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why iphone 4 so expensive on Ebay

I

itouchaddicted

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 2, 2009
138
0
Hey guys
why is iphone 4, 16 gig (not unlocked) selling so high on Ebay($around 450) when we can just get it for $250 from AT&T or apple.

:apple:
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Those are contract free.
The subsidized phones u get from apple need 2 year contract.
 
Abs_p said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Those are contract free.
The subsidized phones u get from apple need 2 year contract.
Click to expand...

But when they will get their service activated on the "contract free" iphone 4, woudnt AT&T force them into a 2 year contract anyways??
 
Simple rules of market economy.

Supply and demand.

There are:

a) iPhones.
b) prices the supplier does not wish to go under
c) a markup and
d) customers willing to pay..

Plus... in ebay bidding, there is a lot of users who do not understand that bidding to early just inflates the price for those who will be there at the end...
 
itouchaddicted said:
But when they will get their service activated on the "contract free" iphone 4, woudnt AT&T force them into a 2 year contract anyways??
Click to expand...

You only have to sign a 2 year contract with AT&T, if and only if, you buy your device from them. They are selling the devices at a discounted price (the price you see of $200/$300) and, in return, expect you to stay with them for 2 years (to pay off the device which is actually MSRP $600-800).

I think it's kind of pointless paying that much for an iPhone if you are going to use it on AT&T anyways because AT&T does not offer a lower monthly bill if you bring your own device (as they do in Europe).
 
wordoflife said:
You only have to sign a 2 year contract with AT&T, if and only if, you buy your device from them. They are selling the devices at a discounted price (the price you see of $200/$300) and, in return, expect you to stay with them for 2 years (to pay off the device which is actually MSRP $600-800).

I think it's kind of pointless paying that much for an iPhone if you are going to use it on AT&T anyways because AT&T does not offer a lower monthly bill if you bring your own device (as they do in Europe).
Click to expand...

ok I get your point totally but if u have to use that contract free iphone 4 in USA which you buy from ebay, there is no other alternative than to get AT&T cuz everylisting on Ebay says :
No contract but then it says carrier AT&T
So whats the point of spending more to get the contract free iphone and still pay the same bill every month
 
Some iPhone 4 can be software unlocked and all up to 4.3.3 (maybe 4.3.4) can be hardware unlocked with the Gevey sim, allowing you to use it on other GSM carriers such as T-mobile.
 
itouchaddicted said:
i am not talking about the unlocked iphones, i was just talking about the contract free iphones
Click to expand...

The contract free iPhones are the unlocked phones. They are unlocked so you are not stuck with the contract of the telco you originally bought it with.

As the seller of iPhones, Apple can sell you one outright/contract free/unlocked, or they can sell you one that is locked to AT&T or Verizon, hence why contract free iPhones are expensive on eBay, as the buyer can then choose which telco they want to go with. They are not required to then pay the monthly fee of what ever the telco charges, and instead can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5 a month in some case.

itouchaddicted said:
No contract but then it says carrier AT&T
Click to expand...

I believe that's just to clarify to the buyer that it is an AT&T iPhone as there are slight differences between the AT&T model and the Verizon models.
 
quizzi said:
The contract free iPhones are the unlocked phones. They are unlocked so you are not stuck with the contract of the telco you originally bought it with.

As the seller of iPhones, Apple can sell you one outright/contract free/unlocked, or they can sell you one that is locked to AT&T or Verizon, hence why contract free iPhones are expensive on eBay, as the buyer can then choose which telco they want to go with. They are not required to then pay the monthly fee of what ever the telco charges, and instead can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5 a month in some case.



