buying phones from ebay?

Panda

i want to buy a sony ericsson t610 and there are a good few of them for sale on ebay.
that said most of them are from america and are T-mobile phones.
will the phone work if i try to use it with my vodafone ready to go sim card?

with the exchange rate the way it is, the phone is much cheaper than you'll find in europe.

IrishMike

if it is a tri band fone and it is unlocked then yes
has to be tri band though if its an american fone

eirebhoy

If you are buying from America you will more then likely have to pay customs duty which will add about a quarter to the final price.

IrishMike

customs duty god no
if u buy from ebay just ask ur seller to mark your item as a gift then no customs duty
If u are buying from an online shop they more than likely wont ship to you anyway

Panda

thanks for the tip IrishMike,

i understand that a triband phone will work, but what about the voltage and what not for recharging the phone?
would it not be different?

have any of ye actually done this before?

digitaldr

You can only escape duty on gifts less than €45 in value

flogen

how reliable is ebay for phones?
Ive seen afew good priced p800s, and the ratings are good on alot of them, but can i rely on it ariving and it being in good condition?

Flogen

thesteve

it could be dodgy, i have a few friends in college who bought a few from ebay uk and one of them got nicely screwed...

important thing is to read the description carefully, if the seller says, it takes an o2 sim card but not sure if it takes any other, this = phone locked

if he says, all this phone needs is a new screen so it's going cheap, this = if the screen is cracked, why couldn't the circuit board under the screen be damaged too

it's what they don't say aswell as what they do say that's important. read theur feedback too and contact people they've sold to before to see if they were happy, they're the best people to give advice on a seller.

nxbyveromdwjpg

be extremely careful, theres a shockin amount of fraud on it, around things like mobile phones esp

heres two prime examples

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=0&item=3382030847

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=0&item=3382282653


dont use western union or anything like that odvious, examine the feedback carefully, incl. the dates and the feedback of the people its from, watch out for dodgy escrow services etc etc..

nxbyveromdwjpg

eehh theyre gone now, that was 2 deals for bulk orders of 6600's.

at least ebay have an eye out i suppose..

Celticwarrior

seeing as i've only just registered on ebay.co.uk with the intention of buying a nokia 6600, it'd be great if anybody who know alot about these things could suggest which to bid for so i dont get ripped off etc seeing as i am really out of my depth on it?
Thanks

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Celticwarrior
seeing as i've only just registered on ebay.co.uk with the intention of buying a nokia 6600, it'd be great if anybody who know alot about these things could suggest which to bid for so i dont get ripped off etc seeing as i am really out of my depth on it?
Thanks

I would only recommend playing by Paypal as it is the safest method. Make sure you set up a Paypal account before you bid because it can take a few weeks for your Paypal account to be activated.

Look at the sellers feedback and make sure he/she has sold at least 10 items in the past and check other items he was selling.

A lot of auctions auctions are selling information on how to receive cheap phones so read it carefully.

I can't think of anything else but it is just besic stuff you should know anyway.

Also, I would recommend using auction sniper and set it to bid 10 seconds before the end.

eirebhoy

Also, I would only buy the phone if they are shipping from the UK.

Celticwarrior

how do i get a paypal account?

eirebhoy

www.paypal.com

IrishMike

Originally posted by eirebhoy
I would only recommend playing by Paypal as it is the safest method. Make sure you set up a Paypal account before you bid because it can take a few weeks for your Paypal account to be activated.

Look at the sellers feedback and make sure he/she has sold at least 10 items in the past and check other items he was selling.

A lot of auctions auctions are selling information on how to receive cheap phones so read it carefully.

I can't think of anything else but it is just besic stuff you should know anyway.

Also, I would recommend using auction sniper and set it to bid 10 seconds before the end.

10 items is still pretty small
i wouldnt touch anything unless he had 250 items sold
try and buy from powersellers if u can
the place is full or gangsters
but sayin that there are tons of excellent deals
i got 2 fones from there both perfect and both for excellent prices

eth0_

Originally posted by IrishMike
customs duty god no
if u buy from ebay just ask ur seller to mark your item as a gift then no customs duty

RUBBISH. Please stop perpetuating this myth. Marking items as 'gift' or 'sample' does NOT exclude them from import duty if they're randomly selected by customs. Do you honestly think the Customs dept. are that stupid?

re the phones, so long as you use paypal you're grand, as they have a protection program if you get ripped off they'll refund you.