Part II - UDP For Life

[koldlaser77]

Man, that's a lot drama for selling on eBay! Appreciate the detailed info.

After reading all that precautions I think I rather just stand by a busy street corner and exclaim, "IPhones for sale." Or I just Craigslist the item.

 

[slimtim49036]

It is a few extra steps, for sure. Well worth it, though. Whenever we're tempted to cut corners on fraud prevention, we just whisper the words, "David Pham" to ourselves and our resolve springs back to life.

The benefits of listing on Ebay is the high traffic volume there. Even without selling internationally and with cancelling bids liberally, we still have done well on pricing.

We list the iPhones as "no reserve" auctions and have found that it makes no difference whether we run a 1 day auction, a 3 day auction, or a 7 day auction, the iPhones still end up at roughly the same price point in the end and all end up at something around market value.

 

[slimtim49036]

By the way, just an observation on fixed price versus auction format, since we've done it both ways.

I think that fixed price format itself attracts more scammers, because scammers are more likely to want instant gratification and be guaranteed the sale, rather than having to wait around and bid and hope that they win.

Before we switched to auction format, we had 3 sales to hacked stolen Paypal accounts, as well as the one scammer sale. (all 3 sales to hacked accounts were either flagged by Paypal or us and refunded, so that no phones were sent to the thieves)

Once we switched to auction format, we have not sold to any hacked accounts at all.

 

[JulesJam]

Wow I looked and all the cases are out of stock as well. Maybe I should have ordered that day. At least your phone is on its way lol, got to love globalization.

The Case Mate Hula and Gelli cases are back in stock on the Motorola website.

They also list the Incipio Dual Pro as coming soon for $35, but I noticed it was $30 on the Incipio site. It is one of my favorite cases. I have it for my GNex in the white back with the black silicone interior shell. To get that color combo I had to buy 2 though since the white back comes with a grey silicone interior shell. And even though I really love the white hard shell, it gets discolored and is hard to clean. The black hard shell shows finger prints and scratches so I prefer the white. The Dual Pro fits in one of the Seidio holsters, the one for the Dilex (Active) not the Surface for the GNex.

The Motorola site also has the Incipio NGP for the Moto X 2014. I have the Incipio NGP for my GNex in pink and I like that one but it is more rigid so the button covers are a bit stiff and it doesn't feel as nice in the hand as the Dual Pro IMO. The NGP fits in the Seidio Dilex hoster too. It shows scratches but in the frost color may not show the scratches as readily. It is only $20 on the Incipio website.

I noticed that Motorola Mobility is back on the MrRebates site for 3% cash back. My phone isn't shipping soon but I have another code and if the micro power pack comes back in stock I am using it.

I didn't realize this but the Moto X only has one antenna shared b/t the CDMA and LTE radios and that means you can't talk and use LTE data at the same time until they are able to enable VoLTE Is this the same for the N6? Or is Lollipop on the N6 ready for HD calling out of the box?

 

[JulesJam]

My phone isn't shipping soon

I just got the we're assembling it email so maybe I will have my phone before Christmas!!!!

Peeps, help me pick a color combo for the second phone that I am going to sell if the micro power pack comes back in stock. I don't want to go with a black back b/c my other one has a black back. So either chalk with white front or chalk with black front. Or the football leather (doesn't appeal to me but maybe guys would like it?).

I really don't care for the white fronts myself but people seem to like them at least in the iPhones and since I will be selling the phone, I want to pick a popular combo. These are my choices:

Which one would be the best for resale, keeping in mind that the football leather one would be $25 more. No biggy but do you think people would pay $25 more for it?

 

[JulesJam]

And Now For An On-Topic Post!

Finally sold the last of my iPhones. I was holding onto them to make sure that Verizon didn't pull any more funny business with my account/IMEIs. All in all I came out of this about $5k richer in terms of the retail value of the phones I kept + the profit from the iPhones I sold. And 3 brand spankin' new UDP lines!!!!! I gave all of my other UDP lines away so I can't even imagine how much those of you who were able to sell your lines at the beginning made! Being a "scalper" sure does pay well, lol!!!

I can't thank Desert Silver enough for bringing this glitch to my attention!!!!!!

Also, I finally was able to get my last UDP line merged into my Any Mobile Talk & Text family share plan. The reps and tier 2 tech support were unable to do it so they put in an inactive pricing request which was denied . Finally got a rep on the line in retentions department (which they call the win back or customer loyalty department - you get forwarded to them if you select that you want to cancel service) who could figure it out. We had to activate a different SIM card in the phone to get the line to merge into the family share.

