Things you must know before buying a refurbished iPhone

An iPhone is probably the most beautiful device you can get these days and it is very powerful with the help with all the Apps you can from the App store. As the demand of iPhone is increasing rapidly, Apple will launch its new iPhone 6 to meet the need of people every year. When A new iPhone has been released and that means two things —it’s time to sell your current iPhone to get some money to help pay for the new one, or it’s a good time to look on Craigslist and eBay for the older models that have just dropped significantly in price. Or you can buy a very cheap refurbished iPhone. If you are looking for a refurbished iPhone 6, there are few important things you absolutely need to know before you make the final decision to make sure you money worthwhile.

Check for a Clean ESN / IMEI

Purchasing a secondhand phone or a refurbished iPhone can save you money while allowing you to get the model you want. Unfortunately, some ungraceful sellers on eBay, Amazon and other online buying and selling sites sell stolen or some other illegitimate goods. Purchasing a stolen cell phone is more than unethical, it may also bring you lots of trouble. First it may not be usable, because if its owner has reported it stolen and had it locked. For you to find out whether the phone you are about to purchase is a stolen or not, you should find a cell phone's Mobile Equipment Identifier, or MEID, or Electronic Serial Number, or ESN, and then you can contact the appropriate service provider to see if the phone has been reported stolen or not.

Check for an iCloud Lock

The next important thing you need to know when buying a used iPhone is iCloud lock. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve gotten from people saying they bought a phone on Craigslist and now it is asking for an iCloud password that they don’t have and won’t let them use it at all. I feel horrible, it’s a huge problem and shame on Apple for not educating people on this, but once that happens on the phone, there is really no good way of getting past it. Those people now have a very expensive paperweight. To avoid this fate, whenever you buy a used iPhone, ask if it has iCloud removed and, again, check it and make sure when you arrive to buy the phone from any sealer online.  

Check for sign of Water Damage

The next big issue you need to check is water damage. A phone with water damage might still work, but the issue with a water damaged phone is that, generally, eventually, it starts to affect the internals, especially if it wasn’t dried out properly. So it’s best to avoid buying water damaged devices at all. Liquid Contact Indicator Chart. Each iPhone has a water damage indicator though that you can see and check really quickly if the phone itself has water damage before you buy it. This indicator is essentially a sticker located somewhere on the device that when exposed to moisture, turns from white or silver to red. If the indicator has any redness to it, don’t buy it. It won’t turn that color from humidity or something similar, it needs to have touched a liquid.

Check if it’s unlocked and Works on Your Carrier

While you have that out by the way, you want to put in your own SIM card into that tray and turn the phone on to make sure it works with your carrier. You should ensure that the refurbished phone will work with your provider before making a purchase. That means you should figure out if the phone is unlocked or not. If a phone is locked, it will only work with a specific provider and you may have to buy a SIM card, sometime it can be worse, it cannot with some certain network. If a phone is unlocked, it will work with any provider and any network. These four things are the crucial things you need to check with the phone to make sure you get a good quality phone and it won’t cause any further problem.

If you are looking for a refurbished iPhone, you should always be careful and try to get one from a trusted dealer. So you can just buy a refurbished unlocked iPhone 6 on cellphone age. Of course you can search on eBay and that will take you many time, sometimes it just hard to tell the good from the bad.