so i went to meet a guy last weekend to buy an iPhone 5 (Craigslist)

BLiNK

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the ad read as follows:

White iPhone 5 at&t 16gb $350 OBO. only 3 weeks old!

after a few emails the final price was $300, he was desperate and needed the money. We met at a Barnes & Noble bookstore about an hour away from where i live

as soon as i had the device in hand i ran the serial numbers to see if it was purchased 3 weeks ago or not (warranty) it turned out it was indeed a launch day device originally but was "replaced" 3 weeks ago. the funny part was i asked the guy, before meeting, when exactly was the device purchased and he said "3 weeks ago" ... i did not make the purchase

another ad i responded to the seller no longer had his device due to him meeting with someone the night before and the potential buyer just grabbed the phone and ran off!

craigslist is a pretty shady business lol. i have bought a lot of items via Craigslist but when it comes to smartphones people lose their damn minds!!
 

EarleD

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Craigslist is getting bad lately with all the scammers and such. I do quite a bit of selling/trading on CL and have never had a problem other than the flood of scam emails or texts
that comes with a sale.
 

anon(4698833)

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Lots of scum bags trying to make what they are selling seem attractive, even by lying...it really sucks because you have to filter through all this crap to find the really good deals. I had all but given up on Craigslist when I was replacing my daily driver earlier this year, but finally came across a pretty awesome guy that i still keep in touch with because of his love for cars...I must have driven/talked to 100 people, half of which were full of sh*t.
 

finn5975

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It's just as pleasant an experience when you are on the selling side of it. No matter what caveats you list in your ad, you will still get all of the "I kindly pay you $100 over your price to ship to my nephew on a religious retreat in Tibet. Just provide me paypal". All of the stories are the same. They just cut and paste. Although it is a lot of fun to mess with them. Once you truly strike a nerve, they drop the whole "I'm from India" personna and curse you out in good ol plain english lol.
 

jclisenby

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I always advise being careful on Craigslist. If you are meeting someone to buy or sell something, make sure you're protected.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5
 

scorpiodsu

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the ad read as follows:

White iPhone 5 at&t 16gb $350 OBO. only 3 weeks old!

after a few emails the final price was $300, he was desperate and needed the money. We met at a Barnes & Noble bookstore about an hour away from where i live

as soon as i had the device in hand i ran the serial numbers to see if it was purchased 3 weeks ago or not (warranty) it turned out it was indeed a launch day device originally but was "replaced" 3 weeks ago. the funny part was i asked the guy, before meeting, when exactly was the device purchased and he said "3 weeks ago" ... i did not make the purchase

another ad i responded to the seller no longer had his device due to him meeting with someone the night before and the potential buyer just grabbed the phone and ran off!

craigslist is a pretty shady business lol. i have bought a lot of items via Craigslist but when it comes to smartphones people lose their damn minds!!

$300 for a 3 week old replacement is still good LOL. That's almost a new device that would be supported like one. But yeah the seller should have been more honest about that part. I buy and sell on craigslist frequently and it's crazy how people sick people are out there. Just as above stated, no matter what you say in the ad, please still ignore. In all of my ads I say "No emails will be read (because I list my google number), no offers others than listed price are considered currently, no paypal or other service other than cash will be accepted and item will not be shipped ANYWHERE". And of course, I get emails all day long from people asking to ship to their nephew in another country and pay via paypal. My biggest petpeeve is when people are asking me questions that are answered in the ad. Like "what's the condition". And I'm like "pictures are posted and short description, please go back to review ad and revert with any questions not answered, thanks".

It's a hassle at times but as a seller it's a good way to get rid of stuff without having to pay a bunch of fees and stuff.
 

HeLLb0y

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Yeah, Craigslist can be very shady. You have to be smart about it. So far, I've had pretty good luck with CL. Its only going to take 1 time of someone being shady and I'll be done with it. Its really just a matter of feeling the person out through a couple emails and then go with your gut. Like I said, so far so good.
 

anon(4698833)

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$300 for a 3 week old replacement is still good LOL. That's almost a new device that would be supported like one. But yeah the seller should have been more honest about that part.

The problem is that a refurbished iPhone does not carry a new 1 year native warranty...so just because the phone was REPLACED 3 weeks ago, does not give Blink a warranty through next July (which, I'm guessing, is the main issue). The seller was representing the phone as a brand new phone with a new phone warranty, and that was not the case.
 

scorpiodsu

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The problem is that a refurbished iPhone does not carry a new 1 year native warranty...so just because the phone was REPLACED 3 weeks ago, does not give Blink a warranty through next July (which, I'm guessing, is the main issue). The seller was representing the phone as a brand new phone with a new phone warranty, and that was not the case.

