Selling my iPhone on ebay, and someone asked for my serial number.
Is it okay for me to give it to them?
Why would they need this info?
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Selling my iPhone on ebay, and someone asked for my serial number.
Is it okay for me to give it to them?
Why would they need this info?
they may ask for it to confirm it isn't listed as stolen and is able to be activated but then you risk giving out your sn which I probably wouldn't do
What could they do with it?
I wouldn't give it to them. They are protected by paypal and eBay if anything is wrong with your device or activation of it. That's enough. I've sold several iPhones over eBay over the past couple years and never had anyone ask about the serial. As long as your listing says they will be able to use it or whatever, that's good enough.
The only thing I could think of of why they would want the serial number to check
if it's blacklisted is because perhaps Apple blocks blacklisted iPhones/iTouch's
reported as stolen or such from being sync'd on iTunes.
Or maybe they want to check the warranty
and if the device is still covered. You could
always ask why he wants the serial.
Yeah this is true but every knows (or should) that iPhone warranties are 1 year and you only get the Applecare level protection for the 1st 90 days. If the seller isn't advertising Apple care for 2 years not sure what else the buyer would need. I do agree to ask the potential buyer what they needed it for because I'm sure anything they need it for can be resolved without needing the serial.
Because if they seller says they bought the device
a month ago, I can use the serial to check the
warranty. And exactly what you stated, the
warranty is exactly one year w/o the AppleCare.
I've actually given my serial for that purpose a
couple of times.
So if the buyer said they bought it a month ago and
the warranty date says "6/19/2010", you know they
are liars and can't be trusted.
Yeah I agree but this is why you asks questions. Once the seller answers the questions, they are bound by them. So if I asked a seller if it was still eligible for Apple care and they said yes. I got the item and then found out they lied. I send it back and get my money. This is why the ad listing should include are important information because you are bound by that. Other than that, I wouldn't give them jack. That's just me though. I buy and sell on eBay and I would never think of asking a seller for serial or IMEI numbers. The add should provide enough information or I'll ask the right questions. If they lied, I keep my money.
LOL chances are you he wants the serial # to identify what week the iphone was made in. IE the first 5 digits. Mine is 84928 meaning it was made the 28th week of 2009. Give him the first 5 digits. There are millions with the same first 5 digits so there is no way of identifying the phone by that. Now why would the build week matter? Glad you ask, Chances are he wants to jailbreak and unlock the phone and this is where the build week is important. Iphones built after week 39 of 2009 will be a tethered jailbreak with the exception of the spirit jailbreak but if you run spirit you would have to still maintained your baseband to 5.11.07 and not used a stock ipsw of 3.1.3. So to sum up if you are selling as 3.1.2 on ebay you need to expect people to want to know at least the first 5 of the serial#. If your selling it on e-bay as 3.1.3 then **** if I know why he wants the serial cause at that point it doesnt matter anymore.
They probably want to check the warranty status, but you should ask them just in case.