Although it’s quite risky to buy a second-hand or used iPhone online, you can minimize the risk factor by checking our listed top 10 used iPhone buying tips.
Finding the perfect buy when it comes to used iPhones isn’t as simple as reading the specifications. Apple’s iPhones are notoriously pricey and have a number of requirements before they can be purchased. When shopping for a used iPhone online, you should check twice as many boxes, including but not limited to: battery life, touch sensitivity, camera performance, and more.
It might be quite costly if you make the wrong purchase or if any of the phone’s components don’t function correctly. To get an idea of how much it would cost to replace a specific component of an iPhone, such as the battery, you can check Nextgenphone to find prices across models.
There is no question that making an online purchase of a used iPhone feels very much like playing a game. However, that’s not how things have to be. Before you decide to go through with the transaction, there are a few different things that you should clarify with the seller.
Top 10 Tips before Buying a Used iPhone
- Price of an iPhone
Buying a used iPhone might save you 20-40% compared to purchasing a new one. Still, it doesn’t guarantee the lowest price. Make sure you are getting the most for your money by doing research on the used iPhone model you want to buy.
- Check if it’s Refurbished
Do you believe that if you purchase a used iPhone, it will be in perfect working order? A refurbished item is one that has been previously owned but has been restored to an “as good as new” state by a professional refurbishing service, while a used item may have problems, blemishes, or general wear and tear. By understanding the difference, you may avoid being taken in by a bogus phone.
- Test the Used iPhone Battery
After a year or more of usage, the battery life of a previously owned iPhone will not be as good as that of a newer model. Using the battery health feature, which can be accessed in Settings, you may examine the current condition of the battery (available on iOS 12 and up). If the battery of the old iPhone is not even close to the 100% level in the Maximum Capacity area, you may want to reconsider whether or not you want to retain the device. A healthy battery for a phone should be somewhere around that mark. After all, nothing is more annoying than having the battery go from 35% to 0% in a matter of seconds.
- Check Seller Carefully
There are several different options to purchase a used iPhone. These might be anybody from single individuals or small businesses to large corporations or respectable websites like auction houses or official distributors. Buying from an individual or a private dealer is dangerous since you will likely have to pay in cash, the used iPhone may have flaws that you were not made aware of, and you may never hear from the seller again. In contrast, if you buy from a trustworthy source, you may be certain that the used iPhone you’re buying isn’t stolen or a fake.
- Check if iPhone is Unlocked
Getting an old iPhone is awesome, but before you purchase, make sure it isn’t locked to a certain carrier. If so, you may have to pay a fee to have access to it. Unlocking the phone, however, might potentially invalidate the warranty and make software updates difficult.
- Check Phone Quality
Choosing a reliable seller is essential, but so is verifying the used iPhone’s condition once you have it in hand. When it finally comes, you should try out its different features, including its buttons, speakers, charging port, and camera, as well as any applications and services you plan on using.
- Get a Good SIM-Only Deal
Before you go out and purchase a used iPhone, it’s a good idea to see what kind of SIM card bargain you can get. If you shop around, you may save enough money to buy a used iPhone.
- Buy on Monthly Instalments
You might potentially save money on the purchase of a used iPhone by opting to pay for it on a monthly basis rather than making one large payment. Different retailers offer the refurbished iPhone X for as little as £14.99 per month on a 24-month plan with no initial costs. When compared to buying the same phone from Apple directly, this saves you almost £300.
- Check Storage Capacity
Remember that used iPhones aren’t normally the newest models and often have less storage capacity than current models, so the cheap price may be tempting but it’s important to keep in mind that you’ll be sacrificing features for the savings. The latest flagship iPhones can hold as much as 512 GB of media, applications, and other files. There are low-priced devices with as little as 16GB of storage space. To put it simply, that’s a tremendous change. With services like iCloud, users no longer care as much about storage space for media files.
- Be Sure the iPhone You Buy isn’t Stolen
You should be careful not to purchase a stolen iPhone while shopping for a used one. When “Find My iPhone” is enabled, the “Activation Lock” function prevents a stolen iPhone from being used by a new owner. Whether an iPhone is “Activation Locked,” however, you won’t find out if it’s locked through iCloud until after you’ve purchased it. But you may check to see whether an iPhone you’re considering purchasing has been reported as stolen. The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) or Equipment Identity Document (EID) number of the device is required. Ask the vendor to supply it, and then look up the iPhone IMEI Online using a variety of different tools to make sure it’s valid.
