[Madelineid]

hi, I wanted to know if it is fine to buy iPhones from a local pawn shop. They sell gadgets at really low price. I found out the rates of phones at a store named cash pawn sales, the price tags were really jaw dropping!

[John Yester]

I would of course check the ESN. But with anything outside carrier or Apple themselves you would really have to be confident about buying one.

[kch50428]

Caveat Emptor.

It's possible you can purchase an iPhone from a pawn shop and everything will go fine activating it with your provider... it's also possible you could wind up with a device that can not be activated because of one of any number of issues... if you're interested in a Verizon or Sprint model, try to get the pawn shop operator to verify the ESN is clean... or guarantee a return & refund if you can't activate it on your account. If it's an AT&T model, get assurance the sim slot is unlocked and get a guarantee for return & refund if there are issues with getting it activated on your account.

[SeanHRCC]

We had an investigation last week that lead us to talk to a pawn shop owner...i wasn't doing much while the investigators were talking to him so i was checking out their store. They had tons of iPods, iPhones and iPads...probably 20+ of each. They had an iPhone 5 that was mint for like $600 but it was missing everything including the lightning wire...i asked the guy why they were asking $50 less than the cost new for an iPhone without any accessories and he goes "Because idiots will pay it." Got to love pawn shops...