Not sure what the problem with the SIM card was but if you remember, I was aborting the activation of the iP6 by activating an iP5s with a different SIM card on the line then changing the phone number on the line. It was probably the phone number change that caused the problem in the first place if I had to guess. Activating a different SIM card on the line worked to solve the problem.

Ultimately I got charged the activation fee for all of my lines, but the iP6 remained unactivated and I could sell them sealed no problem. Once activated, the warranty on the phone began from the date of activation, not the date of purchase. I didn't end up making $35 more by selling sealed phones so it totally was not worth it.

Best option is to open the new phones to remove the SIM card in the phone and activate them with a different line's already active SIM card - that avoids the activation/upgrade fees. You can't sell the phone sealed if you activate them, but IME you can't get $30/$35 more for a sealed phone anyhow.

 

[didiee]

Finally sold the last of my iPhones. I was holding onto them to make sure that Verizon didn't pull any more funny business with my account/IMEIs. All in all I came out of this about $5k richer in terms of the value of the phones I kept + the profit from my iPhone sales. And 3 brand spankin' new UDP lines!!!!! I gave all of my other UDP lines away so I can't even imagine how much those of you who were able to sell your lines at the beginning made, lol!

I can't thank Desert Silver enough for bringing this glitch to my attention!!!!!!

Also, I finally was able to get my last UDP line merged into my Any Mobile Talk & Text family share plan. The reps and tier 2 tech support were unable to do it so they put in an inactive pricing request which was denied . Finally got a rep on the line in retentions department (which they call the win back or customer loyalty department - you get forwarded to them if you select that you want to cancel service) who could figure it out. We had to activate a different SIM card in the phone to get the line to merge into the family share.

Not sure what the problem with the SIM card was but if you remember, I was aborting the activation of the iP6 by activating an iP5s with a different SIM card on the line then changing the phone number on the line. It was probably the phone number change that caused the problem in the first place if I had to guess. Activating a different SIM card on the line worked to solve the problem.

Ultimately I got charged the activation fee for all of my lines, but the iP6 remained unactivated and I could sell them sealed no problem. Once activated, the warranty on the phone began from the date of activation, not the date of purchase. I didn't end up making $35 more by selling sealed phones so it totally was not worth it. Best option is to activate the phones with a different line's SIM card - that avoids the activation/upgrade fees. You can't sell the phone sealed if you activate them, but IME you can't get $30/$35 more for a sealed phone anyhow.

If you want to sell to oversea crowd, they may care whether their new phone is sealed or not.
All of my lines are out, for a while now, thank God. So all the lines have been activated... there were a few lines I AOL'ed while in suspension and had pdi's as soon as I obtained them, not sure who got stuck with the activation fee, if there was any.

final haul:
5 new UDP's
new iphones
hours of entertainment, panic attacks, nagging by the wife, cursing out stupid buyers on ebay, multiple RTFT, knowledge of how AOL works..... etc etc.

 

[JulesJam]

If you want to sell to oversea crowd, they may care whether their new phone is sealed or not.

So do some people in the US. However, none of them care enough to pay $30-$35 more for the phone so I am never doing it again. It is more profitable to avoid the activation/upgrade fees IME.

All of my lines are out, for a while now, thank God. So all the lines have been activated... there were a few lines I AOL'ed while in suspension and had pdi's as soon as I obtained them, not sure who got stuck with the activation fee, if there was any.

If you weren't charged the activation fee, then none was charged. If you were able to get them to put a PDI on the new line without ever activating a SIM card on the new line, that is what avoided the activation fee.

I had them activate a different SIM card on the new line and that triggered the activation fee. So clearly, activating any SIM card on the new line triggered the activation fee whereas a PDI did not.

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final haul:
5 new UDP's
new iphones
hours of entertainment, panic attacks, nagging by the wife, cursing out stupid buyers on ebay, multiple RTFT, knowledge of how AOL works..... etc etc.

So did you keep 5 UDP lines and 5 iPhones?

 

[didiee]

So do some people in the US. However, none of them care enough to pay $30-$35 more for the phone so I am never doing it again. It is more profitable to avoid the activation/upgrade fees IME.

If you weren't charged the activation fee, then none was charged. If you were able to get them to put a PDI on the new line without ever activating a SIM card on the new line, that is what avoided the activation fee.

