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Other What's up with people selling brand new iPhone XS Max (usually 256GB) for $500 on Offerup ?

I

iphoneuser111

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2019
5
1
On Offerup, I see a listing pop almost every 10 minutes. Some are sure scam as they tell you to pay outside offerup using cashapp and what not but some people will accept money inside offerup. What's up ? Does anyone know? I usually will not even attempt to buy if it is a recent account but I sometimes see such from even old accounts with some rep.
Is it the scam where they will stop making payments and render the phone blacklisted?

PS: Offerup caps listings at $500 if shipping is involved. You cannot ship something greater than $500.
 
A lot of the good deals could be from someone getting a free phone in a BOGO deal. $500 for a Max is suspect, though.

I saw a post on reddit where someone quoted a guy who admitted to posting cheap iPhones and then robbing the person when they showed up to purchase it.
 
tonybarnaby said:
A lot of the good deals could be from someone getting a free phone in a BOGO deal. $500 for a Max is suspect, though.

I saw a post on reddit where someone quoted a guy who admitted to posting cheap iPhones and then robbing the person when they showed up to purchase it.
Click to expand...

But these are shipping deals. I know sometimes people may sell really good clones for that price and unsuspecting buyers won't even know that it is not an iPhone.
I am not sure how robust is buyer protection on offerup as the say we have a day or 2 to check and report issues.
But I have sold many things on offerup and usually get money (at least notification that it is being transferred) before buyer has chance to verify.

I like mercari in this regard as they give full 3 days to check and report if any issues.
 
tonybarnaby said:
A lot of the good deals could be from someone getting a free phone in a BOGO deal. $500 for a Max is suspect, though.

I saw a post on reddit where someone quoted a guy who admitted to posting cheap iPhones and then robbing the person when they showed up to purchase it.
Click to expand...

Bolded: What perplexes me, is if you’re going to sell an iPhone to a random stranger in public, never, ever, meet that person at an unsecure location, _always_ meet at a police department at a minimum. That way you eliminate those types of things from happening *and* there’s surveillance footage if something does go sideways.
 
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Relentless Power said:
Bolded: What perplexes me, is if you’re going to sell an iPhone to a random stranger in public, never, ever, meet that person at an unsecure location, _always_ meet at a police department at a minimum. That way you eliminate those types of things from happening *and* there’s surveillance footage if something does go sideways.
Click to expand...
I’d say any public place that is busy is good enough. Most common thieves don’t want any witnesses. I was dumb in my young age and one time sold a handgun to a guy at his house. He loaded it up and immediately went into his backyard and shot an entire mag into a tree. No hearing protection or anything . He lived in the country, but I was still pretty sketched out.
 
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I avoid meeting at nights and always meet in a store parking lot during day hours. For expensive item like a tablet or phone, I meet inside walmart and we sit in the subway there and do the transaction there in working hours.
 
tonybarnaby said:
I’d say any public place that is busy is good enough. Most common thieves don’t want any witnesses. I was dumb in my young age and one time sold a handgun to a guy at his house. He loaded it up and immediately went into his backyard and shot an entire mag into a tree. No hearing protection or anything . He lived in the country, but I was still pretty sketched out.
Click to expand...

Okay so this story didn’t exactly go the way I expected after the way it started

I thought you were going to say he took the gun and then robbed you of the money he had just given you or something.
 
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Relentless Power said:
Bolded: What perplexes me, is if you’re going to sell an iPhone to a random stranger in public, never, ever, meet that person at an unsecure location, _always_ meet at a police department at a minimum. That way you eliminate those types of things from happening *and* there’s surveillance footage if something does go sideways.
Click to expand...

A thief could just not meet up but watch and wait till you leave the police station then rob you.
 
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By the way, in terms of crowded places, don’t ever believe thieves don’t want to be seen, here in South Africa people have been shot, stabbed etc.... for phones in broad daylight in a crowded area, in actual fact, many thieves here love a crowded place as they can disappear quickly and know that even if you are carrying it would be hard for you to guarantee you will get them.

Desperation can make people incredibly creative, your phone for them is a guarantee to money for more drugs.
 
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Don't ever meet up with someone for a phone. It's not worth it. I don't care if they live in the same town as you. Pay shipping if necessary.

Ship to your place of employment or have them fedex the parcel to Walgreens or UPS to a store. All better choices than meeting a complete stranger.
 
tonybarnaby said:
I’d say any public place that is busy is good enough. Most common thieves don’t want any witnesses. I was dumb in my young age and one time sold a handgun to a guy at his house. He loaded it up and immediately went into his backyard and shot an entire mag into a tree. No hearing protection or anything . He lived in the country, but I was still pretty sketched out.
Click to expand...

That’s fair, but as someone that works as an L.E.O, I would always recommend meeting somewhere where there is a public safety building and camera surveillance, my theory in life, is I don’t trust anyone I don’t know, and I’d rather plan cautiously for my safety and well-being. It’s sound advice from a professional that has seen anything and everything in my line of work. [Or, another alternative is you could use the ‘buddy system’, where you bring someone with you in addition.]
 
If you are selling anything of high amount meet at a bank so they can pull out the cash. I had 3 counterfeit 100$ bills from one thing I was selling last year. Never again
 
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x-evil-x said:
If you are selling anything of high amount meet at a bank so they can pull out the cash. I had 3 counterfeit 100$ bills from one thing I was selling last year. Never again
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Anytime you have a counterfeit bill or suspect you might have one, you can always purchase ‘counterfeit Pens’ that will indicate if the bill is real or indeed counterfeit when you mark the bill. (Banks, retail stores, etc. use these pens every single day for those exact situations).
 
Relentless Power said:
Anytime you have a counterfeit bill or suspect you might have one, you can always purchase ‘counterfeit Pens’ that will indicate if the bill is real or indeed counterfeit when you mark the bill.
Click to expand...

Is it that thing which sometimes I have seen cashiers do in walmart and such? They sort of draw a line or something on the bill. I guess usually happens with greater than $20 bills.
 
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