Improvements to the iPhone Buying and Selling experience

[syedmhaq]

I’m happy to announce that we’ve just launched an improvement to the iPhone buying and selling experience on eBay.

Network Technology (GSM/CDMA):

Apple creates multiple models of their iPhones that support different network technologies like GSM or CDMA. These network technologies determine which network carriers are supported on the phone.

e.g. The iPhone X Model A1901 supports GSM only. This means that you cannot use Verizon or Sprint as the network carrier on that phone.

To help sellers and buyers navigate through this complexity, we have updated our experience as follows:

Selling Experience:

During the iPhone selling experience on ebay.com, we now ask sellers to choose the Model Number of the phone they are trying to sell:

You can find the Model Number of your phone on the back of your phone or box. Alternatively you can also get it from general settings on your phone, by tapping once on the “Model” value.

Buying Experience:

The iPhone product pages (PRPs) now show which “Model Number” you are buying. You can also select the available “Model Numbers” from a drop down.

Please note that the available “Model Number” values is dependent on the supported network. So please select “Unlocked” Network to be able to select all the “Model Numbers”.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Apple-iPhone-X-256GB-Space-Gray-Unlocked-A1901-GSM/239160993

 

If you are unsure which model or network type to buy, please check with your carrier for compatibility.

If you have any comments/questions/feedback about these updates. Please comment below.

Thank you!

[newview]

This is not the information I was looking for.

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[slati_2013]

The biggest improvement you could make to the selling experience is to prevent scamming of iPhone sellers. We would rather discus that. You should be able to tell by the responses how people feel strongly about this. Every day some poor soul shows up here to report they have been scammed selling an iPhone.

[nawlinsron2]

Makes ya wonder who will address the problem 1st...ebay or 60 Minutes?

[gracieallen01]

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@kh-missy wrote:

Hello everyone,

Since this thread has gotten a bit off-topic (and some off-topic discussion has been removed), please bring the discussion back to Improvements to the iPhone Buying and Selling experience.

Thanks!

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miss_kitty_kat - with all due respect,

I think that most sellers that frequent this particular board, and try to give good advice to the new sellers or the inexperienced sellers that list an iphone and have a 'bad seller experience', would consider better protection, and more effort on the part of ebay to prevent seller scams, to be paramount in improving ANY kind of experience involving iphones - or ANY mobile device, for that matter.

How to decide which model to buy, depending on the buyer's location and the provider for that location is probably one of the least useful features that ebay could provide. Does ebay figure that the buyer doesn't know who services their area?  Does ebay think that the buyer isn't going to ask their friends what model they have?  How well that model works?  Does ebay figure that the buyer isn't exposed to sellers in the mall kiosk selling service contracts for the local  service - or upgrades?

The seller of a scammed mobile unit on ebay can be out a lot of money.  Does ebay refund it's fees received for the sale a scammed unit?  Does paypal?  If not, then the seller is the ONLY one out anything on the deal.

Can you wonder at the irate comments that you pulled?  And, how are they not part of the discussion of the 'selling experience' of an iphone (or mobile unit)?

[loveyourimagination49]

Completely agree, but you are responding to a Lithium Moderator.

I don’t want to see anyone scammed either. Wish I had a solution. 🤔

[gracieallen01]

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@loveyourimagination49 wrote:
Completely agree, but you are responding to a Lithium Moderator.

I don’t want to see anyone scammed either. Wish I had a solution. 🤔

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I'm not sure what the solution is, or where it is to be found.

However, an active effort to curb the scamming activities must be started some where, at some time and by someone, and the only one who can start it is ebay.  As folks are so fond of saying, 'This is ebay's sandbox'.

[nawlinsron2]

There's likely a Catch 22 in ebay's doing anything visibly...that entails a public acknowledgement that they're aware of the problem, and that opens them up to culpability on some level.
They might then opt to quietly refunding a scammed seller instead of opening that can of worms.

[slippinjimmy]

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@loveyourimagination49 wrote:
Completely agree, but you are responding to a Lithium Moderator.

I don’t want to see anyone scammed either. Wish I had a solution. 🤔

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It's an open board, you can respond to one person but many are listening, some of them from the "ivory towers".

[loveyourimagination49]

I’m pretty sure ivory isn’t allowed on here. Self report.

[thenobletuckylife]

Evening,

Seldom do sellers see such effort on the part of ebay and it can only mean it is very profitable for them.

Profits are good...maybe ebay needs look into forewarning sellers about the high risks of being scammed before they try to build up this niche scam market.

Mr C

[gracieallen01]

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@nawlinsron2 wrote:
There's likely a Catch 22 in ebay's doing anything visibly...that entails a public acknowledgement that they're aware of the problem, and that opens them up to culpability on some level.
They might then opt to quietly refunding a scammed seller instead of opening that can of worms.

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Yes, this is quite true - it could be an uncomfortable position for ebay.

Then again, personally, I think it would be better to acknowledge the problem and begin working on it, rather than have some regulating entity step in and 'suggest' that they might want to consider doing something - publically.

[nawlinsron2]

I never get tired of saying this..."the things you care about are the things you get done".

So, ebay...besides the stock price, what else do you care about?

[*eponymous*]

You can find the Model Number of your phone on the back of your phone

iPhones newer than the 7S do not have an imprint on the back of the phone.

I also think the explanation and graphic given may be confusing to both sellers and buyers.  Apple uses two model numbering systems - one is an "A" series, and the other (the SKU) gives more in-depth information, including the harddrive size. The SKU is not available under "model", and the SKU is the more valuable data in that it tells the buyer at a glance if the hdd size is acceptable, if the phone was sold unlocked, and whether the phone is a refurb.

[nawlinsron2]

More solid proof that ebay is a tech company.

[gracieallen01]

It's been in the works so long that it's outdated?

Oooops!