Buying 2nd hand iPhone?
Discussion
I used Reboxed to pick up 2 iPhone 12s for my parents last year.
They were immaculate and with very good battery health too.
That was after ordering from MusicMagpie and being sent 2 phones that were heavily damaged way beyond their grading, one battery was on 70% and needed immediate replacement and the other handset was still in their diagnostic mode. It was my first bad experience of MM but it was very very poor (they did refund quickly though).
They were immaculate and with very good battery health too.
That was after ordering from MusicMagpie and being sent 2 phones that were heavily damaged way beyond their grading, one battery was on 70% and needed immediate replacement and the other handset was still in their diagnostic mode. It was my first bad experience of MM but it was very very poor (they did refund quickly though).
I have bought several phones, including iPhone, from backmarket. I had an issue with one, the power button stopped working, they had it back, fixed it, even fitted a new battery at the same time. You can tell a lot about a company when things go wrong and how they deal with it. With 2nd hand stuff, things will, at some point, go wrong.
I bought 2 iPhone 13 ProMax one 512gb and 1TB "as new" from GiffGaff. If they'd been in the original box, you'd swear they were new. No issues with either phone in over a year, battery health was 100% on both phones. They also offered a 30-day no quibble exchange with free returns so you've got nothing to lose really.
I have had two poor experiences recently.
The first was via Amazon, who I had used previously. Their guarantee is that the battery must show above 80% life. However they are only the market place, the actual supplier sent one with a battery in the high 70s. It was returned without issue, but if the retailer cant actually read the battery life indicator, it does raise a question about the quality of their refurbishment. The speaker was also very crackly.
Disappointed, I then tried to buy one from CertDeal in Spain. They actually operate out of France and so delivery and return was slow. Thinking I had learned a valuable lesson, I asked for a compatible replacement battery to be fitted. When the phone arrived the battery has similar power, but is not compatible with iOS and showed a permanent warning. It also got very hot during the first charge cycle.
I made the generous offer to have the local Apple store replace their battery with a genuinely compatible one at my cost. All I asked was that they reimbursed my for what I had paid for their battery. They declined, and so again that made me very sceptical about the quality of their refurbisher, if they do not want Apple to look inside to investigate. So, that also has been returned.
I look forward to reading the recommendations here. However, all the online stuff only seems to be a portal for 3rd party restorers, and therein lies the fundamental problem.
The first was via Amazon, who I had used previously. Their guarantee is that the battery must show above 80% life. However they are only the market place, the actual supplier sent one with a battery in the high 70s. It was returned without issue, but if the retailer cant actually read the battery life indicator, it does raise a question about the quality of their refurbishment. The speaker was also very crackly.
Disappointed, I then tried to buy one from CertDeal in Spain. They actually operate out of France and so delivery and return was slow. Thinking I had learned a valuable lesson, I asked for a compatible replacement battery to be fitted. When the phone arrived the battery has similar power, but is not compatible with iOS and showed a permanent warning. It also got very hot during the first charge cycle.
I made the generous offer to have the local Apple store replace their battery with a genuinely compatible one at my cost. All I asked was that they reimbursed my for what I had paid for their battery. They declined, and so again that made me very sceptical about the quality of their refurbisher, if they do not want Apple to look inside to investigate. So, that also has been returned.
I look forward to reading the recommendations here. However, all the online stuff only seems to be a portal for 3rd party restorers, and therein lies the fundamental problem.
I stumbled upon an iPhone repair chap here in Taunton who had some refurbished XRs for sale back in '22. That was youngest's Christmas present sorted.
I expect there's people like him all over. I'll get in touch with him when I need to replace any of our phones in case he's managed to get another batch.
He recently cleaned my own XR's charging port out for me for a tenner. Which saved me upgrading. Sadly!
I expect there's people like him all over. I'll get in touch with him when I need to replace any of our phones in case he's managed to get another batch.
He recently cleaned my own XR's charging port out for me for a tenner. Which saved me upgrading. Sadly!
PistonBroker said:
He recently cleaned my own XR's charging port out for me for a tenner. Which saved me upgrading. Sadly!
Ham_and_Jam said:
Easily DIY’d by poking a soft plastic tooth pick in the port and scraping the fluff / debris out.
That's one of the issues I have with my iPhone 12, despite having cleaned it as much as I can the lightening port doesn't work correctly, when connecting the cable I have to apply pressure to one side for it to connect properly, maybe I should search for a repair shop near me (Sheffield).I also had a cracked camera lens, but I ordered a replacement from eBay and replaced that myself yesterday.
Did a search and found a local repair shop, dropped my iPhone 12 off and they did a deep clean by dipping it into one of those ultrasonic jewellery cleaner baths, picked it up 45 mins later and the lightning port now works perfectly. Id tried numerous times myself with a cocktail stick but without success. he said it must have been dirty as the chemical turned a dirty colour.
Now to decide whether to keep it or sell to Music Magpie and upgrade with them to the Pro Max version, which will work out about £150. Always fancied the Pro Max but have never wanted to buy one new in case I found it too big, but trying one out the 2nd hand way might be worth a go.
Now to decide whether to keep it or sell to Music Magpie and upgrade with them to the Pro Max version, which will work out about £150. Always fancied the Pro Max but have never wanted to buy one new in case I found it too big, but trying one out the 2nd hand way might be worth a go.
I've used backmarket several times, for iPhones for the family and more recently an Apple watch. Never had a problem with any of them - in fact my iPhone 13 was not just unmarked and with the battery health at 100%, but even still had a few weeks to run of it's original Apple warranty.
It can be hit and miss I'm sure, but stick to items graded as 'Excellent' and you are almost guaranteed to get something almost indistinguishable from new, but at a substantial discount. If you're not happy, just send it back.
It can be hit and miss I'm sure, but stick to items graded as 'Excellent' and you are almost guaranteed to get something almost indistinguishable from new, but at a substantial discount. If you're not happy, just send it back.
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