So I recently became a top-rated eBay seller after my last evaluation. I was able to do this by selling iPhone unlocks on eBay. However, there is recent news (in the U.S.) that unlocking iPhones that are still on contract will be outlawed. I am not sure how this will affect this niche exactly because a lot of my customers unlock their out of contract phones but I get the occasional iPhone 5 (most of these are still on contract) and the occasional iPhone 4 and 4S that are on contract as well. It would be difficult for all parties involved to determine if the iPhone is on contract. Would eBay just stop allowing AT&T iPhone unlocks to cover their hides? I'd post a link to the article but I'm not allowed to but it's an article from technewsdaily and it was quoted by macrumors. Also, how much does top-rated seller influence my sales? I was always hesitant to dive into other niches because of competition but I think I might need to if I want to keep making a profit?
Top-rated eBay seller but niche might be getting outlawed in the U.S. soon
- Thread starter letsnba
- Start date
ArtVandelay
Power Member
- Jan 15, 2013
- 574
- 397
Being a top-rated seller puts your listings above most others'. Ebay prioritizes those heavily, so having an account with that status is a great advantage. The status is kept no matter what product you're selling, so you've got quite a leg up above many others no matter what!
Good luck!
Good luck!
Furious George
Supreme Member
- Dec 13, 2012
- 1,438
- 2,188
You just say in the listings you won't do it for phones that are under contract with certain carriers... and don't ever ask them. The onus there should lie on the people with the phone, not you.
I would suggest advertizing them as legally unlocked? If my memory serves me correctly, "legally unlocked" is a term used for iPhones sold in china. I dont believe China can bind a phone to a specific carrier and they have sold unlocked iphones since the beginning. They cant be patched either, and they usually go for a very high premium. I'm also aware of a few unlocks that were hardware unlocks, and they couldnt be patched either, granted, this was years ago. Take everything i say as a grain of salt, ive been out of the iPhone business for some time.
Consider selling unlocking SIM cards along with the iPhone? The phone isnt unlocked at the point of sale. It might be a way around the law.
Also i really dont think Apple will ever sue anyone for this. They hired comex for fucks sake. And learned from the hacker backlash that sony had to deal with from Geohot
Hope this helps. Good luck bud!
P.S. This new law is absolute bullshit. You own the device, bottom line. It just a way for companies to get around the fact that hackers usually understand the systems better than the engineers that design them.
Consider selling unlocking SIM cards along with the iPhone? The phone isnt unlocked at the point of sale. It might be a way around the law.
Also i really dont think Apple will ever sue anyone for this. They hired comex for fucks sake. And learned from the hacker backlash that sony had to deal with from Geohot
Hope this helps. Good luck bud!
P.S. This new law is absolute bullshit. You own the device, bottom line. It just a way for companies to get around the fact that hackers usually understand the systems better than the engineers that design them.
eBay is already beginning a mass blanket ban on all unlocking services. Mine were removed, as well as many other suppliers. It was nice while it lasted, but i knew it wouldn't last forever. A few of my buddies were up to 22,000 unlocks sold at 5-6$ a piece. Since they knew a direct AT&T employee they only paid 15% and their eBay fees were almost non-existent. It was a short lived venture, but the crack down is starting.
As for your newly achieved powerseller status, be VERY careful. You would think eBay would be all for your new status and more willing to help you out, however, this is not true in the slightest. I finally reached the numbers to be a power-seller, but had to wait 3 months for my evaluation. I continued to build on these numbers during that 3 month span, solidifying my status. One the 3rd month, i was awarded top rated seller and silver level power seller status i continued selling as usual. Day-by-day i watched my savings add up and continue to go up. Within 15 days, i had two bidders that purchased iphones the day i got power-seller status and TRS status. They had zero feedback, but i had never encountered a problem with zero feedback bidders before so i shipped the phone as normal. They never contacted me in any way, and left negative feedback (i had 100% positive until this point, with all 5-star DSR's). Within two days my account was selected for a random "re-evaluation" and i was stripped of my accolades due to a spike in low DSR ratings. I offered full refunds, exchanges plus goods, i would pay all shipping fees, etc and yet no response from either buyer. I believe eBay has accounts made like this and rip off new TRS members. In 15 days i had saved over 300$ in fees, yet as soon as they stripped it, it went back to normal i had to pay that 300$ in fees.
Watch your back on eBay if your not a wholesaler
So that means it will only be legal to sell unlocking service for phones already out of contract? Is it that expensive in the USA to unlock a phone already out of contract directly from the provider that people are buying this service from eBay sellers? In Germany, most times this is done for free.
Marcos0212
Registered Member
- Jan 20, 2013
- 79
- 20
You got it wrong, its illegal to only sell SOFTWARE unlocks, Its still legal to sell FACTORY unlock..
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Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Not really, you can find full info here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105...king-of-smartphones-becomes-illegal-saturday/
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