBay for the phone being locked. You should have just sent the phone back and got a full refund. You may not have an option of a second dispute for the same thing, since you already settled it.

AT&T can't come after you for the rest of the contract, but they can black-list the phone, I'd think.

Have you tested the phone with an AT&T SIM? A friend's or family members?

C
 
CNeufeld said:
I agree that your biggest mistake was getting a partial refund from eBay for the phone being locked. You should have just sent the phone back and got a full refund. You may not have an option of a second dispute for the same thing, since you already settled it.

AT&T can't come after you for the rest of the contract, but they can black-list the phone, I'd think.

Have you tested the phone with an AT&T SIM? A friend's or family members?

C
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yes, it has an att sim in it, and it seems ok.
 
convergent said:
I think your mistake was settling the deal with the eBay seller when it wasn't as advertised. That will make it impossible to do what S.T.A.R. recommended. If you hadn't done that, you could have probably gotten a refund. It seems that most people commenting didn't read through the comments.

You have kept saying that the phone is "under contract". Locked and under contract are two completely different things. Its sounds like you bought a new phone that was carrier locked. I would re-sell it as an AT&T locked phone. Anyone on AT&T would buy it and not care. You just need to be prepared in case there is something else amiss with this phone when the buyer tries to activate it, and be prepared to do a refund (don't spend the money until you get confirmation from the buyer that it works). You may also be able to take it into an AT&T store and have them test it to see if it will work. They should be able to pop an AT&T SIM into it and see what happens, I would think. I've been on AT&T for years and bought and sold "locked" AT&T phones without worry.
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it seems like it is both under contract and carrier locked, i tried the device unlock link page of atts, but it was declined every time saying it was still in contract.
 
S.T.A.R. said:
Since you originally got it off eBay yourself and it was not unlocked like advertized file "the eBay Money Back Guarantee" and get your money back...you have 30 days. If paid by PayPal, you have 120 days.

What is the URL the eBay page you got it from so we can see it.
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there is not much to it, it is listed as unlocked in hand, with a pre fabbed description from ebay, with att being the carrier
 
I'd start by talking to eBay about your options. Explain that you can't get the phone unlocked like you originally requested because the phone isn't just locked, but it's reported as under contract. This time, try to get a full refund.

C
 
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I just sold my iPhone 6 on eBay. It was purchased as subsidized last year, and it's still under contract and locked to AT&T. The "under contract" part is moot, because all I'm obligated to do is continue paying my AT&T bill until the contract ends - the physical phone itself has nothing to do with it. I sold it clearly described as "locked to AT&T", so the buyer knew that. Where you might get into trouble is if AT&T will blacklist a phone under contract if the person who originally purchased that phone stops paying their AT&T bill before the contract is up.
 
SisterBlue22 said:
I just sold my iPhone 6 on eBay. It was purchased as subsidized last year, and it's still under contract and locked to AT&T. The "under contract" part is moot, because all I'm obligated to do is continue paying my AT&T bill until the contract ends - the physical phone itself has nothing to do with it. I sold it clearly described as "locked to AT&T", so the buyer knew that. Where you might get into trouble is if AT&T will blacklist a phone under contract if the person who originally purchased that phone stops paying their AT&T bill before the contract is up.
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Which is a good possibility...
 
S.T.A.R. said:
Which is a good possibility...
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Doesn't mean anything for the phone though. You own it outright if you sign a 2 year contract. AT&T has no claim to it

Installment plans are a different story. The bank owns that phone until your final payment. I don't know what they do there if you stop paying.
 
terraphantm said:
Doesn't mean anything for the phone though. You own it outright if you sign a 2 year contract. AT&T has no claim to it

Installment plans are a different story. The bank owns that phone until your final payment. I don't know what they do there if you stop paying.
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You need to read the thread. The OP didn't have a contract (and still doesn't have a contract) with AT&T. He bought it off eBay.

There's no bank involved. The person he purchased it from probably just bought a subsidized phone from AT&T, which means that person is responsible for paying the ETF if they want to cancel their contract. If they don't pay that ETF and cancel their contract with AT&T (or just stop paying), AT&T can blacklist the phone, making it unusable by anyone else. Because nobody will be able to unlock it to use on another system, and AT&T will refuse to activate it on their network.

C
 
terraphantm said:
Doesn't mean anything for the phone though. You own it outright if you sign a 2 year contract. AT&T has no claim to it

Installment plans are a different story. The bank owns that phone until your final payment. I don't know what they do there if you stop paying.
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I don't believe there are any pink slips or deeds for phones, you still own it even under an installment plan, the bank/carrier just has a loan out in your name basically.
 
Really you should have just request a refund as the phone is not as described (unlocked). Although it may be too late for that......
 
Sossity said:
I have an att in contract iphone 6s on ebay, I have also ordered a swiftlock unlock code, am waiting on it, the one I bought said they does not process on weekends.

I just realized, is it illeagal to sell an in contract iphone? I see there still is an option among the actions on my listing to end the listing, I could do this and wait to put itup on ebay again until I can get an unlock code for it.

I tried to make a point of being very honest about the description, and have stated it in bold letters the deal with it.

I have tried numerous times with att to ask for one and they refuse, so I bought a code from swiftlocks.

I justgot in a mess with the phone and want to sell it, has become a headache.
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It's not really illegal if you agree to pay for it after someone buys it.....
 
CNeufeld said:
The problem is that HE'S not the original contract holder. So even if the OP was on the up-and-up, if the guy he bought it from off of eBay screws around, the phone might get screwed.

C
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Very true. That's a shame, honestly.
 
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