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Iphone and Ebay

D

Daniel.steel

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 4, 2005
60
1
York UK
Do you think that the iphone will make its way onto ebay after launch?

As i am not in the USA i want to think of every way to get a iphone ebay was my first idea,

whats the deal in the usa with phones and price plans,

in the uk nearly every type of handset is on ebay i am hopeing that the iphone is the same if not please can you explain what the procsess will be in the usa for buying a iphone, ( Contact proof's ect ) do you need to be a usa citizen?

Thanks for all your help,
 
I'm not American, but I can ashure you that the iPhone WILL be on eBay but I doubt that It will be as soon as JUST AFTER LAUNCH. Maybe a Month, two, or three...

I'm curious about the US of A type of Mobile Phone contract, as being from Britain.
 
what's the point since all the carrier specific features wouldn't work? also, Apple is apparently making it very difficult to unlock. so if people manage to unlock the phone, unless you have Cingular/ATT in the US you'd get a crippled version of the phone anyway, not worth the money.
 
im pretty sure you will see an iPhone maybe the second or third day after launch, and if u do plan on bidding you better have some serious cash. i wouldnt be suprised to see it sell for a couple thousand.
 
I would guess you're not going to find them on ebay until someone figures out how to unlock them. Until then, there's no point in trying to buy one.

As far as US phone contracts, I've never had to actually prove I was an American citizen, but I'd guess you'd at least have to have a US mailing address to send the bill to. With rates and plans, you usually get locked into your plan and phone with a 2 year contract, although I think its fairly easy to change your plan if you're usage habits change.
 
there is a thread about the carrier for the uk on here. just wait, it's not worth the pain to see it u can unlock it for use in the uk.
 
Daniel.steel said:
if i had a usa mailing adress do you think i would be able to pay the bills via a credit card?
Click to expand...

Yes, but I think the bigger problem is going to be the credit check cellphone providers run on new customers. If finding out that you are not a US resident is a problem for them, they'll find that out quickly during the credit check.
 
Daniel.steel said:
if i had a usa mailing adress do you think i would be able to pay the bills via a credit card?
Click to expand...

Another issue to worry about is international roaming.

The iPhone is a quad-band phone, and Cingular does have support from most major carriers (at least for the UK which is all I looked up). However, you're going to be paying like crazy since its considered roaming. At least 99 cents a minute voice and 50 cents for SMS.

Unless you've got a lot of money to throw around I'd just be patient. International use of US phones is more of a convenience at the moment than a practical feature.
 
I too am from Europe and was thinking of somehow getting my hands on one in June/July. My only other alternative is to buy it on my visit to Canada but it looks like Canadians won't get it until much later so that idea is bust.

The so called Cingular specific "services" as I understand it are pretty much limited to visual voice mail. In Europe voice mail does not have even a hint of importance. I think I get 2-3 on my mobile a year, they are all 1sec long and are the result of the caller not hanging up in time.

As long as I can take it back to Europe, pop in my SIM and make/receive calls and SMS messages then I am set. That is all I want from the phone part of the iPhone.

The ebay route will be an expensive one though, expect to pay upto 1000USD for the phone, and that does not even guarantee it to be unlocked. If Apple is not able to meet demand then expect to pay even more than that.

The Ebay seller has to pay 600 for the phone itself and about 200 more for a cancellation fee to get out of the contract and "potentially" unlock the phone with it. That runs to 800 and when you count in their profits (they are greedy bastards) then a 1000 would be the cheapest you can expect it to be.

Personally I would gladly pay a 1000 to get an unlocked no hassle iPhone in June/July. I expect when the iPhone debuts in Europe it will actually cost more than that since we always pay a lot more for things in Europe. But although I hope to get an unlocked one soon, I just don't see that happening.
 
As I said, we would be lucky to pay that much for it in Denmark. Such things roughly cost twice as much here so for the pleasure of getting it without a contract and months earlier then yes I would gladly pay a 1000USD.
 
DeaconGraves said:
International use of US phones is more of a convenience at the moment than a practical feature.
Click to expand...

No. When in Rome...

...buy an Italian SIM and pay as you go at local rates. That's the advantage of a world phone. Using VoIP on a SIP enabled WiFi handset is also a great way to get around outrageous roaming fees.

Of course, the above won't work on a SIM locked phone. Anyone who travels overseas and enjoys the use of their cell phone would be, at this point anyway, a dunderhead to buy an iPhone.

BB
 
Becuase of the old yanky doller been so good right now $1000 is wayy cheaper than what it will cost in the UK with a contract ( after 12 months ) i would pay up to $2000 for one.. can people canc the contact right after buying one, becuase if you can i am going to go into a usa apple store and pay some one to take up a contact and then canc in the same call.. and get this stucker unlocked if you can do that..

like the previous post voice mails are not important you just end up calling them back anyway!

Thanks for all your help guys.
 
DeaconGraves said:
I would guess you're not going to find them on ebay until someone figures out how to unlock them. Until then, there's no point in trying to buy one.

As far as US phone contracts, I've never had to actually prove I was an American citizen, but I'd guess you'd at least have to have a US mailing address to send the bill to. With rates and plans, you usually get locked into your plan and phone with a 2 year contract, although I think its fairly easy to change your plan if you're usage habits change.
Click to expand...