I had them activate a different SIM card on the new line and that triggered the activation fee. So clearly, activating any SIM card on the new line triggered the activation fee whereas a PDI did not.

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So did you keep 5 UDP lines and 5 iPhones?

Most of people who bought werent verizon customers, at least that's the feeling I got. So I havent had anyone crazy enough to use the sim card in the phone to activate the iphone.

Yes, activating any sim card on a new line does trigger activation fee. I got a few brand new sim cards from apple, and activated them on the new lines, there were charges for them; however, this way it kept the iphone sealed; but like you pointed out, still got to pay $35 fee and resale may not be worth it. By saying it is in a sealed box, it bypasses some a--holes questions. "Your listing says it is brand new, but you already opened the box. Is is new or not.... If it's already opened; how can you say it is brand new?"

I net more than 5 UPD's (less than 20) keeping them for family members. I am thinking cancelling my parents fios, since they dont really need it saving them 30 bucks a month. I was lucky enough to sell a few udp lines before all the craziness. Sold a few iphones on ebay and swappa... I still have a few iPhones left, waiting a few days and try to get a better price right before Christmas.

Best deal I struck
128 gb 6+/UDP line combo $1450. cha-ching! Very early in the game of course.

 

[KPOM]

And now for an on-topic post!

I thought this discussion had become the "What case should I get for my Android phone?" thread.

Finally sold the last of my iPhones. I was holding onto them to make sure that Verizon didn't pull any more funny business with my account/IMEIs. All in all I came out of this about $5k richer in terms of the retail value of the phones I kept + the profit from the iPhones I sold. And 3 brand spankin' new UDP lines!!!!! I gave all of my other UDP lines away so I can't even imagine how much those of you who were able to sell your lines at the beginning made! Being a "scalper" sure does pay well, lol!!!

Although in the process, Verizon (at least officially) closed off AOLing of UDPs, so if a glitch like this ever happens again, it won't be as easy to pull off.

It's amazing how it's been a month since the glitch was closed and this thread is still going. A few more posts and we'll be at 200 pages!

 

[didiee]

I thought this discussion had become the "What case should I get for my Android phone?" thread.



Although in the process, Verizon (at least officially) closed off AOLing of UDPs, so if a glitch like this ever happens again, it won't be as easy to pull off.

It's amazing how it's been a month since the glitch was closed and this thread is still going. A few more posts and we'll be at 200 pages!

it is top 5 most replied thread in iphone.
if we combined the first thread that was closed due to unapproved "activities", definitely top 3.....

 

[JulesJam]

I thought this discussion had become the "What case should I get for my Android phone?" thread.

Well we can discuss iPhone/iPad cases if you want, lol! I buy them for my relatives so I know alot about those.

Although in the process, Verizon (at least officially) closed off AOLing of UDPs, so if a glitch like this ever happens again, it won't be as easy to pull off.

Yah, sucks, but there was no way to stop this from snowballing and once it did, the numbers grew exponentially. It was bound to get Verizon's attention.

It's amazing how it's been a month since the glitch was closed and this thread is still going. A few more posts and we'll be at 200 pages!

Well there are people still with UDP lines to AOL, iPhones to sell, scammers to deal with and of course profits to spend on Android phones, lol!

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it is top 5 most replied thread in iphone.
if we combined the first thread that was closed due to unapproved "activities", definitely top 3.....

And those are just the people who replied. I can't even imagine how many people lurked on this thread and were in on the game but just didn't participate in the thread!

 

[markyr17]

haha yes I do love that this thread is still going. Rock on guys. Just got one of my last bills. 1600.00

 

[rockstar72]

Well we can discuss iPhone/iPad cases if you want, lol! I buy them for my relatives so I know alot about those.

OK, what's a recommendation for a case for an iPhone 6 plus, one that might let it still fit in a guy's pocket? A Verizon rep with an iP+ suggested a SUP case, which is an Otterbox knockoff, I was hoping for something smaller, but it would provide protection. I was happy with a Spigen Tough Armor on an iPhone 5S. Might go that route again.

 

[didiee]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1826879/

here's another thread that's discussing att ipad udp, maybe of some interest to some of you.i dont have att, so could careless.

with the way all these companies are cutting prices for data plan, maybe udp could come back? t-mo and sprint, may be putting some pressure on big red and att. but i would never go back to sprint not even if they pay me. t-mo with free oversea roaming could be interesting, but i dont travel enough to really get anything out of it. I guess I can always leveraging and perhaps get a better deal from verizon.

