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Sold iPhone 3G to overseas buyers, now he wants...

C

chloe625

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2010
13
0
Sold to a person in Belgium. He received it and says he did was unaware that this American model does not funtion in Europe without an AT&T sim card.

He is asking me to provide him with the version of the firmware running on it; as well as a prepaid AT&T sim card.

My question here is 1) can anyone tell me the version of the firmware that came BEFORE 4.0, because I never upgraded to 4.0 on my 3G

and 2) where can I buy the type of prepaid AT&T sim card that he needs?

Thanks very much in advance.
 
chloe625 said:
Sold to a person in Belgium. He received it and says he did was unaware that this American model does not funtion in Europe without an AT&T sim card.

He is asking me to provide him with the version of the firmware running on it; as well as a prepaid AT&T sim card.

My question here is 1) can anyone tell me the version of the firmware that came BEFORE 4.0, because I never upgraded to 4.0 on my 3G

and 2) where can I buy the type of prepaid AT&T sim card that he needs?

Thanks very much in advance.
Click to expand...

Seems like he's asking a lot from you for a buyer that bought an as-is phone through ebay from the United States.
 
Why don't you ask AT&T?

I remember this exact thread from before. People advised you not to but I see no reason to fear, if it is a pre-paid iPhone.

What did the listing include? If you sold the phone with the card, he might want to start a claim against you to return the phone. In the end, it's your interest to keep the buyer happy.

What are risks? What can he find out about you through a pre-paid card? He hasn't got much of a chance to abuse any details, I suppose...
 
kernkraft said:
Why don't you ask AT&T?

I remember this exact thread from before. People advised you not to but I see no reason to fear, if it is a pre-paid iPhone.

What did the listing include? If you sold the phone with the card, he might want to start a claim against you to return the phone. In the end, it's your interest to keep the buyer happy.

What are risks? What can he find out about you through a pre-paid card? He hasn't got much of a chance to abuse any details, I suppose...
Click to expand...

Thanks, I actually never posted this before so it must have been someone else with a similar thread. The phone was not sold with the card and I stated this in the listing. But I agree, I'd rather just do what I can to make the buyer happy. He has been very polite so far and willing to pay all the costs plus extra for my time.
 
chloe625 said:
Thanks, I actually never posted this before so it must have been someone else with a similar thread. The phone was not sold with the card and I stated this in the listing. But I agree, I'd rather just do what I can to make the buyer happy. He has been very polite so far and willing to pay all the costs plus extra for my time.
Click to expand...

Most of the time I would say f him if he received what the auction listed. Seeing as he's being cool and willing to pay you for the items and time, I would go ahead and try and make it happen. You are under no obligation to do these things if your listing said it wouldn't come with a sim. Guess the only way you can really get a prepaid card is to buy a go-phone.... but I'm guessing.

As far as what version:
settings/general/about/version
 
I spoke to AT&T on including sim in phones I had sold in US after a hard reset. They told me not to be concerned and that if they wanted to get US service with AT&T they would have to buy a new sim card and if they were going to unlock (yes an AT&T employee used the word unlock) they would need another sim card. I was told that in some cases even after a hard reset that some phone numbers and/or email addresses may still be accessed (that parts beyond me). I read another thread a few days ago about international shipments and the centered more on attempting to get the seller to ship to unconfirmed addresses and payment fraud. Most posts state that sales to Europe have been safe. Best of luck.
 
Did you put in the add "as is"? Or anything else like that?

If so I'd tell him to go kick rocks and ship him the phone if you have received payment.
 
cantthinkofone said:
Did you put in the add "as is"? Or anything else like that?

If so I'd tell him to go kick rocks and ship him the phone if you have received payment.
Click to expand...

Ha yes I did say "This phone is sold as-is with no guarantees on function or performance" and "no sim card included" etc. He is not demanding or threatening just asking nicely, so I see no reason not to try to help the guy.

So can I just go to an AT&T store and buy a sim card? Will any of my personal information be stored on the card?

Also can someone answer my question about the firmware? (what was the version before 4.0). Thanks so much!
 
chloe625 said:
Ha yes I did say "This phone is sold as-is with no guarantees on function or performance" and "no sim card included" etc. He is not demanding or threatening just asking nicely, so I see no reason not to try to help the guy.

So can I just go to an AT&T store and buy a sim card? Will any of my personal information be stored on the card?

Also can someone answer my question about the firmware? (what was the version before 4.0). Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

Do not entertain him- Sold as is, the deal is complete. The is not 1 ounce of truth about the Sim card being needed. He is playing you for something.
 
chloe625 said:
Ha yes I did say "This phone is sold as-is with no guarantees on function or performance" and "no sim card included" etc. He is not demanding or threatening just asking nicely, so I see no reason not to try to help the guy.

So can I just go to an AT&T store and buy a sim card? Will any of my personal information be stored on the card?

Also can someone answer my question about the firmware? (what was the version before 4.0). Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

There you go. Tell him you can't get one.
 
chloe625 said:
Sold to a person in Belgium. He received it and says he did was unaware that this American model does not funtion in Europe without an AT&T sim card.

He is asking me to provide him with the version of the firmware running on it; as well as a prepaid AT&T sim card.

