Buying a used iPhone on eBay in Australia (without getting burnt)

A used iPhone off eBay can save you hundreds. It can also land you a locked brick, a dodgy battery, or a "256GB Pro" that turns up as a 64GB standard. The gear's the same as a shop; the risk is all in the listing. Here's how to buy one and not get cooked.

Work out the fair price first

Before anything else, find what the model actually sells for. Search the exact phone — model, storage, condition — then tick "Sold items" in the eBay filters. That shows completed sales, the real prices people paid, not what hopeful sellers are asking. Sit in the middle of that range. A bit under is a good buy. A long way under is a warning, not a win.

Be specific. An "iPhone 15 Pro" at $900 means nothing until you know if it's the 128GB or the 1TB — that's a few hundred dollars of difference on its own.

Check the four things that actually matter

1. Exact model and storage. Read the description, not just the title. Sellers lump variants together and the cheap-looking one is often the base model.
2. Battery health. On a used iPhone this is the big one. A genuine listing states the battery health percentage (Settings → Battery). Anything under about 85% means a battery replacement is coming. No mention of it on an older phone usually means it's not good.
3. iCloud / activation lock. This is the classic trap. If the phone's still linked to the seller's Apple account, it's a paperweight. Look for "factory reset", "no iCloud lock", or "ready to activate". If it's vague, ask before you buy.
4. IMEI / not blacklisted. A barred IMEI can't be used on a network. Honest sellers will give you the IMEI to check; dodgy ones won't.

Count postage and import, not just the price

A phone from overseas can look cheaper until reality kicks in. Add international postage, then the GST on the import, and that "$650" can land north of a local $700 phone — with a longer wait and harder returns if something's wrong. For phones especially, an Australian seller is usually the safer and often cheaper bet once it's all in. Always compare the total to your door.

Read the seller like the price depends on it

Because it does. Feedback percentage matters more than the number of reviews — under about 98% on something this expensive is worth a pause. A brand-new account selling several high-end phones cheap is a red flag, not a clearance sale. Stock photos instead of actual photos of the actual phone is another.

If it's way too cheap, walk

A near-new iPhone at a third of the going rate isn't your lucky day. It's a wrong listing, stolen stock, an iCloud-locked phone, or a straight scam. Genuine bargains sit a touch under market. The "too good to be true" ones are exactly that.

The shortcut

Checking sold prices, factoring postage and import, and sanity-checking every listing is a lot of work for one phone. That's what I built Rippafy for. It searches eBay Australia, works out the going rate, counts postage and import, puts Australian sellers first, and scores each listing RIPPA, ALRIGHT or COOKED so you can see at a glance whether the price is any good. It's free, and it'll tell you when something's cooked. Have a look.

Disclosure: links out to eBay are affiliate links, so I get a small cut if you buy. Costs you nothing, covers the bills. Rather say it than not.