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The Short and Happy Life of My iPhone 4

spaceboots06

spaceboots06

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 13, 2009
968
1
The Rotten Apple
Hey guys and gals,

I'd like to share my recent experience with the buying and selling of my iPhone 4, starting with last month.

It was the middle of July and I felt as if I needed to upgrade to the iPhone 4 from my iPhone 3G. My iPhone 3G is in a decrepit state; the sleep/wake button is inoperable, vibrate works when it wants to, silent switch doesn't really work, volume up button doesn't work, screen is cracked and is to the point where it looks like a spiderweb, thorough water damage, SIM card sometimes is not recognized and that's about it. So I thought an upgrade would be a good investment. I bought the iPhone 4 for a total of $218 and was told I'd get it in three weeks.

Unsurprisingly, I got my iPhone 4 in three weeks. The day I got it I was pretty excited and loved the new features, ease of use (compared to my last phone) and speed of the device. I did in fact notice that calls were dropping left and right, but swiftly ordered my bumper for free. Some would call this foolish, but living in NYC and knowing the amount of people who are absolutely fixated on this phone I decided to make a craigslist.org posting to see how much my phone is worth. There were of course lowballers; $300, $350, $400 and in between were all offers made. Then there were more serious interested individuals, offering anywhere from $500 to $650. One email caught my eye in particular, where a lady offered me $700 cash for the phone and was willing to meet up the day of the posting. I was skeptical at first but decided that the phone had no sentimental value to me and selling it for $700 would yield a $500 profit, pretty much. So I went through with it and sold off my phone the next day after weighing out the pros and cons. I think the pros, or pro rather, of this situation is obvious, but the con was that I'm out an iPhone 4 and unless I'm mistaken am unable to upgrade my phone for another 2 years unless I pay a serious amount of money for the phone. (More than $700?)

Anyway, I made small talk with the innocent looking female college student and she hesitantly revealed to me that she bought three iPhone 4s for $700 dollars a pop yesterday. After a little prodding, she also revealed to me that she sells them to a man who then sells them overseas. Wow! I didn't know they were worth that much. And another wow is that she must be making serious profit if she can afford to drop $2,100 in a day!

Personally, I think she's offering way too much for these phones. Am I mistaken? Did I luck out finding this buyer? I do not regret this decision and reactivated my iPhone 3G today and am not really dissatisfied at all. A phone is unavoidably dropped and abused and as far as I was concerned my iPhone 4 would be damaged somehow by October. My iPhone 3G sort of has sentimental value to me; it's been with me for years now and has been at my side through the highs and lows of my life. :p I put most of the money in the bank, and am as happy as a pig in... err... you know. Anyway, the money wasn't counterfeit and the transaction was smooth.

Oh, this is for a 16gb phone, if that changes anything. And the thread title is a play on the short story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

Just thought I'd share. I might look into a blackberry, but don't know anything about them. Thanks for reading!
 
Damn! I'd sell mine in a shot if an opportunity like that opened up. Don't think the demand is as high anymore though.

Cool story, you made a very tidy profit!
 
I love the old phones the best as well. They just had more effort put into them I think and not rushed outnfor a yearly release.

Nice profit making though as well
 
I think $700 is a bit much because they can be bought off contract brand new for $599 if they can be found.

Conspiracy theory:

Maybe she is sending them overseas to help the terrorists? And you just got paid with blood money? :confused:


LOL just playing :D
 
87vert said:
I think $700 is a bit much because they can be bought off contract brand new for $599 if they can be found.
Click to expand...

And if they are being sold overseas in a country where the phone isn't released, finding one is going to be tricky.
 
That's an awesome profit, well done! Selling them oversea's is a big money maker.

I live in the UK and I've just been to Dubai for 2 weeks. In the electrical shops in Dubai, for a 16GB Wifi iPad - they wanted between £2000 - £3000 each. In the duty free airport they wanted £1800. One place even asked for £10,800! When I explained that in the UK they were only £400 they were somewhat shocked.

When I came back to the UK I asked in the Apple shop why they are trying to charge so much in Dubai, and they told me that because they have no Apple shops in Dubai - they get them shipped in from places such as the UK, USA, Australia and so on and charge extreme amounts as they residents in Dubai are prepared to pay.

Needless to say, I didn't buy it in Dubai. I waited until I was back in the UK ;)
 
JsR said:
That's an awesome profit, well done! Selling them oversea's is a big money maker.

I live in the UK and I've just been to Dubai for 2 weeks. In the electrical shops in Dubai, for a 16GB Wifi iPad - they wanted between £2000 - £3000 each. In the duty free airport they wanted £1800. One place even asked for £10,800! When I explained that in the UK they were only £400 they were somewhat shocked.

When I came back to the UK I asked in the Apple shop why they are trying to charge so much in Dubai, and they told me that because they have no Apple shops in Dubai - they get them shipped in from places such as the UK, USA, Australia and so on and charge extreme amounts as they residents in Dubai are prepared to pay.

Needless to say, I didn't buy it in Dubai. I waited until I was back in the UK ;)
Click to expand...

Dubai is a place of altered reality, nothing is appropriately priced there.
 
JsR said:
That's an awesome profit, well done! Selling them oversea's is a big money maker.

I live in the UK and I've just been to Dubai for 2 weeks. In the electrical shops in Dubai, for a 16GB Wifi iPad - they wanted between £2000 - £3000 each. In the duty free airport they wanted £1800. One place even asked for £10,800! When I explained that in the UK they were only £400 they were somewhat shocked.

When I came back to the UK I asked in the Apple shop why they are trying to charge so much in Dubai, and they told me that because they have no Apple shops in Dubai - they get them shipped in from places such as the UK, USA, Australia and so on and charge extreme amounts as they residents in Dubai are prepared to pay.

Needless to say, I didn't buy it in Dubai. I waited until I was back in the UK ;)
Click to expand...

Yup, almost the same thing in Lebanon. I went to various electronic stores and they're selling 16 gb wifi ipads for $1000+. I actually found a guy that was going to buy mine for $1k but something came up, and my vacation was over.
 
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