$300 for a 1 year old iPhone 5 would be good. iPhone 4S are selling for more than that. But I don't disagree with you and the seller should have been more honest. They definitely were wrong for that. But that's still a good deal and I would have taken it (given everything else checked out fine) and maybe even squeezed out a bigger discount since he got caught in the lie LOL.
 

pottyvick

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I use craigslist a lot. i do not sell or buy however. I trade and barter. I've gone from g2x to a gs3, that was before i got my i5. I am reluctant to keep doing it as the imei is tied to a "paying off" account so if they dont pay or leave tmobile my phone would be blocked.

I did encounter some weird people but always met inside of stores for more security. never outside in parking lots.
 

scorpiodsu

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300 for a 3 week old replacement model isn't bad at all.

But yes, anytime there's a misrepresentation, however small, it's a red flag.

Agreed. But I will say sometimes you can get away with a good deal by confronting them with their misrepresentation. I got a 2012 Macbook w/ Apple care for $650 because the dude exaggrated in the listing. It was listed for $750 and I talked him down to $700. So I go meet him to check it out and he advertised as mint condition and looks brand new. Well the top case has some light scratches. Nothing too deep but I could notice them. I checked everything out, his Apple care papers and ran Mac diagnostic and confirmed on Apple's support website. So all that looked I told him "that it doesn't look brand new because of the scratches and the ad didn't say anything about it and was passed off as new condition". I said the best I could do for this is $650. Now, I already knew $700 was a steal for it but I used his own inaccuracy against him. So of course he took it. Couldn't let the money walk away. So I the laptop, box it came in and Apple Care papers all for $650. So some times someone being shady is also not that bright either LOL.
 

scorpiodsu

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I use craigslist a lot. i do not sell or buy however. I trade and barter. I've gone from g2x to a gs3, that was before i got my i5. I am reluctant to keep doing it as the imei is tied to a "paying off" account so if they dont pay or leave tmobile my phone would be blocked.

I did encounter some weird people but always met inside of stores for more security. never outside in parking lots.

Yup always in a store or something. I prefer to meet at the carrier's store or inside a fast food restaurant. Never in a big parking lot somewhere.
 

anon(4698833)

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$300 for a 1 year old iPhone 5 would be good. iPhone 4S are selling for more than that. But I don't disagree with you and the seller should have been more honest. They definitely were wrong for that. But that's still a good deal and I would have taken it (given everything else checked out fine) and maybe even squeezed out a bigger discount since he got caught in the lie LOL.

It's a good deal, but by principal, who knows what else was up with the phone...guy could have snagged it from a room mate or family member or whatever and tried to sell it off quick. I walk away from liars.
 

pr1nce

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I always advise being careful on Craigslist. If you are meeting someone to buy or sell something, make sure you're protected.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

If you're meeting someone from Craigslist to buy or sell. Make sure you do it out in the open and protect yourself.
 

xlipstickandbruisesx

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I have sold numerous things on craigslist and I always disclose any information I have about what I am selling and other than the low ballers and flakes I have never had an issue on this end. I will say the one time I tried to purchase/trade from someone else it was a nightmare. The guy told me his iPhone 4s was in new condition and insisted we meet at a Sprint store I went all the way down there made an appointment he showed up 30 minutes late with his dad turns out he was like 17 his phone looked like beat up crap and he then had the nerve to say he wanted to think about it and could we meet back there the next day. Needless to say I told him to suck it and have never tried buying off someone else lol. I was always surprised people complimented me for my ads and whatnot but after dealing with that I know why.
 

scorpiodsu

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It's a good deal, but by principal, who knows what else was up with the phone...guy could have snagged it from a room mate or family member or whatever and tried to sell it off quick. I walk away from liars.

That's why I said "if everything else checks out". But snagging from a roommate or family member could happen if the phone wasn't a replacement and really 3 weeks old brand new. That's independent from the item condition. In that case, might as well not buy anything from craigslist unless the seller puts "This items is not stolen" LOL. I'm not under the assumption that because someone describes something inaccurately that they also obtained it illegally. Just my thoughts.
 

anon(4698833)

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That's why I said "if everything else checks out". But snagging from a roommate or family member could happen if the phone wasn't a replacement and really 3 weeks old brand new. That's independent from the item condition. In that case, might as well not buy anything from craigslist unless the seller puts "This items is not stolen" LOL. I'm not under the assumption that because someone describes something inaccurately that they also obtained it illegally. Just my thoughts.

You've missed my point. When someone misrepresents something...the "everything checks out" deal is already out the window. The thread was about a major misrepresentation. This wasn't a matter of someone saying the iPhone was in mint condition but it turns out there are scratches on it...this was someone blatantly lying about the purchase date of the iPhone, hoping that someone wouldn't figure out that it was simply "replaced" 3 days before...with the idea that they would have the new iPhone's year warranty.

Is an iPhone 5 worth $300? Sure...that's an amazing deal on one. Is it worth buying an iPhone from a person who tries to deceive you into thinking it's brand new when it's not? To me it isn't, I'd rather spend another $50-$75 for someone that isn't going to BS me...and I may be completely alone on that, but that's just me...I put a lot of value in honesty and ethics.
 

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