I was put on hold for 15 mins then hung up on three days ago. Called back, the csr was nice and sought a discount to put on the account, he looked for good 5 mins, even though i didnt want him to... (who knows what he would do while he's snooping around...). At the end, he said with NW plan, there is not much discounts he can put on the plan, not even a few dollars..... I think big red is really trying hard to get people off these older plans.

I am looking for a thin iphone 6 case with some protection. I drop my phone enough times to know I need protection, but I still want it to have a semi-naked look....

 

[JulesJam]

OK, what's a recommendation for a case for an iPhone 6 plus, one that might let it still fit in a guy's pocket? A Verizon rep with an iP+ suggested a SUP case, which is an Otterbox knockoff, I was hoping for something smaller, but it would provide protection. I was happy with a Spigen Tough Armor on an iPhone 5S. Might go that route again.

Do you want one with a lip on it so that when you lay it face down it protects the screen? As I wrote before, I really like the Incipio Dual Pro and for the iP6+ they have the Dual Pro Shine, which has a brushed aluminum style back so it avoids the problems I wrote about in my previous post with the cases I had which had soft touch backs.

http://www.incipio.com/cases/iphone...th-brushed-aluminum-finish-iphone-6-plus.html


If you don't want a lip on the case, then the Feather Shine is a good choice but not much protection.

http://www.incipio.com/cases/iphone...th-brushed-aluminum-finish-iphone-6-plus.html


The Seidio Surface is a nice soft touch slider case with a lip but the finger prints are the problem I have with the soft touch cases in general. Seidio offers the regular Surface, Reveal and one with a metal kickstand. If you want a holster to go with a case, the Seidio is a good one.

http://www.seidioonline.com/Apple-iPhone-6-Plus-s/9407.htm

 

[JulesJam]

I am looking for a thin iphone 6 case with some protection. I drop my phone enough times to know I need protection, but I still want it to have a semi-naked look....

Check out the Incipio Feather shine I linked to above.

If you want a clear back, the JETech is cheap and it has a lip on it but I am not sure how the clear back on it will hold up to scratches. Those clear backs usually scratch easily. I got them for my relatives so they had something to put on their devices from day 1.

http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-JETech®-Shock-Absorption-Anti-Scratch-Release/dp/B00M3Q4ID4

I just noticed they make them with metal bumpers - wish I had seen those before I ordered the others but I suspect they were just released.

 

[JulesJam]

Ebay Fraud Prevention for Iphone Sales

Thanks for such a detailed post!!!

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1) We’ve made an absolute decision not to ship overseas and not to ship to freight forwarding companies that forward items overseas. Although in theory, if an item is reshipped, the seller shouldn’t be liable, they often end up on the hook for the transaction anyway.

Wrt the reshippers, I have shipped to those before but only to buyers that had purchased many (50+) devices on swappa before so I knew they were legit buyers.

 

[AutoLode]

Great thread you guys! I'm sitting here in Oahu at Pipeline today and I thought of my MacRumors UDP friends as I'm typing on my Toughbook with UML295 modem, texting buddies on my new iphone 6 (BB method upgrade) and watching live surf cams on my new ipad 3 mini gold VZW all on MHS UDP's thanks to this thread! Did less than 10 (kept about half the UDP's) but all iphone 6 plus 128gb with a few left to sell but I got them for such a deal I wouldn't mind keeping them as "trophies" lol. Not sure if I made any profit but everything is surely paid for by this deal including several MHS291L's, ipad mini gold 128gb and a few UML295's, Cradlepoint 1400's etc! Man this was fun!!!

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Man, that's a lot drama for selling on eBay! Appreciate the detailed info.

After reading all that precautions I think I rather just stand by a busy street corner and exclaim, "IPhones for sale." Or I just Craigslist the item.

I do sell a lot on ebay but not iphones,I used CL for all my phone sales. The problem isn't who or how we ship with ebay the problem is how we get paid. When I sell internationally I only accept bank wire transfers or Postal Money orders (from participating countries) and never anything tied to a credit card. Chase (bank) "Quick Pay" (USA only) is a great and safe way to get paid and you don't share any personal info other than email address and / or phone number and it's 100% free of fees on both ends, basically an echeck with hidden / protected account info. The only catch with these types of payment is that the buyer has no recourse but it's golden for us sellers

 

[workingnonstop]

So do some people in the US. However, none of them care enough to pay $30-$35 more for the phone so I am never doing it again. It is more profitable to avoid the activation/upgrade fees IME.

