calling all ebay cell phone dealer information knower persons
March 9, 2008 4:49 PM Subscribe
So I just purchased a ' BRAND NEW HTC MOGUL W/ CLEAR ESN, FREE CAR CHARGER NIB!' from eBay, and now have a few questions about how these cell phone dealers work.
1 - Where are they getting their merchandise? "YOU ARE BIDDING ON A BRAND NEW HTC MOGUL NEVER BEEN TAKEN OUT FROM THE BOX." (granted it doesn't say anything about not being a referb)
2 - Does anybody know how much they might pay for, say the Mogul in the ad above, or how much profit they might be making on these? The last three of Moguls from this seller sold for $300, $305, and $324.99. Purchasing with a from Sprint w/contract would be $350 or $399, sans-contract $550.
3 - If, for some reason, I still have a temptation to try my hand at what they are doing after reading the feedback for q1 and q2, what else should I know?
1 - Where are they getting their merchandise? "YOU ARE BIDDING ON A BRAND NEW HTC MOGUL NEVER BEEN TAKEN OUT FROM THE BOX." (granted it doesn't say anything about not being a referb)
2 - Does anybody know how much they might pay for, say the Mogul in the ad above, or how much profit they might be making on these? The last three of Moguls from this seller sold for $300, $305, and $324.99. Purchasing with a from Sprint w/contract would be $350 or $399, sans-contract $550.
3 - If, for some reason, I still have a temptation to try my hand at what they are doing after reading the feedback for q1 and q2, what else should I know?
« Older Dating a divorced man. Help me rationalize this... | Know of a book that deals with continuity and... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
2. The US handset market for carriers is based on subsidy. That's why when you buy a phone for $99 instead of $299 you have to sign a 2-year contract. Phones aren't cheap, so the carrier wants to re-coup the cost of the handset. On the other hand, wholesalers and MVNOs can get handsets for cheap if they buy up extra stock from other dealers. There are multiple factors to the equation, but I would say that the Moguls cost the seller around $200 a unit.
3. I meet people every other day who have made money selling handsets and as wholesalers. GSM handsets don't require you to have relationships with carriers, but CDMA handsets do. On the CDMA side, Verizon's announcement that they will allow handset movement to and from their service can only help handset sales.
Enjoy your Mogul.
posted by jivesoul at 6:40 PM on March 9, 2008 [1 favorite]