Would you buy a cell phone from Ebay?

[princessv]

Ok so no Ebay for diamonds but what about a cell?

 

[Mara]

I bought one off eBay and also off Craigs List and had great experiences both times. Just make sure it will work on your cell network...most important part! My eBay one was when Sprint was no longer carrying Motorola but there were Sprint Motorola phones on eBay, so I called Sprint to make sure it would work and then bought it and it was great. I had a Motorola phone on Sprint, and hardly anyone else did! It also was brand new, shrink wrapped with full warranty etc.

The Craigs List one was awesome, gal bought it and used it for 2 days and then got another new one so sold this one to me for $50 with an additional battery and at the time it was a $199 new phone. Score. Greg picked it up for me one day at lunch.

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I wouldn''t. Especially since people can easily misrepresent them. For example, it could look good on the outside and work at the time, but what if it was dropped into water? Once a phone is dropped into water, it deteriorates internally, fast. People think that just because it''s working at the time, that it''s good. But in reality, it will die soon afterwards. I have a friend who works for Verizon and he told me this when I accidentally laundered my cell phone (stupid me!!). He ended up getting me another one for free. Also, scratches sometimes won''t show up in photos. And they could say it''s chipped or whatever for a certain company (Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, etc.) and it might not be. There''s a whole list of things that can go wrong. I wouldn''t advise it, honestly.

 

[princessv]

Well I''m glad you had good experiences with Ebay in buying a cell Mara..I''m trying to decide since I don''t qualify for an ''upgrade'' till June...Verizon does upgrades every two years. Gah.

aphisiglovesae: Yeah thats why I''m looking for a new cell I dropped mine in water...everything is fine except it won''t pick up signal

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Hmmm, you're pretty close to an upgrade. Maybe if you talk to someone that works for Verizon, they might be able to swing an early upgrade for you. I've had it done numerous times with Cingular and Verizon, even when I didn't have any "connections". It doesn't really hurt to try.

 

[princessv]

Date: 3/9/2006 6:52:03 PM
Author: aphisiglovessae
Hmmm, you''re pretty close to an upgrade. Maybe if you talk to someone that works for Verizon, they might be able to swing an early upgrade for you. I''ve had it done numerous times with Cingular and Verizon, even when I didn''t have any ''connections''. It doesn''t really hurt to try.

Great you''re giving me some hope! Should I go to a store or deal with the call center? And should I disclose that my cell doesn''t work because I dropped it in water?

 

[bar01]

I did,

I broke my company furnished blackberry. They were consdering making me pay for a new color one, but I found my old model on ebay for cheap. Works fine.

 

[SeaOats]

I''ve bought and sold cell phones on ebay many times, and I have had no problems at all. Just make sure the phone is compatible with your service.

As for allowing you to buy a new phone at the lower price and sign a new contract, I have had success with this up until about two years ago with Verizon. Then Verizon supposedly changed their policy and refused to do it until your contract was within two months of expiration. I asked about a dozen stores in my area separately if they could do it for me, and all of them refused. That was about two years ago, before I switched to AT&T.

 

[princessv]

Date: 3/9/2006 7:19:29 PM
Author: Rascal49
I''ve bought and sold cell phones on ebay many times, and I have had no problems at all. Just make sure the phone is compatible with your service.

As for allowing you to buy a new phone at the lower price and sign a new contract, I have had success with this up until about two years ago with Verizon. Then Verizon supposedly changed their policy and refused to do it until your contract was within two months of expiration. I asked about a dozen stores in my area separately if they could do it for me, and all of them refused. That was about two years ago, before I switched to AT&T.

What?! 2 months...on April 4 I''ll be two months away from the ''official upgrade'' time. That''s so dumb you''d think companies would let you ''upgrade'' since they''d get more $$$.

 

[SeaOats]

Date: 3/9/2006 7:29:25 PM
Author: Princess V

Date: 3/9/2006 7:19:29 PM
Author: Rascal49
I''ve bought and sold cell phones on ebay many times, and I have had no problems at all. Just make sure the phone is compatible with your service.

As for allowing you to buy a new phone at the lower price and sign a new contract, I have had success with this up until about two years ago with Verizon. Then Verizon supposedly changed their policy and refused to do it until your contract was within two months of expiration. I asked about a dozen stores in my area separately if they could do it for me, and all of them refused. That was about two years ago, before I switched to AT&T.

What?! 2 months...on April 4 I''ll be two months away from the ''official upgrade'' time. That''s so dumb you''d think companies would let you ''upgrade'' since they''d get more $$$.

I agree with you

. But how it was explained to me is that when the companies charge the "sale" prices on the cell phones, in reality, the price of those phones is much higher. They are expecting the money from your 2 year contract to obviously make up for some of that loss. So if they go around constantly letting people upgrade whenever they want, in the end, they will be losing money if the system is abused.