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A Guide On Buying Used Phones In Nigeria
Used Phones
This is a sponsored post brought to you by Jiji.ng
Buying a used phone can save you alot of money. In a country where the minimum wage is #18,000 , not many people can shell out #50,000 to buy a “decent” smartphone. But you can get a used phone even with a low budget.
Unfortunately buying used product is risky, as there are a lot of scammers that want to steal from you. So, here are a few tips that will help you minimize these risks and make your online smartphone shopping safer.
First of all, you should stick to the general rules of online shopping that will help you avoid scammers. They are:
- Don’t agree to a full or partial payment before seeing the merchandise
- Read the product description thoroughly
- Meet with the seller in a public place to avoid any kind of attack you might be baited into.
- Use Google to check and compare the latest prices for the phone you’re buying
- Don’t trust extremely low prices. Although second hand phones often have a major price drop with time, low prices are a common bait used by scammers, so be careful. Some things are just “too good to be true”
These tips will help you avoid trouble , but there are a lot more ways in which people can scam and cheat you.
If you want to be smart about shopping you need to know what to check when buying a used phone. Here are a few things to check
What To Check When Buying A Second Hand/ Used Phones
1. Check The IMEI Number :
IMEI or International Mobile Equipment Identity is a 15-digit number that is unique to every phone.
It can be used to get information about the phone’s brand and model and most importantly, it is often used by GSM providers to track stolen smartphones. That’s why this is the first thing you should check when buying a used phone.
There are 3 ways to get the IMEI number of a phone :
1. Through USSD – enter the code *#06# into your dialer and press Call. The IMEI should automatically appear on your screen right after.
2. Phone Settings – Navigate to Phone Settings > About Device > Status > IMEI Information
3. Find it inside your phone – phone manufacturers usually place some important information, like serial number, ID and IMEI inside the phone for the user to be able to get it with the phone switched off.
For Android users whose battery is attached to the phone , you’re most likely to find the information behind the battery, and if you can’t open the back panel , you may find the IMEI on the SIM card tray.
2. Phone’s appearance :
You might think that this point is the most important one in buying a used phone, as visible damage is a clear downside. While this is right, most of the sellers get rid of the most obvious flaws, so that even phones that are not properly working appear fine on the outside.
That’s why you need to be really thorough. Here are the most important parts you should definitely check out:
- Display – although minor scratches might not make a huge difference, dead pixel will definitely spoil the image on your display. Furthermore, it could indicate an underlying problem with the matrix as a whole, so check it very carefully.
- Camera – camera lenses are usually pretty well protected, but if they are damaged, there is very little you can do about it. You will most certainly have to change it, which could cost quite a lot, in some cases even more than the actual price of a used phone.
- Battery – if the battery is detachable, check it for damage as any physical flaw can drastically aggravate its life.
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3. Check all the ports :
Make sure all the Phone’s port are working fine.
- Charging port – This port is not only used to charge your phone , but also to connect it to a PC. Its multi functionality makes it one of the most important ports in the phone, so you need to check it first. Plug the cable to the laptop and see if the indicator shows that the phone is charging. Try and transfer a file from your laptop to the phone and see if it works.
- Headphone port – This port is used to connect your earphones & listen to music. To check it, simply plug in the headphones and turn on some music. Rotate the plug to check if it works in any position.
- SIM slot and microSD slot – To test this slot , you’ll need a working SIM card and microSD card. If the smartphone has two SIM slots, don’t forget to check both of them.
4. Check the software :
If the hardware of the smartphone is alright, it still doesn’t mean that the phone is working properly. There could be some software problems which the seller might be trying to hide from you. Here are the most common of them you need to be aware of:
- Suspicious apps – There are malware apps that can be used to gather your private information. Usually, these apps are very difficult to uninstall and you may need to hard reset the phone
- Blocked phone – if the phone you’re buying was used in another country, there may be problems with it working with your network provider. You need to check the compatibility of your SIM card with the phone to make sure that everything is working properly.
- Wi-Fi – The problems with this module can be caused both by hardware and software flaws. Wi-Fi allows you to quickly establish a connection to the Internet, so you definitely need to make sure that the smartphone has no problems in this department.
5. Buy at a safe marketplace :
Scammers are everywhere , but there are marketplaces that can successfully track them down to make your buying experience safer. If you want to know where to buy a used phone, look for a website that has strict anti-scam policies.
For example, one of the best places to buy used cell phones online is Jiji.ng. Firstly, Jiji used phones are represented in a huge variety with many brands to choose from. It means that if you want to find a newest model for the best price, you will definitely find one among the phone price on Jiji.
What’s more important is that the website has a strong antiscam policy. Ads for used phones for sale are regularly checked, scammers that have been reported are banned from the site and the users are informed about the risks and ways to prevent them. So, if you’re looking for the best place to buy used phones, Jiji is definitely one of them.
So, don’t waste your time and buy mobile phone online with Jiji App!
