Mobile phone sales on Ebay

[mikeontinternet]

I have discovered what I think is a serious issue with new or nearly new top-end phones being sold on Ebay. I have been looking for a Samsung S21 Ultra, their newest model I think. It has an amazing camera but I didn't like the look of the £1150 price tag, so always go on ebay to see what you can get them for.

The first thing I discovered is that there are quite a lot being sold that are fakes, copies of the real thing. They look exactly the same and all boxed etc the same so it is very hard to tell that they are in fact not genuine Samsung phones. I was pleased when one seller (who had been conned) pointed out to me the tiny differences to watch out for so as to not make the same mistake.

Anyway, let's go back to the genuine ones. I was surprised at just how many there were for sale that were generally described as ' new - opened - but unused' together with some saying brand new and unopened.

At that point I decided that if I was going to spend £600-800 ish on a mobile phone I wanted to be sure it was all legit. But I discovered was quite worrying. At least 90% of the phones for sale were what can be described as 'unwanted upgrades'. Some sellers stated this in the listing, most didn't but confirmed it to be the case when questioned. 

But my take on it is this: the mobile companies contact customers to say they are due for an 'upgrade', so as they are still just paying the same monthly payment they say ok. But when they get the phone they decide to stick with their old phone and as the new one is rather valuable, sell it on ebay and make a nice little profit. But what they may or may not realise is that the company will be extending their contract by another 18/24 months (to pay for the phone) - it's not a freebie! There's no such thing! You are buying it over the next few years. So I believe that the phone is not theirs to sell! It still belongs to the mobile provider until enough payments have been made.

And now the part that should be a warning to potential buyers, if after selling the phone the seller loses their job or has some other life crisis and decides to stop paying their mobile contract then the company would want the phone back. And when that was not forthcoming they would block it at their end rendering the phone useless.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has had any experience with this sort of thing, or who can perhaps prove or disprove the above statement!

[red_magpie]

It's very simple.

If a phone or anything else on eBay is anywhere near the full price in the shops, why risk buying it from an unknown seller on eBay? Even if it's authentic, eBay's money back guarantee only lasts for 30 days and manufacturers' warranties are liable to be invalid for items bought on eBay.

If it's being offered at a bargain price, there will be a reason. Take the risk if you want, it's up to you. Just don't expect to get the best of both worlds: the security of buying from an authorised dealership, and the low price for which some eBay sellers may be offering the same item.

Never forget, buying from unknown sellers on eBay is NOT like the shops.