Where to buy used/refurbished phones

[Spud1]

Hi All,

Long story short - I am looking for a reliable/trustworthy place to get a 2nd hand (preferably refurbished) phone, without paying over the odds.

Obviously the first port of call is a local phone shop - but considering that my girlfriend is after an IPhone 4 it's not really an option as I don't want to spend more than £200 on one.

So I am looking online - so far I have come up with:

Gumtree and similar places - wouldn't touch with a bargepole, not at all trustworthy
Ebay - similar to the above only slightly better - still high risk. Not sure if mobile phone fraud is as prevalent on ebay as it used to be.
ineedamobile.com - looks good, right price and stock..but almost too good to be true - anyone had dealings with them? Seems a sister site of buymobilephones.net which does give me a bit of confidence.
Amazon sellers - same as ebay, but with higher prices.

Any others I should check out? I've got a few weeks to sort this so not in a mad rush

[Phage]

Bought a 3GS from here. Reasonable price, good warranty and you can inspect the goods before sale, if a branch is near you.
http://uk.webuy.com/phones/
Plus check big chain pawnbrokers like Cash converters.
http://webshop.cashconverters.co.uk/.../mobile-phones

[Spud1]

Thanks for the hint - I wouldn't buy anything from CEX as they are insanely overpriced (good to sell to though ) but I'll check out a cash generator/converters..didn't think of them, cheers.

[Agent]

http://www.smartfonestore.com/ - I know a few people have used them without any hassle. You'll need to check prices though.

[Spud1]

That sort of place is perfect - thanks Agent. Looks like they might just flip phones from fonebank too..which is a good thing

Cheers!

[Agent]

No probs - they're fairly well known on HUKD, so you'll find the A grade stuff shifts fairly fast. Don't hesitate too much like I have done in the past

edit - jeeze, iPhone 4 prices dropped. Might get one for my mum at that price!

[Spud1]

cool - i'll keep an eye on it the next few days and jump if I see an A grade either unlocked or on Orange.

They do have one in stock but only on voda..and a true IMEI based unlock on voda is mighty expensive from what information I can find

[Phaz0r18]

I'd stick to eBay and reputable sellers...

[Barry]

Sounds odd but facebook sale pages, have a few from my local one, had a Galaxy S2 for £130 about 6 month ago and you can pickup iPhone 4S's for about £170

[Phage]

Sounds odd but facebook sale pages, have a few from my local one, had a Galaxy S2 for £130 about 6 month ago and you can pickup iPhone 4S's for about £170

Really ? What are these pages ?

[Barry]

You would need to check on facebook for your local area but there are plenty around, I have found it alot better than any other phone selling site as it puts you in direct contact with people wanting to sell there old phones

[Spud1]

As a quick update to this - I've just ordered one from smartfonestore, got their last iPhone 4 on orange Grade A for £165 - pretty pleased with that tbh, more than fast enough for my girlfriend and £100 less than the alternative of an iPad Mini

So thanks for all the suggestions, all are much appreciated.

[Agent]

Now just hit the thanks button you cheapskate

Also remember it's worth installing Prey: http://preyproject.com/

Free and if it does get lost / stolen, it might make all the difference!

[Spud1]

hehe have a few Is prey any better/more reliable than the find my iphone service that Apple already provide? I can't see much difference really as they both get wiped when you re-image the phone, both require a data connection to be able to "phone home" and both are free?

[Agent]

I've not used find my iPhone, but this seems to give a good overview: http://answers.preyproject.com/topic...find-my-iphone

Hi Albert,

The difference is subtle but it's actually very relevant: Find my iPhone is meant to help you find your stuff if you misplaced it -- not if it got stolen. It works in a synchronous fashion, which means that to get the device's location you need to be logged in to iCloud at the same time the device is online. This is because Find my iPhone essentially shows a live map with the current location of your device.

If the device is not online, you won't be able to know where it is.

Prey, on the other hand, assumes your device will phone home at a different (unknown) time, so instead of trying to locate your device when logged in, you simply mark your device as missing and wait. Once the device connects, Prey will begin sending reports with the device's location and keep a history of them on the Control Panel so you can take a look at them later, and then use that evidence for the police to take action.

That said, I personally think Find my iPhone is great. It just serves a totally different purpose.

You can remotely take pictures, get the wifi info, GPS location and so on with prey....I don't think you have the power to take pictures and so on with 'find my iPhone', but I can't say that for certain as I don't have an iPhone any more.

[Dooms]

http://swappa.com/uk

has come to my attention recently and I'll be picking up my next phone from there methinks. Run by the guys over at XDA-Developers which I've been member of for years and generally getting good reviews over the interwebs.

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edit: ah reading up you already found a phone, well nevermind - this info might be useful to someone who uses the search feature later