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Dude...making money is difficult. Not hard, certainly not impossible...but YOU have to put effort into it. Spend the time looking for a better paying job. Buying/Selling merchandise online these days is best left to the pros. Selling a year or 18 month old phone on Craigslist is entirely different. Little to no risk and you can do it locally. Don't buy a new iPhone thinking you're gonna get rich. Others have outlined the facts, the math...and indisputable data has been given to ya---buy the phone and as you said...'Be Happy'. Sell it in a year or two. Recover your entry fee from this time around and buy the latest/greatest.

Money doesn't grow on trees. It's difficult to make, easy to spend. Your proposition is silly, especially considering you're a self admitted rookie. You're lookin' to get burned

J

Appreciate your honesty.... seriously. thanks all for the advice. at first thought it seemed like a great idea but im sure if it was, everyone would be doing it.
 
Just a thought, but the OP could sell their new 5 and buy a factory refurbished or even used 4S for a lot less than new.
This would increase his margin. If he really wanted he could also buy third party insurance or Apple Care for 12 months which would give him a warranty like he'd have on a new phone.
 
I'm sure many of you have done this. what im thinking of doing is using upgrade for iphone5 and selling it. they are going from $800-1100. and then buying new 4s. they are around $450. I'm not sure of how easy this is to do and what i need to know ahead of time. I'm verizon so i need a verizon 4s. but do i open the 5 or just leave it in box?

a 5 is probably better but the difference in money and the fact that i am new to smartphones will make pretty much any phone seem awesome to me.

any help would be great...thanks.

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also, is it worth the trouble? i am hesitant since i have never bought or sold cell phone on ebay.


you can open & activate it with the buyer next to you
 
so I found a buyer at my work. he is on AT&T. so do I open the box and activate? and when I do, what has to happen next? what does he have to do? get nano Sim? will he just be able to activate it and use on AT&T.
 
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so now today the guy is getting scared. he said he talked to ATT and they said at any time apple could update the software and then his phone wont work. is this correct? even after someone has been using on that network?
 
Just a thought, but the OP could sell their new 5 and buy a factory refurbished or even used 4S for a lot less than new.
This would increase his margin. If he really wanted he could also buy third party insurance or Apple Care for 12 months which would give him a warranty like he'd have on a new phone.

yeah, this was what i was thinking of doing. just need to get the buyer to not back out of the deal.
 
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