Selling an iPhone on Craigslist — “No Receipt Needed, If You Know What I Mean”

It seems there’s lots of people desperate to get their hands on unopened iPhones — even a couple of weeks before older models are outdated.

A couple of months ago I bought a 16-Gbyte iPhone at the Apple Store, thinking I’d upgrade from my original 8-Gbyte iPhone. But then rumors of the iPhone 2.0 started catching fire, so I didn’t open it. With the release of a 3G iPhone looking likely in early June, I thought it better to wait.

Trouble is, I waited too long to return the unopened iPhone to the Apple Store, which has a two-week return policy. So earlier this week, I put it on Craigslist for $550 ($50 over retail) and crossed my fingers.

Boy, was I surprised. I’ve had several offers, many of them for the inflated price. Most of these buyers asked me if I had more than one phone.

The first offer came in just a few seconds after I posted the ad. The buyer, who I’m meeting this afternoon, wrote: “I will need as many as you have. no receipt needed if you know what I mean.”

The iPhone must be headed overseas. Apple has a policy limiting sales to five iPhones per customer — checked against their credit card.

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I’ll be asking the buyer some questions this afternoon about his interest in buying multiple, unopened iPhones.

Link to “iPhone wanted” ads on SF Craigslist.

2 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com Josh Bancroft
I was in Shanghai, China last month, and iPhones were EVERYWHERE. And 8GB model sells for about USD$600. Since there’s no official channel for them, they all must have arrived via the methods you’re talking about.
I knew that gray market imports were happening, but there were SO many iPhones, it made me do a double-take when I thought about the scale on which it must be happening.
Methinks you won’t have trouble getting rid of yours! ;-)
Church of Apple
Two things:
1) Craigslist often has scamers so watch yourself. Meeting with someone in person is a good idea, as long as it isn’t in a dark ally, if you know what I mean.
2) My German friends have been trying to get me to buy iPhones and ship them over there to be “jailbroken” and sold on German ebay for a profit. When one actually came to visit he bought three while he was here (one with a prepaid credit card).
“But Germany already has a legitimate supplier of iPhones!” I hear you cry. Well, in case you haven’t noticed, the USD is in the trash can right now; and that’s before I start using hyperbole. Also, due to excessive sales taxes and Apple execs denial of purchasing power parity the iPhone is WAY cheaper here.