Multiple Phones

Doctor DooM

Just something that arose in work today...

Apparently it is illegal to sell more thna three phones in one transaction in a mobile phone store. While one of the networks CC agents could confirm this to me, no one could tell me why.

Just out of pure interest, anyone know?

Sam Vimes

SDooM wrote:

Just something that arose in work today...

Apparently it is illegal to sell more thna three phones in one transaction in a mobile phone store. While one of the networks CC agents could confirm this to me, no one could tell me why.

Just out of pure interest, anyone know?

well, it is a policy in some stores but i doubt its illegal. they don't do it because people buy loads of phones, unlock them and sell them at sim free prices. but i have seen a lot more than 3 phones sold at once

davie_b

Commander Vimes wrote:

well, it is a policy in some stores but i doubt its illegal. they don't do it because people buy loads of phones, unlock them and sell them at sim free prices. but i have seen a lot more than 3 phones sold at once

no there is a law!!!!
we have to sell phones and but them through an more than one invoice
if the customer wants more than 3!!!!!

Sam Vimes

davie_b wrote:

no there is a law!!!!
we have to sell phones and but them through an more than one invoice
if the customer wants more than 3!!!!!

oops, well i broke the law quite a bit then

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

Random

Anyone wanna give some basis for this?

Sam Vimes

ciaranfo wrote:

Anyone wanna give some basis for this?

Commander Vimes wrote:

they don't do it because people buy loads of phones, unlock them and sell them at sim free prices.

that's why. well that's the reason i was told anyway

Slice

That's rubbish - do you think that sme and corporate customers put through transactions for mobiles at three at a time when they would need anything up to and way beyond 20 mobiles

RodVelvet

It only applies to prepaid phones.If someone is buying 10 or more phones in a single transaction, in my experience the phones are usually exported abroad.Hence the network makes no money on the phones they havew subsidised.

philcsl

There is no law regarding the number which can be sold at one time, I'm in mobile sales and we often sell 50-100 phones at a time to SME/corporate customers on contract.
As RodVelvet said the networks usually have a rule that no more that 8-10 prepaid phones can be sold in one transaction. I have sold 320 in one transaction but the customer had to sign a contract stating that they would not resell any of the phones (they were being given out as prizes).

Random

It's the law part that gets me.. I can understand (to an extent ..) various policys of the phoen networks .. it's the fact that it's ment to be illegal in Irish law?

parsi

I think in this case "law" and "policy of mobile network" are being freely (and wastefully) interchanged...

Doctor DooM

I thought it sounded ridiculous myself but three individual and seperate people said "law" to me at different times.

I work in phone sales too and if you check upgrade forms they generally only allow for three at a time. It's not just pp. I'm not saying I'm right/ you're wrong, I'm just a wondering what the truth is!

pyramuid man

Maybe it is to prevent some fraudulent activity with these phones. More than three at a time is kinda suspicious unless you are a business.

Doctor DooM

I was thinking it might be to save imei numbers.

Pythia

It's not illegal, it's just dodgy so they don't like people doing it. They might be scammers or using a stolen credit card. Or selling them on.

Doctor DooM

I was helping a really important customer the other day, sold her four phones and Im not in jail yet so I reckon tis pretty irrelivant anywho. It's still weird several different people said it was a legal reason, though

Slice

Prepaid phones aren't subsidised, in fact postpaid phones for Vodafone and O2 aren't either - the reason they're cheaper than sim free is because networks get them at the wholesale rate

Pythia

Slice wrote:

Prepaid phones aren't subsidised, in fact postpaid phones for Vodafone and O2 aren't either - the reason they're cheaper than sim free is because networks get them at the wholesale rate

I'm almost 100% sure that's not true.
Are you saying that a 6230i you get for free on contract is bought for free from Nokia since you buy so many?
There's absolutely no subsidy?
Of course there is.

Gillo

Slice wrote:

Prepaid phones aren't subsidised, in fact postpaid phones for Vodafone and O2 aren't either - the reason they're cheaper than sim free is because networks get them at the wholesale rate

Both pre paid and post paid phones are subsidised. The way it works for post paid is simple;
phone x is worth 400 sim free, the store buys it from the whole saler at cost and puts on whatever mark-up for the sim free value. When the phone is sold on a cantract (post paid) it is generally sold below cost (very often well below). So the store may of bought the phone for 200-250 and then sells it for anythign as low as 29. At this stage the phone seller is making a loss.
They send the paperwork to the network, who then pays a commission to the seller (ie, O2 Retail, Vodafone Retail, CPW, 3G etc). This commision combined with the money the customer paid for the phone will generally be around the same price as the sim free value.
BTW, don't confuss the commission mentioned here with the commission paid (as part of wages) to the individual sales person.

Thats why the sales people are so fussy about id's and signatures, the the contract / forms & id are not correct when they go the the network, they network won't pay out to the reseller, generally this tehn gets deducted from the sales person wages.


I'm not 100% sure how it works with pre pay, so I'm not gonna comment on them, but again they are subsidised.

The reason the phones will only be sold in quantities less than 3, is you as Commander Vines put it, you get whats known as "Pack breakers" they are not as bad as tehy used to be, I remember a few years ago you'd get people coming into stores with a black bag full of phones looking to buy more!!
It generally only is the case wtih prepay phones, as post pay would be flagged by security.

It's not thats it's illegal, just the networks won't allow it. If you heard from a sales person in the store that is was illegal, it's kinda a handy cop out to use when someone ask's why whon't you sell me 10 phone afterall it's more commision for you.

Doctor DooM

I'm actually a retailer. Customer Care used the term illegal. Prepaid phones are subsidised but the subsidy is much lower because they representa bigger risk to the networks- there;s no guarentee of a return on them in credit spent as opposed to line rental which must be paid.

Sam Vimes

SDooM wrote:

I'm actually a retailer. Customer Care used the term illegal. Prepaid phones are subsidised but the subsidy is much lower because they representa bigger risk to the networks- there;s no guarentee of a return on them in credit spent as opposed to line rental which must be paid.

was it meteor customer care? if so, that would probably explain why they told you the wrong thing