Someone’s selling a Samsung Galaxy S21+ (in new condition) for a few hundred dollars cheaper than the going rate. How did he obtain it, and how’s he making a profit on it? Is there a catch? And why does Amazon not have such amazing prices?
Am I taking a risk by buying it? The seller has a 99.8% positive feedback rating.
The old saying if it is too good to be true, then often its not.
In whose opinion is considered to be in new condition.
That phone isn’t new the s21+ came out ages ago, even so they can trade it in against a new S22, but the value may not be the same as what they can sell it for. Whilst It may have been on Android 10 or possibly 11 when it came out, so you have to factor in how much update support is there left from Android updates. It may be able to get Android 12, but that may be the end of major update support.
Would I buy a second hand phone, absolutely NOT! Even from a user/seller with a high volume of sales, not saying this is a bad seller, presumably checked the feedback not just accepted the 99.8%. Now there is nothing to stop you asking him those questions.
It’s listed as “New”, and if it arrives in any condition other than brand new from the manufacturer (and untampered with) the seller knows that Ebay will force them to accept a return if the buyer sees that the listing was false.
A little over a year. For phones that’s pretty okay.
Here’s what the real value/price is:
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone/samsung-galaxy-s21-plus-5g
https://www.att.com/buy/phones/samsung-galaxy-s21-5g-128gb-phantom-gray.html
Assuming all ebay reviews are genuine, would it still be possible for the seller to be dishonest with a 99.8% positive feedback rating among 362,248 reviews?
Thank you for your input.
The only thing I can think of is as new phones come out people stop purchasing the older models, so it may be a job lot purchase. Wholesale as opposed to Retail prices would apply to business purchases.
Even so would I still wouldn’t purchase, as the clock starts ticking from release not necessarily purchase date for Android, UI Updates and Security updates.
A quick search on the release date for the S21+:
The Galaxy S21 was announced on January 14, 2021, and released to the market on January 29, 2021.
Thank you. But I’m not concerned about a year old phone in terms of OS and software updates. So taking that out of the picture, would you buy such a (brand new) phone for a few hundred dollars off the price?
No - for the reasons I mentioned before.
Plus I already have two phones already, one I only use when out exercising for the GPS and APP I use for it (no sim card), the other is my normal phone with a sim card. So my needs and requirements are different to yours. I also tend to keep my phones a long time, so I want the maximum benefit of Android version, UI and security updates.
I have bought new phones on Amazon before, but they have been pretty much current version/s at the time of purchase.
Can be analyzed here: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/f21014d409515e35d423d8b8964f17f85526eac6ad2b417072860d4e173e2474/details
Sold through Akamai, Mineapolis: https://www.shodan.io/host/23.35.204.54
Could have been old stock, also UnknownOriginatingSystem…
Remote-Cache is missing: TCP_MISS from a23-66-124-175.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com (AkamaiGHost/10.8.1-41431467) (-) error
polonus
What exactly are you showing us here?
I was asking in theory.
So you would Amazon but not ebay?
It is not so much the location, but the age and remaining support for the phone. As I said I keep my phones a relatively long time, so that is important for me. I get lots of items on ebay, but generally not big ticket items, but I also feel that Amazon has the edge over ebay.
I have bought cameras there that were more expensive than the phone you are looking at and this what from Panasonic but not in original packaging and fully guaranteed.
Rather than through a dealer selling through/via Amazon, so I feel I’m dealing with the company rather than Amazon. Both of my phone purchases were through the Samsung Store within the Amazon site.
I’m also considering the purchase of a new 17" laptop in the not to distant future:
LG gram Laptop 17Z90P - 17 Inch, Intel Evo Core i7 - 11th Gen, 80Wh Battery, (2560 x 1600 px), 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD Memory, Windows 11 OS.
The difference being, this will be through the LG Electronics Store within Amazon. Price wise this is still better than a high street retailer.
But if you look more carefully you’ll see that you’re actually buying the phone from a private seller and not from Samsung themselves despite it saying on top “Samsung store”.
Do you really think I didn’t check, such a thing would be considered misrepresentation in the eyes of the law.
Lets also put it this way, it is certainly better than purchasing from an unknown 3rd party on eBay.
I have made my points, so I’m done, its your money so you choose.
The fact remains that the actual seller for the phones in the Amazon Samsung “store” isn’t Samsung themselves.
Thank you. Appreciated.
Amazon handles the sale and distribution, the Store is in Samsung’s name they have Samsung stock at Amazons warehouses. This no unknown 3rd party reseller but I give in as this is going nowhere fast.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TZC4LW4
The seller isn’t Amazon.
Hopefully you are now seeing the benefit of Amazon and company stores within Amazon.
The Above phone is relatively recent has a fairly good specification (4GB RAM and 64GB SSD) and is much cheaper than so called flagship models like the Samsung Galaxy S21+
If it does everything that you want of a phone, you save a great deal of money if your existing network is T Mobile or Sprint.
But the seller isn’t Amazon.
Would you buy a phone from one of those sellers (trusting them that the devices are brand new as listed)?
I think you are missing the point, it is the Samsung store within Amazon, it is stocked by Samsung, promoted, sold through Amazon, despatch by Amazon and payment handled by Amazon.
The Image I posted in Reply #11, was the order details (from my purchase history) of one of the phones I purchased February 2021.
But was it a third party seller that you purchased the Samsung A51 from?
You really don’t get it or trying to wind me up.
If I went directly to the Samsung Store within avast I added it to the basket and guess who would handle the payment and delivery. YES AMAZON.
There is a later model available in the Samsung Store, which is a little cheaper than the A51 I bought just over a year ago…