Buying off ebay

[Raz Ghost]

I probably already know the answer to this question but thought I would ask anyway, I have been looking at buying a new phone and was looking through some ebay listings and something caught my eye. There are at least 2 sellers selling a brand new phone without box, cable, charger, just the phone and I can't help but feel it is a bit dodgy. Is there any way to check that a phone is not stolen or does anyone know of a way how these people would of came about getting new phones with no accessories?

 

Many thanks

[kelvinhall05]

You could run the IMEI number, but if it's a normal price from a reputable seller I wouldn't worry.

[VeganJoy]

for iphones at least, you can ask for the imei and see if its blacklisted which would mean its stolen or something. proper sellers would be more than happy to share that with you. could very well be someone running a small shop or business and they end up with phones without accessories, or they just wanna keep those things.

[Dedayog]

10 minutes ago, Raz Ghost said:

I probably already know the answer to this question but thought I would ask anyway, I have been looking at buying a new phone and was looking through some ebay listings and something caught my eye. There are at least 2 sellers selling a brand new phone without box, cable, charger, just the phone and I can't help but feel it is a bit dodgy. Is there any way to check that a phone is not stolen or does anyone know of a way how these people would of came about getting new phones with no accessories?

 

Many thanks

I just bought a OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren off Ebay last week, which was exactly as you describe...  It was a trade-in phone they resell, and you can't expect someone to trade in the cahrger and cable and box as well.   Very rarely do people keep boxes and the charger/cable can be reused in most cases.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OnePlus-7T-Pro-256GB-McLaren-5G-Edition-T-mobile-Unlocked-A-Stock/174443285958?hash=item289da14dc6:g:aBcAAOSwcAFfSsH0

 

Please realize that Ebay isn't a "store". It may have those aspects in its current iteration but it was conceived as a garage sale place of sorts.  Used items don't have boxes/manuals/s etc.  

[Kawaii Koneko]

Honestly, PayPal and eBay strongly lean towards protecting the buyer vs the seller so I wouldn't worry about it. You can just get a refund if something goes wrong.

 

I bought a brand new HTC M9 (yeah, this was awhile ago) back when I was on a grandfathered plan and had to pay outright for my devices. It was like one year behind the new phones IIRC but I saved quite a bit of money and didn't have any issues other than the seller being a couple days late sending it out.

[Raz Ghost]

13 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Please realize that Ebay isn't a "store". It may have those aspects in its current iteration but it was conceived as a garage sale place of sorts.  Used items don't have boxes/manuals/s etc.  

I understand that but they are being advertised as new, never used and to be able to claim that you would think they must have had the phone in their possession from the box

[Dedayog]

Just now, Raz Ghost said:

I understand that but they are being advertised as new, never used and to be able to claim that you would think they must have had the phone in their possession from the box

That does make sense. Can you link the listing?

 

I glossed over the  "brand new phone" part when I convinced myself you meant new to me.  Apologies for that.

 

[Raz Ghost]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OnePlus-8-5G-Dual-SIM-IN2013-128GB-Black-Unlocked-SIMFree/313227265251?epid=28037845276&hash=item48edccc4e3:g:WjQAAOSwHglfaKr6

 

This guy even has 2 available

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OnePlus-8-128GB-Black-Unlocked-Dual-SIM/184458906358?epid=28037845276&hash=item2af29b8af6%3Ag%3AlZkAAOSwII9fahTz&LH_BIN=1

 

Also to note the average sale price with box and accessories is around £440 so they're in line with the pricing

[Dedayog]

First link, 8 feedback.  Fuck that.

 

Second link... send him a message. I asked a lot of questions before I bought mine.  Good pricing tho, I paid a touch more than that for the slower 7T Pro McLaren.

 

But you're right, not sure I'd trust "open but never used".  Why open it if you aren't going to use it?!

[dizmo]

If you're worried, why not just pay a little more for something sealed in the box? There's auctions up with only a couple days left for only a few more pound (atm).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OnePlus-8-128GB-Onyx-Black-Unlocked-Dual-SIM/164389854137?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3D7b6cda8902c24d6e831bc0f7d051d176%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D184458906358%26itm%3D164389854137%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DDefaultOrganic%26brand%3DOnePlus&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

 

eBay will cover you should you have issues and you pay with Paypal. You really have nothing to be worried about, unless being out that money for a week or two is going to cause you immense pressure....in which case I'd say you shouldn't be spending the money on a phone anyway.

 

38 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

I just bought a OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren off Ebay last week, which was exactly as you describe...  It was a trade-in phone they resell, and you can't expect someone to trade in the cahrger and cable and box as well.   Very rarely do people keep boxes and the charger/cable can be reused in most cases.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OnePlus-7T-Pro-256GB-McLaren-5G-Edition-T-mobile-Unlocked-A-Stock/174443285958?hash=item289da14dc6:g:aBcAAOSwcAFfSsH0

 

Please realize that Ebay isn't a "store". It may have those aspects in its current iteration but it was conceived as a garage sale place of sorts.  Used items don't have boxes/manuals/s etc.  

Eh, it happens. He could have gotten the phones with severe box damage, and is just selling what was salvageable. Doesn't affect anything, and the unit is likely fine. When I got my Logitech keyboard the box was barely there, but it worked perfectly fine. I got it for 30% of it's retail because of the "damage."

[Raz Ghost]

Yeah I was never thinking of the 1st one and I know right and why have 2 of them?

 

I added it to my watch list and soon after he sent me a offer for £20 off, seems a bit too desperate to get rid if you ask me, also I just noticed that under condition "new, unboxed" ebay defines that as fully functional but may have defects that do not affect function such as a scratch which doesn't sound great.

 

I agree with the whole ebay and paypal being on my side but if all is fine but then the phone is registered as stolen 3 months later I am not eligible for protection.

 

So yeah going to give it a miss thanks all for the input