At least with cingular, you must have a billing address in the same geographic region as the phone was purchased (and by that they mean within not very many miles) in order to get a contract.

Also, I believe the international fee is $1.25 per call plus 99 cents a minute.

You can pay bills by credit card but when you sign up for service, you still have to have an address local to where you purchased the phone. But a more pressing issue is to get service you have to pass a credit check, which you do by providing a social security number (that's obviously distinctly american) and an american driver's license.
 
Daniel.steel said:
Becuase of the old yanky doller been so good right now $1000 is wayy cheaper than what it will cost in the UK with a contract ( after 12 months ) i would pay up to $2000 for one.. can people canc the contact right after buying one, becuase if you can i am going to go into a usa apple store and pay some one to take up a contact and then canc in the same call.. and get this stucker unlocked if you can do that..

like the previous post voice mails are not important you just end up calling them back anyway!

Thanks for all your help guys.
Click to expand...

If you don't want the features of the iPhone, then I can't see why your so desperate to get one straight away. I agree with the others who say just wait until it's available over here.
 
Daniel.steel said:
Becuase of the old yanky doller been so good right now $1000 is wayy cheaper than what it will cost in the UK with a contract ( after 12 months ) i would pay up to $2000 for one.. can people canc the contact right after buying one, becuase if you can i am going to go into a usa apple store and pay some one to take up a contact and then canc in the same call.. and get this stucker unlocked if you can do that..

like the previous post voice mails are not important you just end up calling them back anyway!

Thanks for all your help guys.
Click to expand...

If you cancel a contract in the first 30 days you're required to surrender any equipment purchased under that contract.

I don't doubt apple/ ATT will require you to not cancel the contract for some time after signup to prevent this type of resale.

And I'm sure ATT will fight you hard about unlocking the phone. They've got a two year exclusive in the US on this sucker, so they're not going to let you take it anywhere you want without some kind of a fight.
 
fishkorp said:
what's the point since all the carrier specific features wouldn't work? also, Apple is apparently making it very difficult to unlock. so if people manage to unlock the phone, unless you have Cingular/ATT in the US you'd get a crippled version of the phone anyway, not worth the money.
Click to expand...

It'll probably be difficult to unlock, but not impossible. :D Just a matter of time.
 
I can guarantee that there will be iPhones for sale on eBay the day of launch. I know cause my friend whose on cingular now is going to upgrade to an iPhone and then sell it immediately on eBay, I'm sure he'll be asking double the price, but someones bound to pay it. I doubt my friend is the only one thats going to try this.
 
daze said:
It'll probably be difficult to unlock, but not impossible. :D Just a matter of time.
Click to expand...

You don't really need to unlock it. Even if it's still locked you could use the ipod, wi-fi, and calendar functions, just no cell phone. So it becomes an excessively expensive iPod nano, but I'm sure someone will pay up.
 
buymeaniphone said:
I can guarantee that there will be iPhones for sale on eBay the day of launch. I know cause my friend whose on cingular now is going to upgrade to an iPhone and then sell it immediately on eBay, I'm sure he'll be asking double the price, but someones bound to pay it. I doubt my friend is the only one thats going to try this.
Click to expand...

You don't get any benefit financially by upgrading, and he has to pay the bills on that phone for at least 30 days before he can cancel it, then pay the $175 termination fee, then get a new contract AGAIN for his own use. No point in upgrading to an iPhone, paying for data service, and using your 3 year old razr on that plan for 2 years...

Unless they're going for some insane amount of money on eBay, I don't see how this is worth it?
 
gavd said:
If you don't want the features of the iPhone, then I can't see why your so desperate to get one straight away. I agree with the others who say just wait until it's available over here.
Click to expand...

Funny how something that is seen as a feature in another country is seen as useless here in Europe. Visual voice mail is the only "feature" one misses out on and that is not what we want. Seriously, 600+ for mobile just to get that?

No, the iPhone itself is the features we are interested in. The sleek, cool, amazing gizmo that marries what my current phone can do with what my current iPhod can. And do it in a way that is a million times cooler. No thanks, I don't want to wait and pay more for it later. I want one of my own as soon as it launches next month.
 
feelthefire said:
You don't get any benefit financially by upgrading, and he has to pay the bills on that phone for at least 30 days before he can cancel it, then pay the $175 termination fee, then get a new contract AGAIN for his own use. No point in upgrading to an iPhone, paying for data service, and using your 3 year old razr on that plan for 2 years...

Unless they're going for some insane amount of money on eBay, I don't see how this is worth it?
Click to expand...

I'd bet he'lll change his plan around to remove the data plan, or make it one that the Razr can use.
 
zap2 said:
I'd bet he'lll change his plan around to remove the data plan, or make it one that the Razr can use.
Click to expand...


He still has to wait 30 days (and pay the whatever a month for that thirty days to avoid having to turn the phone back in) and may have to pay a termination fee as the fine print says you can't "step down" a plan without signing a new contract, but since he's dropping the data service, that amounts to a cancellation of contract and thus, a $175 fee.

Still doesn't seem worth it to me...
 
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