Buying a Second Hand Phone - Buyer Advice

ironclaw

Buying A Second Hand Phone

I thought I’d share this after a friend asked for some advice off me. As some people may know China and the far east has began to produce imitation phones by the bucket load. Some are easy to spot while some can fool even the hardened mobile phone addict. The Nokia N95 was the first phone to really hit the clone shelves:



As you can see the differences are hard to spot. Besides the obvious OS difference, once turned off they are nigh impossible to tell apart.

Followed by the iPhone:



Not the best clone I've seen but its one of about 10 on the market. The most noticeable exception to the spec is Wifi but many clones now sport this.

The most obvious clone give away is a dual SIM card. Nokia don't market dual SIM phones, in fact I don't believe they currently have any. The second is the use of TransFlash Memory cards. MiniSD is the memory of choice for most major phone makers.

So I decided to write a quick article for people buying second hand phones.

Before You Go:

• Agree an asking price and settle on it. Never be afraid to haggle
• Bring a mate with you! Never go alone unless your very happy with the seller
• Ask who and where the phone was bought. Be cautious of “It was a gift / present”
• Ask if manuals, chargers and boxes are included. Again be cautious if the box was “thrown out” This can mean one of two things 1) The phone was stolen 2) You are the third or greater owner. However, remember there is the chance it was innocently thrown out
• Is there a receipt for warranty purposes?
• Is the phone unlocked and/or debranded (Remember, unlocking can cost €20+ so factor this into you asking price)
• Go to the phones manufactures website and print off the sales info. Most importantly the sales box contents. Bring this with you when you go to buy the phone.
• Your buying the phone, so take your time to check it out. If your not happy, walk away.

When You Go:

• Arrange a neutral location. Even better is to go the seller’s house. However, this may not be possible.
• If it’s a high value phone don’t arrive with cash and tell the seller this. Go with half the cash and arrange to go to an ATM for the balance. A real seller won’t mind. Be mindful of your ATM transaction if they follow.
• Ask the seller to insert your SIM card into the phone. If they owned the phone the chances are they know something’s about it especially the SIM card and power on sequence. Check this against things you read about the phone “I hear the battery life is 3 days” “How does the GPS work?”
• If the phone doesn’t turn on, walk away. A real seller will charge the phone before they arrive to ensure a sale.
• Check the box contents
• Check the IMEI of the phone matches the IMEI printed on the box. Read the IMEI from under the battery slot and not with the *#06# This can be changed by flashing the phone, the printed IMEI on the back can’t.
• Real Nokia battery’s have a hologram
• Check for obvious damage or wear. Make a phone call to a friend and check they can hear you (A broken microphone won’t be obvious)

• A real Nokia will respond to the following codes when dialed on the key pad:

*#0000# - Displays Software Info
*#92702689# - Displays the warranty timer (A new phone should be almost at Zero, two months should be at around 7.)


In closing most phones on the market are genuine. Just be sure to know what your buying and I hope this guide is helpful!

Regards,

ironclaw

long_b

This should so be a sticky - nice one Ironclaw !!!

Run_to_da_hills

Must I add to this thread is that there is a follow up of bogus spares and accessories for these phones. I bought a screen for my N95 from China, it lasted about a month, a second battery about two weeks. :mad:

ShadowHearth

great job, sticky.

Maybe we could add some comparassing stuff: fake VS real.


Sticky is obviuose here!

Yenwod

Very good thread!! I had a guy in an electronic shop in NY getting quite ratty with me for changing my mind about buying an iPhone from him. It was quite obviously a fake when I saw it out of the box, subtle differences with the scrren and icons. Once he let me look at it close, I saw that on the back it said "Phone" instead of "iPhone" :rolleyes:

ironclaw

Nokia Battery's

Just a small update on my above post regarding Nokia batterys. In recent times Nokia has made a huge push to remove fake and cheap batterys from the net. They do this on two levels:

1) Lost revenue
2) Safety

Cheap, fake, knock off and non-genuine batterys are dangerous. That is the bottom line. The horror stories range from the battery's not working to being fire hazards. Many, if not all, carry no genuine CE mark and as a result you are endangering yourself and others by using them.

The reason for these battery's being dangerous is the way they are made and their content. Not all battery's are created equal. Newer, high end Nokia batterys are the latest in battery tech boasting longer lives and reduced / non-existant "memory effects". They are also approved by international bodies so you know they are safe to use.

You get what you pay for!

How to know if a Nokia Battery is genuine:

Hologram: All Nokia batterys have a good quality Nokia hologram on the battery.

The genuine hologram has the Nokia connecting hands symbol from one angle and the Nokia Original Enhancements logo from another angle. When you angle the hologram to the left, right, bottom and top of the logo, you should see one, two, three, and four dots respectively. The next check is the scratch-off ink coating along the edge of the hologram that contains a unique, 20-digit code.

Serial Number: This 20 digit serial code can be checked online or at your nearest Nokia center

Official Nokia Battery Site: http://europe.nokia.com/support/product-support/check-your-battery

sml68

Very good advice,
I was looking at a Samsung Jet in a secondhand phone shop on moore st just before xmas, the guy put my sim card in and could hardly get the phone started, when it did a strange code came up on the screen, tried to convince me there was nothing wrong with it, nearly had to prise my sim back from him!

Ant

Many thanks to ironclaw for this very useful information and good advice. Plus one on making this thread sticky - or at the least linked to from the FAQ. I looked through all the stickied threads to find info on buying second hand phones but I only found this thread by searching the forum.

By the way, the plural of battery is batteries, not battery's or batterys.