I believe that's just to clarify to the buyer that it is an AT&T iPhone as there are slight differences between the AT&T model and the Verizon models.[/QUOTE

contract free is not as same as unlocked
Iphones selling on Ebay are contract free but still locked to AT&T and still selling for $450. So this means that you wouldnt be in a 2 year contract but as they r locked to AT&T, you will have to get AT&T as your carrier and still pay the same bill each month.
Click to expand...
 
itouchaddicted said:
ok I get your point totally but if u have to use that contract free iphone 4 in USA which you buy from ebay, there is no other alternative than to get AT&T cuz everylisting on Ebay says :
No contract but then it says carrier AT&T
So whats the point of spending more to get the contract free iphone and still pay the same bill every month
Click to expand...

Some people just want to get a new phone without extending their AT&T contract or they might want to unlock it for use with different carriers.

Theres a lot of reasons, actually
 
itouchaddicted said:
contract free is not as same as unlocked
Iphones selling on Ebay are contract free but still locked to AT&T and still selling for $450. So this means that you wouldnt be in a 2 year contract but as they r locked to AT&T, you will have to get AT&T as your carrier and still pay the same bill each month.
Click to expand...

Ahh I see, I got you now. :)

Well there is one simple and reasonable explanation which is; an iPhone is an Apple product, and like all Apple products it retains it's value.

Take the iPhone 3G for example, some of these phones still fetch up to $300 for the 8GB model yet the hardware inside of it is at least 3 years old. It is highly unlikely that you would find a smartphone of similar specifications to retain that same price.

Just my 2 cents...
 
Last edited:
drpellypo said:
I put mine on eBay (iPhone 4 16gb) last Sunday. It's went up to £255 two days later. It's up to nearly £300 now and there's still 2 days left of the auction.
Click to expand...

Not too bad, what you hoping to get? I reckon around £375 probably? :)
 
Last week I watched 7 different ones and they all ended at 390-420 mark. Mine is mint condition and still has apple warranty left on it so I reckon I'm looking at least £400 mark.
 
boss.king said:
I was just pointing out that they aren't that expensive, especially in the US. You guys have it cheap, even without the subsidy.
Click to expand...

doesn't a lot of that have to do with the VAT? not to mention that since for the most part currency in europe is stronger than the us, and apple likes nice whole numbers for their prices, the "roundoff" to get to a price they find "visually appealing" will account for a lot of price difference between the us an european versions
 
Prepaid as little as $5 with iPhone 4s?

"They are not required to then pay the monthly fee of what ever the telco charges, and instead can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5 a month in some case."

Hi, I'm actually in the market for a factory unlocked iPhone 4s and am willing to pay the ridiculous price seeing as I am currently on a really old grandfathered t-mobile plan paying 1/2 as much as I would if I signed a new contract with any telco right now. My question is you mentioned I can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5, can you name what those are?? Thanks!

----------
itouchaddicted said:
"They are not required to then pay the monthly fee of what ever the telco charges, and instead can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5 a month in some case."
Click to expand...

Hi, I'm actually in the market for a factory unlocked iPhone 4s and am willing to pay the ridiculous price seeing as I am currently on a really old grandfathered t-mobile plan paying 1/2 as much as I would if I signed a new contract with any telco right now. My question is you mentioned I can choose to go on a pre-paid sim card for as little as $5, can you name what those are?? Thanks!

----------
boss.king said:
I was just pointing out that they aren't that expensive, especially in the US. You guys have it cheap, even without the subsidy.
Click to expand...
How much are they in other countries?
 
Some people also lose/break their iPhones and instead of paying $600+ for a brand new one in mid contract, they go to eBay. Ive sold all of my iPhones on eBay and made enough to buy the newer one plus some profit. So each time a new one comes out, I make money.
 
Sell on craigslist. I just sold my iPad 2 Wifi only 16gb on craigslist today for $450. Now if I had sold that on ebay, I would have lost around $50 in ebay + paypal fees.
 
If one does the research, you'll find that AT&T runs on a different frequency than T-Mobile. That introduces incompatibility issues. Yes they are both GSM, but the network frequencies are different. Remember a cell phone is just a radio.
 
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