vB Easy Archive - How are people selling iPhones as unlocked and never opened?

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How are people selling iPhones as unlocked and never opened?
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Posted by: jonb83

I know that when you purchase the iPhone 3g from the Apple Store, you leave the store with it locked and working and activated.

From looking on ebay, how are people selling them as unlocked and never opened and such? Just curious..

Posted by: superlatives

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonb83

I know that when you purchase the iPhone 3g from the Apple Store, you leave the store with it locked and working and activated.

From looking on ebay, how are people selling them as unlocked and never opened and such? Just curious..

They're probably NOT.

The sellers probably select the "default" iPhone listing template.

Posted by: jonb83

But cant you like buy 5 iphones on a family plan, deactivate the family plan within the first X amount of days, not be charged a penalty...then sellf the iphones for 800 each on ebay when they only cost you 300 each?

Posted by: superlatives

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonb83

But cant you like buy 5 iphones on a family plan, deactivate the family plan within the first X amount of days, not be charged a penalty...then sellf the iphones for 800 each on ebay when they only cost you 300 each?

Jon:

FIRST ... you WILL be charged a penalty. In your scenario of five lines, the seller would be REQUIRED to return the handsets in the first 30 days. If he/she doesn't, the seller would be billed for the FULL retail price.

AFTER 30 days, but BEFORE two YEARS -- the person would be charged the $175 ETF plus the monthly rate.

And OF COURSE ... even if the seller did all that, the phones WOULD NOT be "New, Never Opened."

Posted by: demonx

Wasn't AT&T sending people home without activating them in store on the first day due to the systems being down?

Posted by: jonb83

lol, this seems a lot of a hassle but it seems like you can turn $500 into $800 in a week....or $2,500 into $4,000

Posted by: superlatives

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonb83

lol, this seems a lot of a hassle but it seems like you can turn $500 into $800 in a week....or $2,500 into $4,000

Jon:

Before you say that you MAY want to read the following thread:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1402969

Ain't as profitable as it appears.

Posted by: superlatives

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonx

Wasn't AT&T sending people home without activating them in store on the first day due to the systems being down?

But then ... how could the handsets be UNLOCKED if the shrinkwrap is still there?

To unlock it, you must connect it. Unless it's an unlocked handset from France. And FYI it's only "country-unlocked" which means you can use any France SIM. AT&T wouldn't work on it.

Posted by: Red Setter

Quote:

Originally Posted by demonx

Wasn't AT&T sending people home without activating them in store on the first day due to the systems being down?

iTunes was down. NOT OPUS. OPUS was where AT&T "activted" the phones. All the iTunes activation did was register it with Apple and set up the phone.

When you walked out of AT&T or Apple your phone was activated by AT&T on your line and ready to make calls. Your contract was live. That it wasn't set up in iTunes yet has no bearing on AT&T's 'activation"

So no, these phones have to be opened, and activated. And the whole "NIB" thing has to be a line of BS.

As does the unlocked thing since there's no readily available unlock for 2.0/3G yet