Sending Phone To Turkey - seller wants IMEI number

highguyuk

From everything said, I think it would be better if you both agree to not go through with the transaction.

Postage wise, you will not be covered. Also, personally, I would not want to send out the IMEI number to someone who has not paid.

RussWWFC

That's exactly what I have done, the buyer may be genuine (and seems despesrate to complete the transaction, at a very good price too) but I don't want to take the risk.

EDIT: All sorted now, buyer has agreed to a mutual cancellation and I've got my fees back

Sting_2

Having read all your comments, this looks interesting....

Taken from the following webpage:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/article.html?in_article_id=411386&in_page_id=5&ct=5


3. Check if a product has been stolen


Mobile phones and electrical goods are the products that are most likely to have been stolen. A new website, https://www.checkmend.org allows users to check whether the good on offer has fallen off the back of a lorry. The buyer should request the product's unique IMEI number, which they can enter into the website to check whether it has been reported stolen. Each search costs £2.99 over the web or £1 using the text service. If the seller won't volunteer the IMEI number, they are best avoided.

superjaggybunnet

I would cancel his bid and offer a second chance to the next highest bidder. (if their bid was a good one!)

Road_Hog

RussWWFC wrote:

but I don't want to take the risk.

EDIT: All sorted now, buyer has agreed to a mutual cancellation and I've got my fees back

Although this particular one is sorted now, as an aside, this is a BB5 Nokia which can only be unlocked by either the network or a certain individual named Dejan who unlocks mass quantities to special order (100+).

"3" are unlikely to unlock, for it to go abroad, so the purchaser would not be able to use this phone anyway.

EliTom

Just to point out to folk here that infact the Turkish buyer is correct, and therefore this is not a scam.

I have sold many phones, legitimately, to Turkish friends over the years.

On 1st August the Turkish Government finally introduced IMEI blocking in attempt to stop the ctrade in stolen foreign phones.

So unless the IMEI is registered with TurkTelekom, then the phone is barred from being used with Turkish Networks. It is still possible to roam on Turkish networks but you cannot use a Turkish SIM card in a foreign phone unless you get it registered.

Here is the TurkTelekom website with links about the changes as well as an IMEI check site that tells you if a particular IMEI is OK or not. Its in Turkish unfortuneatly !!

http://www.tk.gov.tr/

There is apparantly a very convoluted process to get a phone registered and i am looking into exactly how it works because i travel to Turkey 2 or 3 times a year and use a Turkish SIM card so I need to get a phone registered over there.

So the long and short is it was not a scam. Sounds like the buyer realised / was trold that the phone may not work after he had agreed to buy and wanted the IMEI to check via the TurkTelkom website.

hope this clarifies the matter somewhat.

EliTom

Icaru

Eli Tom,

We are all screwed by the Turkish gov! I left Turkey on december 1, 2005, never hearing about IMEI numbers and the new law, had my Turkish-bought phone stolen in Marbella, Spain in January. Bought a new mobile phone outside Turkey and returned to Turkey on April 30 still unaware of this new registration law. Two weeks ago Turkcell blocked my phone. I called them and then learned that I should have registered the phone on re-entering Turkey.

They said I could go to the airport with my passport, copies and my original invoice and petition to import my phone. The petition would be sent to Ankara and take 2-3 months to unblock my phone.

I went to the airport customs office as told to do, but the custom's officer just waved his hand in my face and said NO. Not only do you have to have the original invoice, it has to have both your name and the phone's IMEI number on it FROM THE SELLER! Most retailers, maybe all outside Turkey, don't put the IMEI # or the buyer's name on the invoice of an unlocked phone. At least FNAC doesn't.

So the Turkish customs refused to allow me to register my perfectly legal, unstolen, new Motorola L7 phone. I had to buy another one here in Turkey.

It really s****!