How do I transfer ownership of phone?

loofer

I'm buying a phone 2nd hand (eBay). Obviously it comes attached with risks.

Although this seller has good feedback I would like to officially transfer ownership of the phone.

Sometimes you do get people that will sell a phone, through whatever means, and then report it stolen in order to claim a new one from insurance. The network then blocks the phone which then becomes useless.

Obviously I have an eBay printout but that doesn't specify the IMEI of that particular phone they are selling. You would end up having to go through court probably to prove as well so it get's messy.

So... back to the original question? How do I get it transferred so any previous owner can no longer have it blocked?

I don't think a written receipt is sufficient. Would like something from the Network Operator (either their network or mine... or both).

Rusty!

You can't. There is no such thing as 'official ownership' of a phone.

Jon_01

As above, you can't.

If the owner ever calls the network he can get it blacklisted. I'm fielding 1 or 2 calls a week from people who've bought on Ebay or Gumtree only to find weeks/months later the phone (usually an iPhone) suddenly stops.

All you can do is buy from someone that has lots of good feedback and you should be ok.

loofer

thanks.

That's a real shame. I think they're (phone companies/network operators ) are missing a big trick here. Maybe 2nd hand phones don't interest them but I'm sure it helps drive the PAYG and SIM only market.

Luckily this person I'm buying from has 900+ feedback at 99.8%

Jon_01

The problem is proving the transfer of ownership.

The networks would need proof to make it work, but (as they would make nothing out of it) they won't throw any resource at it.

geo555

Get the seller to send a receipt with the IMEI number on it.

loofer

Jon_01 wrote: »

The problem is proving the transfer of ownership.

The networks would need proof to make it work, but (as they would make nothing out of it) they won't throw any resource at it.

I thought it would be as simple as seller phoning their network and providing new owner details. Like you said though... no incentive for networks to do this, could also be costly to arrange a central system.

Oh well.

Jon_01

Over the phone wouldn't work.

When I worked on the frontline the number of calls I'd get from a man giving me the number for a girls account (and wanting access to it) was staggering. They'd give their (then) boyfriend all their security info without a thought. You can see when they break up the boy then gets his new girlfriend to call in and do a transfer just get back at the old GF... No, phone in would be a none starter. .

macman

When I've sold phones on eBay I've always messaged the buyer through the site on despatch with the tracking number, and also to state that the IMEI number has been recorded as xxx. And taken a photo of the IMEI no. too.
The purpose being to prevent anyone sending a different phone (but same model) back saying its faulty or damaged, and wanting a refund. I've only encountered this once, but that was enough.

Wintermute

Jon_01 wrote: »

As above, you can't.

If the owner ever calls the network he can get it blacklisted. I'm fielding 1 or 2 calls a week from people who've bought on Ebay or Gumtree only to find weeks/months later the phone (usually an iPhone) suddenly stops.

All you can do is buy from someone that has lots of good feedback and you should be ok.

Pretty much, there's too many risks involved in purchasing a phone off ebay. Even if a phone appears to be find there's no way to guarantee it wont be barred weeks or sometimes even months later.

Networks have no incentive to introduce a formal way of determining ownership of handsets, it would be very expensive, create more problems than it would solve and most likely impact their sale of handsets.

fiendishlyclever

I had a phone from Ebay barred after 40 days - fortunately for me within the paypal window for claiming, and they helped me do some arm twisting.

The seller had good feedback and came over as being helpful, although I'm not sure how much of this was down to the involvement of paypal. The IMEI was barred although the seller claimed to know nothing about it.

I did buy another phone from Ebay but one that the seller had won in a competition (no contract) so I knew the same thing was unlikely to happen again. I also made sure the seller had a higher feedback than the first - although I'm not sure how much difference that made.

The last phone I bought was a sim-free phone from a large retailer - they weren't much cheaper on Ebay and I had peace of mind. This is how I will buy my phones in future.