What to be aware of when buying iphone 4s 2nd hand

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that no one sells a brand new iPhone at a loss. If it's factory sealed and the seller is willing to give it to you for less than the retail price, chances are good that something is wrong with this picture.

There has been a rash of people ordering new iPhones form their providers, claiming they were not delivered/stolen from the post box, etc, then selling it. Those phones (in most of Europe) will be blacklisted and unusable.

In my opinion, it's not worth the risk.

ditto what KT said....if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't good, or isn't true. During the time I've been participating in this forum I've seen numerous posts from people that got burned trying to do what you are trying to do. In my mind you are far better to have the peace of mind that comes from getting one from a known good source. I recall a post last week where someone received a phone with a different serial number than what was advertised, then when they complained to the seller, the seller told them they had shipped the serial number, and the recipient must have changed the phone or lost it...and they were left without recourse. Caveat Emptor!

If money is an issue and a 4S is out of budget, get a 3GS or 4.

Or maybe, an iPhone is simply out of budget.

There is really no way you can ensure that the purchase is "safe".

The big question you need to ask is WHY is it £100 less than retail? This doesn't make any sense. Something is wrong. Apple does not discount iPhones. If it was brought in from another country, odds are it is locked to a foreign carrier. If not, it's stolen or reported lost, in which case it will be unusable. If someone had buyers remorse, they have 30 days to return it for a full refund. I expect they would have done so considering it's supposedly still sealed. (re-shrink wrapping is easy, by the way). If none of those things are true, the seller is a moron.

It's just a bad idea no matter which way you look at it.

I understand wanting to save some money, but if that's the only motivation for buying 2nd hand, just step down to a 4 instead and get it from a legitimate source.

4TeenK wrote:

However, If I was in possession of the phone and the receipt, and both serial matches, but later it had been reported stolen or lost and got blocked. Would I be able to take charge of this situation if I rang apple.

Why would anyone waste Apple's time in such a situation?

Apple does not maintain a database of lost or stolen phone's, like all manufacturers, frankly, they could care less.

If the phone was reported lost or stolen you're pretty much SOL. Best case, you have an unusable phone. Worst case, you're criminally charged with receiving stolen property.

KiltedTim wrote:

If the phone was reported lost or stolen you're pretty much SOL. Best case, you have an unusable phone. Worst case, you're criminally charged with receiving stolen property.

Having a receipt that matched serial numbers etc is already more than enough to show he's taken reasonable steps to establish the phone's origin, so there really couldn't be a criminal element (unless of course being part of the theft/subterfuge in the first place) but you're correct on the main part.

The fact that someone the OP doesn't know wants to give him money really ought to be enough to tell him that the deal is likely to be wrong in some way.

To the OP: steer clear and pony up the extra £100.

I think you've been given enough warnings!

Obviously you want to buy this phone, so go ahead and buy the phone and then report back to us on how it works etc.

4TeenK wrote:

I'm a bit confuse.

Yes, we've all figured that out already.

4TeenK wrote:

If I was to report the phone the seller was selling with the serial number he provided me, then he would now have got a black listed phone.. surely theres something the owner could do about it if his phone got reported stolen or lost..

This is probably true, but it would need to be addressed with the organization that blacklists the device.

Apple, like all device manufacturers does NOT blacklist devices.

In countries where devices can be blacklisted, this is typically done by the cellular provider or local law enforcement.