Buying From a Private Seller: What You Can Check and What You Cannot

Why it looks so cheap

A device from a private seller is almost always cheaper than the same device in a shop. That is not a trick and not a coincidence. There is no workshop involved, no test, no warranty and no administration. You pay only for the device as it is at that moment, and all the risk that a trader normally carries you buy along with it. Whether that is a good deal depends entirely on what you can establish in those twenty minutes at the kitchen table. Anyone who knows what to look for regularly gets an excellent buy. Anyone who trusts the photos and a friendly chat is buying a gamble.

Start with the IMEI number

Ask for the IMEI number before you leave the house. You will find it in Settings > General > About, usually also on the SIM tray and on the box. With that number you do two things. You check whether the device is reported as stolen or blocked, and you check whether the model and the storage capacity match what was in the advert. A seller who will not give you that number has a reason for it, and that reason is rarely in your favour. Note it down for yourself as well: if the device disappears later, that is the only number you can report it with.

What you can check yourself

Do the check in a fixed order, so that you do not forget anything while someone is watching over your shoulder. Ask for a socket, a cable and ten quiet minutes. A seller with an honest device will find that normal.

• iCloud and Find My: have the seller sign out completely and erase the device while you are standing there. A device that is still attached to someone else's Apple account is a paperweight for you.
• SIM lock: put your own SIM card in and phone someone. Do not only look at whether there are bars, actually make a call.
• Battery: Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Read the maximum capacity and the number of charge cycles, and watch for a message that the battery has at some point been replaced with an unknown part.
• Screen: put a completely white and then a completely black image on it and look for dead pixels, stains and burn-in. Wipe your finger over the whole surface, including the corners, and check whether the touch drops out anywhere.
• Cameras: all the lenses on the back, the front camera, photo and video, flash on. Watch for dust or moisture behind the glass.
• Face ID or Touch ID: have it set up again. That only works if the sensor really is in order.
• Buttons and sound: volume buttons, the side button, the switch or action button, the speaker at the bottom and the speaker at the ear. Phone someone and hold the device to your ear.
• Charging: connect a cable and move the plug gently. If the connection drops out, there is something in or on the charging port.

What you cannot see

This is where what is possible at a kitchen table stops. Moisture leaves traces on the board that you only see when the device is lying open under a microscope, and such a device often works fine for months before something fails. A previously fitted screen or battery of unknown make works until it suddenly does not. Parts that do not belong with the device sometimes give a message in the settings and sometimes nothing. An old employer's management profile you only notice when you erase the device yourself and it suddenly asks for an enrolment. And a board that has been too hot once keeps that quiet for a long time.

What you give up

In a sale between two private individuals you have no legal warranty. That exists between a trader and a consumer, not between two people who found each other through an advert. You also have no cooling-off period: the right of withdrawal on distance purchases applies to a business, not to the neighbour. If the device dies after three weeks, that is your bill. At most you can try to demonstrate that the seller deliberately kept something quiet, and in practice that ends in an argument over a messaging app. Count on that before you decide how much you want to pay.

When private is a sensible choice

There are plenty of situations where it adds up. When the device is young and you know the previous owner. When you are looking for a second device that is not critical, for a child or as a spare in the car. When you can repair things yourself and you know exactly what a screen or a battery costs, because then a device with a crack is sometimes the best buy of the week. Where it usually goes wrong is with a recent and expensive device offered for a fraction of the going price by someone in a hurry. That hurry is the price you pay.

Where the difference with a shop lies

With us every device goes through 32 checkpoints in our own workshop in Zarren. The blocking status, the network lock, management profiles and iCloud are checked before the device even goes on sale. The storage is overwritten, the battery is measured and below 85% a new one goes in. The device is then given a new screen and a new housing, so you do not inherit the previous owner’s scratches and you have no photographs to interpret. You get 24 months of warranty on the device and on the battery, 30 days to change your mind with free returns, and shipping within Belgium and the Netherlands is free. What you save with a private seller is roughly exactly that package.

What that check involves step by step is on the page about our checks. What is and is not covered by the warranty is set out separately there.

If you go ahead anyway

Arrange to meet at the seller's home or in a place where there are people, not in a dark car park. Only pay once the device is lying in front of you erased and signed out, and set it up again with your own Apple account while you are still there. Ask for the original proof of purchase, because that tells you whether there is any manufacturer's warranty left and where the device came from. Take a photo of the IMEI number, of the advert and of the messages in which the seller promises something. That is not distrust. With a private purchase the administration simply falls to you.