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Where are these eBay iPhones coming from?

nickspohn

nickspohn

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
3,592
0
Okay, this has always made me puzzled. I'm not talking about iPhone sellers in other countries, I'm talking about selling 3G iPhones in America. Where the heck are they getting them?

I've looked at various sellers, and each have 100's of 3G iPhones sold.
 
I PM'd him last night, and of course he didn't respond back. Of course it is one big secret. :rolleyes:
 
Luke1robb said:
How could you do this though? Don't you have to go through a credit check every time you buy an iPhone and on top of htat why would AT&T allow you to buy so many iPhones?
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Yeah, this seems odd to me. The only thing I can think of is that these are stolen iPhones or something? Or maybe there all refurbished? I just don't understand how someone gets a batch of 20 iPhones.

The only other thing I could think of is that they are flawed iPhones and Apple sold them for a discount. Even this seems unlikely though because Apple would probably just destroy any "mistake" or "flawed" iPhones so as not to dilute brand quality image.
 
It's very suspicious. Of course, I'd have a big stack to sell to friends if I could figure it out too..... :D

I did inquire about purchasing a replacement for myself through my girlfriends account. They told me a replacement costs $499 (16GB) and no contract extension. Maybe that's what people are doing. Seems hard to believe no one would ask questions after you had purchased more than a couple like that.
 
I doubt they are stolen, or they wouldn't be on eBay in such large quantities.
Most likely cause is that they know someone who works for a 3rd party phone store and can purchase them in bulk much like any major phone store does. They will of course be getting them at a reduced rate at which they will hike up the prices on eBay to gain a profit.

I know a few years ago a friend of mine worked for a small phone store that was easily able to buy handsets in bulk and sell them on at a much greater price on eBay because of the demand. Remember, eBay has much greater exposure than a small store in a bad location.
 
kAoTiX said:
I doubt they are stolen, or they wouldn't be on eBay in such large quantities.
Most likely cause is that they know someone who works for a 3rd party phone store and can purchase them in bulk much like any major phone store does. They will of course be getting them at a reduced rate at which they will hike up the prices on eBay to gain a profit.

I know a few years ago a friend of mine worked for a small phone store that was easily able to buy handsets in bulk and sell them on at a much greater price on eBay because of the demand. Remember, eBay has much greater exposure than a small store in a bad location.
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who sells iPhones in the US? AT&T,Apple and Best Buy? The contracts are necessary, and I don't think any of these stores could escape AT&T buying 100 phones from Apple,let's say,and not sell them all with contracts.
 
They have to be getting them cheap from somewhere. I've asked a few sellers on eBay, and they think it's one big secret, but they have said they get them here in the US.


Even people on this board are making it one big secret.

I'm still looking for an answer to this.
 
nickspohn said:
They have to be getting them cheap from somewhere. I've asked a few sellers on eBay, and they think it's one big secret, but they have said they get them here in the US.


Even people on this board are making it one big secret.

I'm still looking for an answer to this.
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It's quite simple. They must have figured out a loophole in Apple/AT&T system that allows them to purchase these phone at discounted price of $199/$299 and exploited it.
 
CocoaPuffs said:
It's quite simple. They must have figured out a loophole in Apple/AT&T system that allows them to purchase these phone at discounted price of $199/$299 and exploited it.
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It's impossible, it really is. You have to sign a contract when you buy the phone, simple as that. These people are getting iPhones in the bulk. I doubt they buy them all, and cancel all the contracts.


Plus, the pictures of the iPhones on eBay, some are shown in the box they ship in, the ones where the phones are standing up, and there are about 10-12 in a box.
 
svndmvn said:
I think it has to do something with breaking the law:)
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FYI, when 3G was first released, there were several ways of getting discounted price. One of which was to continue to insert sim card into first gen phone to reset upgrade status.

Also, I know several people who were able to get phones in original wrap from AT&T stores. In fact, I got unwrapped phones myself from AT&T and Apple.

These eBay guys aren't fools, these are within legal boundaries.
 
CocoaPuffs said:
FYI, when 3G was first released, there were several ways of getting discounted price. One of which was to continue to insert sim card into first gen phone to reset upgrade status.

Also, I know several people who were able to get phones in original wrap from AT&T stores. In fact, I got unwrapped phones myself from AT&T and Apple.

These eBay guys aren't fools, these are within legal boundaries.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying someone is stealing the phones, they are therefore covered by warranty or whatever, but someone at the stores is not being honest,because in theory if you want more than one iPhone, either from an Apple Store or an AT&T store, you have to sign at least one contract, so, let's say you're paying 199$ for 8GB, and you say you broke it, you don't give it back,you almost certainly have to pay the full price for the second one,right?
I don't see where a sim card helps in any way, don't you have to give your name and such?
 
svndmvn said:
I'm not saying someone is stealing the phones, they are therefore covered by warranty or whatever, but someone at the stores is not being honest,because in theory if you want more than one iPhone, either from an Apple Store or an AT&T store, you have to sign at least one contract, so, let's say you're paying 199$ for 8GB, and you say you broke it, you don't give it back,you almost certainly have to pay the full price for the second one,right?
I don't see where a sim card helps in any way, don't you have to give your name and such?
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Yep, and i think if you are starting your own AT&T account, you have to sign a document.
 
svndmvn said:
I'm not saying someone is stealing the phones, they are therefore covered by warranty or whatever, but someone at the stores is not being honest,because in theory if you want more than one iPhone, either from an Apple Store or an AT&T store, you have to sign at least one contract, so, let's say you're paying 199$ for 8GB, and you say you broke it, you don't give it back,you almost certainly have to pay the full price for the second one,right?
I don't see where a sim card helps in any way, don't you have to give your name and such?
Click to expand...
I said they found a loophole and exploited it and gave an example of previous loophole. It is very possible other loopholes exist for further exploitation. The logistic of how it works, I do not know nor really that interested to find out.

I am merely offering a very possible scenario, and really not that interested in explaining.
 
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