iphone from Tesco Outlet eBay store ?

wallofbeans

Hi all,

I am looking to get a replacement iPhone and have been looking for good second hand or refurbs with decent battery life and some warranty. I don't need the latest model so also looked at buying a brand new iPhone 13 for £399.

But I've also now found the Tesco Outlet eBay store, which has some reasonable prices on phones that are "opened - never used" — so I assume have full Apple warranty and 100% battery life.

Has anyone bought similar from Tesco Outlet? I hear pretty good things from feedback, but wanted to check here and see if anyone has first hand experience.

Thanks.

ButterCheese

Yes I've bought from Tesco outlet before - a TV. It was cheap because it came without the feet. I bought some generic feet for £15 and that was that. Going through eBay, you do have some protection in case the item is not as advertised or faulty. Large companies don't tend to quibble if there's a problem, as it's not worth their time or risking their reputation.

Having said that, you will never know if the phone (especially the battery) is brand new never used as advertised, or if it's been used heavily for 9 months and then returned. I'd like to think Tesco would be trustworthy, but size of company does not always gurantee this (I'm looking at you Currys).

I would buy it, keep all the packaging, use it a lot and see if everything works and that it holds a good charge. Then you still have the eBay return backup if anything does not oint to the phone being brand new

wallofbeans

I messaged them on eBay about this and just got a reply. They say that:

"These phones are all in brand new condition, we plug them into our system 'phonecheck' and do a full diagnostics test to check they are new and checks that we know they are 100% working also when they leave us. They will be 100% battery health as you would expect may have a couple of charge cycles from the testing process."

The fact that they plug them in and test them, and that they may have a couple of charge cycles, seems to go against the idea that they are brand new though. They can't be "brand new" if they've been turned on a few times.

They also said that:

"Apple will only allow a warranty to be activated within 18 months of production, this is even for brand new sealed items. They expect their items to be sold within that period and if you try to activate warranty after that 18 months window then it will not allow warranty to be activated. Even if we sell a brand new sealed one."

And I'm not sure this is true — if items are "brand new sealed items" the warranty should only start when it is first turned on I think.

There is a lot of contradiction in their reply and I'm somewhat confused by it!

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656039/iphone-from-tesco-outlet-ebay-store

Never assume a phone that was released in 2021, "Opened but not used" would still have Apple 1 year warranty & a 100% battery, Batteries do not like being left with low state of charge. Does the most damage to them.

TadleyBaggie

The iPhone 13 was last sold by Apple in September 2024, it was discontinued when the iPhone 16 was released. I be surprised if Apple would honour any warranty on this.

wallofbeans

The ones I am looking at from Tesco Outlet are iPhone 14's.

And I assume Apple would honour warranty on brand new phones? There are some retailers that are still selling iPhone 13 and 14's unopened and brand new. Or would they not come with the Apple Warranty either?

wallofbeans

I just spoke with Apple about this, and they said that "if you buy a brand new iPhone 14 in 2026 from an authorized reseller, the one-year Apple Warranty will still be valid. The warranty begins on the date of activation/purchase, not the date of manufacture."

I also asked what counts as 'activation' and they said that "If a phone has been purchased and returned without being fully set up or linked to an Apple ID, it is generally not considered "activated". We just need to make sure that it was not linked to any Apple ID."

FluffyKatzen

I bought a “new - open boxed” iPhone from the “tesco” outlet a few months back and it was a refurbished unit via o2, not new, which Apple confirmed checking the serial number, so I returned it. The receipt, invoice, return address and sender address were all from Cheapest Electrical/TLX.co.uk. Must say delivery was quick and refund was quick too as it was done via eBay