Question about IMEI and selling old iPhones

[mbrink12]

I'm selling my old iPhone 6 since I upgraded to the X. Guy on eBay wins my auction last night, yet to pay, and messages me to ask about the IMEI of my old phone. Why would he want to know that if my phone has been fully restored and has no locks on it? Is there anything he can do to mess up my old phone if I was to give him that number?

 

[EDH667]

It is understandable that the buyer would want to know that information with the amount of blacklisted iPhones being sold on eBay. If he has a good buyer rating I would tell him you will email him the IMEI number once he pays for the iPhone and before you ship. You can also send him a photo of the results from the Swappa IMEI check https://swappa.com/esn with the actual IMEI number blacked out as good faith before he pays. If he doesn't have a good buyer rating, you may want to negate any possibility of a bad sale by cancelling the auction and starting over.

 

[jav6454]

I'm selling my old iPhone 6 since I upgraded to the X. Guy on eBay wins my auction last night, yet to pay, and messages me to ask about the IMEI of my old phone. Why would he want to know that if my phone has been fully restored and has no locks on it? Is there anything he can do to mess up my old phone if I was to give him that number?

He wants to check if the phone is blacklisted. Only way to do that is through the IMEI, and no, he can't mess it up. Also no locks on it is to make sure the iPhone is not locked thru Find my iPhone. That way he doesn't end up with a paper weight.

 

[HallStevenson]

He's making sure that you aren't screwing him over or that you're a scammer. In all honesty, this is 100% normal when dealing with buying/selling used phones. All smart buyers will ask for this. If you try and sell on swappa.com, they require you to input the IMEI and they check it before they allow a phone to be listed for sale on their site.

 

[C DM]

I'm selling my old iPhone 6 since I upgraded to the X. Guy on eBay wins my auction last night, yet to pay, and messages me to ask about the IMEI of my old phone. Why would he want to know that if my phone has been fully restored and has no locks on it? Is there anything he can do to mess up my old phone if I was to give him that number?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/when-selling-iphone-is-it-safe-to-give-out-imei.2093145/