My question here is 1) can anyone tell me the version of the firmware that came BEFORE 4.0, because I never upgraded to 4.0 on my 3G

and 2) where can I buy the type of prepaid AT&T sim card that he needs?

Thanks very much in advance.
Click to expand...

AT&T company owned stores will sell you a prepaid SIM card. If you deposit $25 credit, the will give you the card free and active with that balance.
They ask for your name - you can give them any name (the name you
give them shows on the caller ID when the SIM card is used to call. You can pay cash. You do not need to deposit the $25 but then you have to pay for the card - do not recall they price.

I have purchased the SIM cards with credit a few times for visiting relatives. You choose among a couple of prepaid plans. These work on any unlocked phone or ATT locked phone.
 
It's scary to think the restore doesn't erase everything too. I have mine on eBay now. Ending soon. I didn't note no sim card. Two watchers no bids. I may cancel it. I'm afraid if apple can't fix proximity sensor issue I will sadly have to return this. It's a shame they won't make a statement.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

If you clearly explained that it is available exclusively on AT&T (unless jailbroken), then ignorance of a buyer is no excuse to make demands from you. If I were you I'd just take the bad review, or give him a partial refund just to get him off your back. But, if you don't mind doing the extra stuff, go for it. :p

Hope it all works out!
 
apple doesnt custom build iphones for different countries, so there is no such thing as an "American Phone", they are all the same. I have sold MANY iphones to other countries all over the world, and as long as they are properly unlocked (which is terribly easy at the moment), he will not have any reason to need a prepaid. It just sounds to fishy...you do realize that when you setup a prepaid acct a lot of personal info is asked for, so if you do decide to set it up, I would create a "FAKE" person 1st. Its very easy and a lot safer than using your own info
 
I don't know about AT&T but I've used European prepaid sim cards and these are basically cards that you can buy off the shelf without giving your name or any other personal information.

This doesn't really seem like a scam to me. There are unlocked phones for sale in Europe so it is likely that he just didn't know any better.
 
Hi

The issue seams to be that the buyer is not aware that the handset is locked to At&t. In some countries and I think Belgium is one of them networks are not permitted to lock handsets so that they only work with their network. In other an iPhone bought in Belgium, Italy or New Zealand for example will work with any sim card.

An At&t pre paid or pay as you go sim card will be of no use to this guy at all. I don't think you can activate a pre paid At&t sim once you are outside the USA and also whats he going to do, give all his friends and family a US phone number so they can call him and pay international charges.

If you marked the phone as locked to At&t on eBay then you have nothing to worry about, its his problem if he did not read this or does not understand sim locking.

If you did not advise that it was locked to At&t then you might want to consider offering a refund. Just that if he contacts Paypal and makes a claim they will take his side.

Alex
 
just tell him to run an unlocking program. even if its on 4.0 there are programs to do it. you shouldnt have to buy a prepaid card bc theres no service over there lol.
 
When I talked to Apple, they told me you can take it to the local carrier, whoever it is, and they can "flash" the phone for their service. No jail breaking involved.
 
pugnut said:
Do not entertain him- Sold as is, the deal is complete. The is not 1 ounce of truth about the Sim card being needed. He is playing you for something.
Click to expand...
Yeah if you even own an Iphone try restoring your phone, remove the sim and prove yourself wrong.:cool:
 
How is he paying you? PayPal? I would make sure the money is at least being held by them before shipping the phone. He may seem to be paying you extra for your services but what he'll try to do is get you to say he paid you too much then offer to take some money back once you ship the phone. Then his check will bounce and you will have lost your phone and some cash in the process.
 
I'm glad to read that you want to help the buyer. I think if any of us bought a phone, it would be really great if the seller were as nice as the OP and tried to help us out as much as they reasonably can.

I have a couple of comments.

(1) There are two numbers you may be interested in. The first one is the firmware, the second is the baseband.
* If you want to check the firmware number, it can be found on the iPhone itself. Simply go to Settings > General > About. The iPhone firmware version will be the number after 'Version' and will look like 2.2 or something.
* If you want to check the baseband version, it can also be found on Settings > General > About. This time, look for the label "Modem Firmware" and it should look like 02.28.00 or so.

You can find a list of baseband versions and firmware versions here: http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Firmware

(2) I don't fully understand why he would want an AT&T sim card. It seems to me that if he gets a foreign SIM card, he would have to pay an awful lot anytime he wants to make a call. Does he plan to use the phone as an iPod or as an actual phone?


(3) You may want to read this http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/know-your-rights-is-it-illegal-to-unlock-my-iphone/ if you're interested in the legality of unlocking an iPhone.
 
Sounds like the ebay buyer wasn't smart enough to know you need to unlock the phone before you can use it elsewhere. Stupidity on his part does not constitute an assistance on your part, although I'd send him the unlocking links mentioned above.

Sweetbike40 said:
It's scary to think the restore doesn't erase everything too. I have mine on eBay now. Ending soon. I didn't note no sim card. Two watchers no bids. I may cancel it.
Click to expand...

A sim card isn't a feature of the iPhone and people routinely remove it (which contains information about your account) before selling/shipping it. No need to mention "No SIM card."
 
You could just buy a sim card off eBay for him for a few bucks. 3.1.3
 
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