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Do's and don't in buying 2nd hand cellphones

Ever thought of buying a used phone lately?

I do. And most of my previous phones are bought in used status.

Rule number 1, if you do not know the tips and tricks, stick to brand new phones. Simply because you might end up buying a fake one, or has an internal problems or worst, the accessories like the battery was replaced with a "class a" material.

So what is the advantage and why should one go for used phone?

1. Price is lower. It should be at least 20% lower on the average.
2. Brand new phones tend to depreciate even from the time you stepped out from the phone store.
3. Unit is already tested.

Now the tips...

1. Research your desired phone and do some comparison with your existing and some new choices. Limit your choice up to maximum of 3. You may go to my most common phone research site http://gsmarena.com
2. Check out the current market price and value by going to sulit.com, tipidcp or even buyandsellph.com before going to phone markets like greenhills, st francis square or even makati cinema square where you can buy these types of phones.
3. Consider the common brand so that after sales and repairs will not be an issue.
4. Always hunt for a complete package units. This will eliminate the probability that the phone was stolen or something.
5. Make sure that the accessories are complete and genuiine as seen from online reviews.
6. Check the serial or IMEI number on the box, back unit behind the battery and from the system itself. Let me know if you want to know the key numbers...
7. Check on the phone life of the unit. Send me a note should you require it.
In this function, you will see how many hours up to the last minute the phone was used. Depending on the model, it will also display its manufacturing date, schedule of internal repairs.
8. Have that instinct on the seller. Never deal with bunch of people trying to pull you. In Greenhills, try to roam around first. and always remember the booth number or location for you might not be able to go back there again.
9. Be on a look out. For some people are also selling their phone to stall owners. This will be a jackpot.
10. Check on the physical appearance. Look for cracks on the corners. This will mean that the phone might have dropped before or experienced a major collision (parang oto).
11. Double check on the screen for scratches and unbalanced color displays.
12. Try all the keypads if working well.
13. Try to make a call to a friend or even to the customer service toll free number of your network. Try to talk with them to see if the receiver and microphones are working.
14. Lastly, make and create suki. So that you know where to go first next time around.

These are the thing i learned from experiences. I too was a victim and now i consider myself a master in buying used phones. So always have a second option, opinion or someone with you in buying.

Good luck!