If you weren't charged the activation fee, then none was charged. If you were able to get them to put a PDI on the new line without ever activating a SIM card on the new line, that is what avoided the activation fee.

I had them activate a different SIM card on the new line and that triggered the activation fee. So clearly, activating any SIM card on the new line triggered the activation fee whereas a PDI did not.

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So did you keep 5 UDP lines and 5 iPhones?

I used PDIs on all but one of my lines, with remaining devices unopened and inactivated. Was still charged an activation fee for every line.

 

[hugenut]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1826879/

here's another thread that's discussing att ipad udp, maybe of some interest to some of you.i dont have att, so could careless.

Anyone else having problems opening the link? Says I don't have permission to access the page???

 

[slimtim49036]

Thanks for such a detailed post!!!

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Wrt the reshippers, I have shipped to those before but only to buyers that had purchased many (50+) devices on swappa before so I knew they were legit buyers.

No problem! Glad to help anybody with what we've learned.

That would limit risk a lot if you were shipping to a known and trusted buyer via a freight forwarder.

What really cemented in our heads the fact that we wanted to take a pass on reshippers was the fact that lots of people from notoriously risky countries use reshippers. Allowing an iPhone to be forwarded to a country like Ukraine or Russia is a gamble at best.

 

[didiee]

Anyone else having problems opening the link? Says I don't have permission to access the page???

it's listed under marketplace, you have to have certain number of posts before you can get there...
most important post regarding transferring at&t udp

"Quote:
Originally Posted by east85
Unfortunately the seller and I don't know much about transferring the SIM. She tried to go through AT&T and they just said that the plan would have to be changed to transfer it. Is anyone here knowledgeable about how I would go about this? I believe the proper route would be her just transferring the login credentials to me via att.com/ipadlanding and me changing the billing information to mine.

Answer by MyiBill
Best bet would be buying a prepaid gift card (Amex, visa) and having the seller add that as the payment method and then changing the login to your email or a new one and then you change to your email and then you change the password once you have it and add your real credit card."

 

[jdougal]

The Case Mate Hula and Gelli cases are back in stock on the Motorola website.

They also list the Incipio Dual Pro as coming soon for $35, but I noticed it was $30 on the Incipio site. It is one of my favorite cases. I have it for my GNex in the white back with the black silicone interior shell. To get that color combo I had to buy 2 though since the white back comes with a grey silicone interior shell. And even though I really love the white hard shell, it gets discolored and is hard to clean. The black hard shell shows finger prints and scratches so I prefer the white. The Dual Pro fits in one of the Seidio holsters, the one for the Dilex (Active) not the Surface for the GNex.

The Motorola site also has the Incipio NGP for the Moto X 2014. I have the Incipio NGP for my GNex in pink and I like that one but it is more rigid so the button covers are a bit stiff and it doesn't feel as nice in the hand as the Dual Pro IMO. The NGP fits in the Seidio Dilex hoster too. It shows scratches but in the frost color may not show the scratches as readily. It is only $20 on the Incipio website.

I noticed that Motorola Mobility is back on the MrRebates site for 3% cash back. My phone isn't shipping soon but I have another code and if the micro power pack comes back in stock I am using it.

I didn't realize this but the Moto X only has one antenna shared b/t the CDMA and LTE radios and that means you can't talk and use LTE data at the same time until they are able to enable VoLTE Is this the same for the N6? Or is Lollipop on the N6 ready for HD calling out of the box?

Awesome thanks for the heads up, time to buy it appears!

Currently Nexus 6 doesn't have VoLTE. Apparently that will be coming later next year when XLTE gets turned on for the Nexus. Verizon still isn't recognizing my Nexus in their systems lol.

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If you want to sell to oversea crowd, they may care whether their new phone is sealed or not.
All of my lines are out, for a while now, thank God. So all the lines have been activated... there were a few lines I AOL'ed while in suspension and had pdi's as soon as I obtained them, not sure who got stuck with the activation fee, if there was any.

final haul:
5 new UDP's
new iphones
hours of entertainment, panic attacks, nagging by the wife, cursing out stupid buyers on ebay, multiple RTFT, knowledge of how AOL works..... etc etc.

LOL, I can second the nagging, cursing stupid buyers, hating PayPal. I'm not sure how many phones I sold. I know I have a lot of nano sims lol.

 

[K43kf0]

For the jet pack on eBay, if I buy it can I just put my udp sim and start using without calling verizon to activate? The seller said that I must call verizon to activate otherwise it won't work. Is that true?