Buying phones off of this newsgroup

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

So I just saw this $250 Treo 600 (prolly about three messages up), and
I was wondering how you all would approach a blind sale like this.
With Ebay, there's at least a modicum of safety, and you can basically
check references to a certain extent.

Have any of you bought phones this way? I am dying to get a 600, but
the retail price is outta my range, and I don't have a new phone
discount coming up on my plan for a while.

Thanks

Brian Link, Minnesota Countertenor
----------------------------------
"I think animal testing is a terrible idea;
they get all nervous and give the wrong answers."
- regmech

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Brian Link wrote:

> So I just saw this $250 Treo 600 (prolly about three messages up), and
> I was wondering how you all would approach a blind sale like this.
> With Ebay, there's at least a modicum of safety, and you can basically
> check references to a certain extent.

I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

> Have any of you bought phones this way? I am dying to get a 600, but
> the retail price is outta my range, and I don't have a new phone
> discount coming up on my plan for a while.

Don't get desperate. I paid $250 for my brand new Treo 600 from Amazon
-- but that was in January of this year, and because I took a 2 year
contract. With a 1 year contract, it would have cost $300.

The deals from Amazon are no longer as good. You should hold out.
Deals on the Treo 600 will almost certainly come up again by the end of
the year, as newer models come out.

If you really are desperate for a phone, buy it via eBay, but only from
someone with an extremely good rating (high number of transactions over
a long time, and a very low complaint ratio).

Or you could try T-Mobile via Amazon. $450. Don't know about plans or
customer service...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Brian Link <blink@visi.com> wrote:
> So I just saw this $250 Treo 600 (prolly about three messages up), and
> I was wondering how you all would approach a blind sale like this.
> With Ebay, there's at least a modicum of safety, and you can basically
> check references to a certain extent.

The feedback mechanism is very useful.

> Have any of you bought phones this way?

No. Just sold two Verizon phones on the VZW newsgroup and it went smoothly...
the guy paid quickly and I got the phones out the same day I received the
check. But that wasn't a general for-sale posting, it was me emailing a guy
who I thought might be interested in a couple phones, and in my case we both
knew each other...

> I am dying to get a 600, but
> the retail price is outta my range, and I don't have a new phone
> discount coming up on my plan for a while.

You pose an interesting and relevant question. I'm curious to hear what others
have to say, because I don't have any good ideas for you.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http/JustThe.net/
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <c0a1g09sri7rhms9evmf4svbb92poon301@4ax.com>, blink@visi.com
says...
> So I just saw this $250 Treo 600 (prolly about three messages up), and
> I was wondering how you all would approach a blind sale like this.
>

I tend to take a bit more of a trusting approach. For example, I think
it was "Viagra Man" who posted that sale. Without any further
information, I wouldn't give it a second thought. No sale. If I'd had
the $250, though, I would have bought it from him. He's been around for
a little while, and seems straightforward enough.

Obviously, that's no guarantee, since *anyone* can put "Viagra Man" in
their nickname and pretend to be him. But people I've seen post would
get that additional consideration.

--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."

Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792