How to avoid getting burned when buying a used smartphone


3 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — KSL TV producer Mark Challis thought he'd found the perfect fit. He'd been browsing online classified ads looking for a used Samsung when one caught his eye.

He asked the seller a lot of questions, and then one day after work met the man in Salt Lake City. He paid $100, but when Challis took the phone to a wireless store to connect it to his plan he got bad news.

"They ran the serial number to activate the phone and the guy says, 'this phone has been reported lost or stolen.'"

Mark told the KSL TV investigative team about the bad deal to help educate Utahns about buying used cellphones.

"The phone is absolutely worthless," said Salt Lake police detective Cody Lougy.

Lougy says one way a person can protect themselves from buying a stolen phone is to tell a seller they want to meet him at the wireless store. The police department believes if someone is selling a stolen phone they'll decline to meet there.

"Meet me at T-Mobile, meet me at Verizon, let's make sure this phone is good to go and it's not stolen," said Lougy.

It's not only stolen phones buyers should worry about. Buying a broken phone would be a bummer too, and a waste of money.

So, if you can't meet at a wireless store, meet at a public library or a coffee shop says Alex Sebastian, co-founder of the website getorchard.com.

Photo: KSL TV
Photo: KSL TV

Sebastian has bought thousands of smartphones to sell on his website. He says places like coffee shops are safer than parking lots and they offer free Wi-Fi to test the phone to make sure it's working.

"If there's anything that feels a little bit off, you just need to walk because you could end up with a $300 paperweight," he said.

Through experience, Sebastian says, if the seller gives him few details about a phone, he will walk away from the deal. He says it could be a red flag that something is wrong with it.

He says many buyers don't realize they can check a phone's serial number through an international database. This may help determine if there's a problem.

Sebastian's website allows buyers to check up to 10 phones per day for free. He says the serial — or IMEI — number is located under a phone's settings tab. He suggests buyers run the number before they agree to buy a phone.

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Debbie Dujanovic

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast