Beware of buying sat phones on e-bay.....

My dislexic keyboard went oigle ..I'm sure you'll make sense of that.
Smudger

How on earth would they know you bought it off eBay ???

I've been using my Motorola 9505 for two years.

Iridium phones work just like GSM phones.

Plug ANY Iridium or Telstra Simcard into ANY Motorola 9500/9505 and it works.

Unless Iridium had the IMEI of EVERY phone sold on eBay it's impossible for them to not register them.

Obviously this Dealer will say ANYTHING to make sure you buy off him.

Look in the TRADER on here .There is a Motorola 9500 Iridium phone for sale for $900
All u need to do is get a $2 vodaphone starter pack. Bin the sim card and sellotape your Telstra GLOBALLY ROAMED sim card in the space and put it in the 9500. This phone uses a credit card sized sim card thats why u need to do the above.
Problem solved No Ebay No worries even better No Globalstar


TO Mike DID Not quite right ANY wont necessarily work. Has to be roamed as above and a standard small sim doesnt fit a 9500

I also did the research and ended up buying a Codan NGT

Graham that 9500 is priced at $600- 9500 Sat Phone

Oh dear so it is hit the wrong key again Makes it a better buy though. Should buy it myself perhaps

I sold my 9500 several years ago to a fellow forumite for $600-.
They are a good phone and at $600- its cheap insurance.

Cheers

I feel like I'm being hung out to dry just because I offered some advice that was passed on to me.
Mike R, I didn't even buy the handset from the dealer...and yes I think Iridium does have every number.

I feel like I'm being hung out to dry just because I offered some advice that was passed on to me.
Mike R, I didn't even buy the handset from the dealer...and yes I think Iridium does have every number.

The information which you passed on is highly inaccurate, based on my first-hand experience.

To avoid misleading people, I will post replies to any information I consider to be incorrect.

Mike, who are you directing this to? Me? All I did was pass on what I, as a prospective satellite phone customer had been told. Why on earth would I say something that wasn't what I had been told by presumably reputable dealers/service providers?
Careful, buddy....

SoloGirl are you also Tracy I???

They register second hand phones all the time without any problem??

I originally purchased a second hand 9500 and Telstra registered it on the Iridium network no problems at all.
Why would they suddenly claim that they can't register a phone bought from E-Bay?
Sounds like dealer bull$hit to me.

If you pass on information that's incorrect, then you have to accept the consequences.

You could have phrased your thread "I've just been told xxxxxx, is this true".

Mike

Mike, Go to hell.
I passed on what I took in good faith after asking as many questions as I could from a person in the business. If you think you know better, well done.
As a matter of fact, the dealer himself was passing on what HE was told by AST Australia. Dealer bull bleep perhaps, but don't have a go at me trying to alert people to a potential problem.

Tracy - if you read my posts you will see that I only referred to the facts you wrote.

I made suggestions on better ways to raise controversial staements.

I never criticised you once.

It's sad to see that you can't show the same politeness and decency.

Go Mike ....Go tracy!!!!
Who's running the book?

By that I meant I have so much information about all of those things but I had to make sure that the choice I made satisfied my practical and financial needs. I was actually being complimentary to the site for everything I found out.
And no, I can't rent HF here. And no, renting of sat phone is not cheaper for me.
And once you understand why Globalstar are having problems then an informed decision can be made.

At least you didn't just grab the first option. Doing the homework is what it's all about of course.
However, Globalstar have been having problems for years, and it's not about to get better, no matter what the girl on the phone says.

You serious KSV?
I've bought about 10 or 12 things on eBay over the past 2 years. Only one gave me a problem - a laptop computer. Contacted the business I got it from and sent it back. Within 2 weeks I had it back and working and it has been fine since (almost 2 years).

I generally prefer to buy locally and for larger items, often do some research on the net, then give local retailers the chance to come close to the price. But for some items, eBay is clearly better.

Buying on eBay is fine if you use common sense and do a bit of research on the seller. One of the great things with eBay is that you can read the comments of every person who has bought from a particular seller. Reputation is everything and is highly valuable to sellers. Try getting the comments and rating of every customer of any conventional business.

I prefer to buy from a local shop, but I've bought about a dozen things off Ebay, and every sale has been exceptionally good.

A rather uninformed comment. Probably fom a non user.

I have been a member of Ebay for about 10 years and have ever only had 2 problems.
1 was a seller in the US who ended up being banned by the time I finished with him and the other was a local business here in Brisbane.
Have done over 140 transactions with no other problems. Do the research and be aware of the limitations of buying from overseas and you should be fine. Some good buys

A Seiko watch here $998
Hong Kong $515 inc courier in 3 days

Nikon 70-300mm VR lens $900 plus here
USA Nikon dealer $515 in a week with worldwide warranty

Nikon D200 camera Ebay Aussie Nikon dealer $1949
Best price in local shops $2200+

Set of 5 Garth Brooks presentation DVDs $22 from USA Amazon shop
About $70 here if you can find it

Now whats wrong with that

IMHO this place is just ridiculous. You can not see item and can not try in, but rather should relay on seller “expertise” that could be very doubtful. This automatically limits buying to either well-known item (like particular camera lens, particular book or CD) or to dirt-cheap stuff, when you do not care about potential loss.
Warranty is biggest nuisance. Almost always it is “grey” import and not covered by warranty in Aus, but rather you expect to send item to them for replace/repair. And you will be lucky if seller still in business. Also beware that some “international” warranties also can be rejected in Aus – read small prints and talk to local distributor.
Price can be just pathetic. Well so often I can see that “Buy Now” or even finished auction price well above price from big reputable reseller. For example Pentax lenses often sold on E-Bay more then asking price from B&H (one of the biggest photo reseller) while they have them in stock! Even if price is cheaper it often end to be just couple of dozens dollars less (after postage and insurance) then retail price in Aus. Does it worth it? Not in my view.
Next are auctions, when everything happens in last split second in crazy manner. I do not have time nor energy to participate in such activity.
But really biggest problem came to the point when some smarties going to say local photo shop, try camera in question and ended up with buying it from E-Bay for suck of saving 20 bucks! Come on! Do you realize that show room, items on display and salesman cost money and they need to be recovered? Yes, you *DO* like to go and try before buy, but *NO* you do not like to pay for this. How I can call it? Scams, nothing else. After wide spread of Internet trading almost all photo-traders has closed except of biggest Elizabeth Street guys (I am in Melbourne). Are you happy about this? Me definitely not.
And last. With smart shopping it is almost always possible to buy cheaper from retailer then from E-Bay. Saving money, time and frustration. And support local business.
Everyone entitled on his/her own opinion and this is my one.

Cheers
Serg.

You obviously didnt read my post carefully as nowhere did I only save "$20" or so.
It is also well known that distributors set the prices for items sold in Australia and that includes watches and cameras. I priced the watch here and gave them a chance to match it. The answer was that they are told the RRP and thats it. How can u justify 100% differnce on the same thing. Even allowing for all the business cost. The seller on Ebay must also make a profit or he wont stay in business either.
Yes some sellers dream a bit and catch some unsuspecting buyers who havent done their homework and get caught. Thats their own fault.
EG a set of seat covers for a Landcruiser $159 at local Auto shop $127 at their 20% off day $175 plus postage on Ebay Did they sell them. NO.

I never buy without researching the item fully via Google and other search engines. I also fully read sellers history and ALL feedback. If the Item has a unusual brand name Google it and see what you get. As far as auctions are concerned yes people get carried away, but that happens locally with similar things.
Set a figure and stick to it theres always next week.

As far as Camera shops disappearing would it not also be the fact that the large retailers like H-----N----- and others sell everything and like supermarkets have killed the small retailers.

You cant blame Ebay for everything because only about 60% of households have the internet so where do the other 40% shop.

Anyway this thread was originally about satphones so I dont know if Iridium know every phones IMEI number but cell networks must cos I have a phone which was found in NZ and wont work over there as it has been blocked, but will work here. Doesnt matter what sim card you use the network still knows so the phone must be interrogated on connection.

I would think however that if they are making money off it why ban it. Not very logical as people who visit from overseas can bring them and use them as they are advertised that they will connect WORLD WIDE. Dont tell them you bought it on Ebay . Say your uncle in the US gave ti to you after he did a trip around Australia and didnt want it any more. Whos to argue its a world wide phone isnt it. Better still just use it dont tell them anything

Mate,
You like it – I have no problems. And I do not understand what problems do you have if I dislike it. Horses for courses as they said. But asking well-established business that provide you real service and even can take your purchase back even if you just change your mind to match price with some unknown Internet scam is as least silly. I do not mind to pay a bit extra for service. And I do my homework before commit any significant purchase.
Cheers
Serg

I respect that certainly are entitled to your view but to label it a a scam is unfair and unwarranted.
There are a lot of scammers that are not on the internet.
You only have to read the papers each day.
A lot of Ebay sellers are reputable honest people and offer a good service.

See here for definition of scam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam

Basically means you pay for something and get nothing

Havent had that experience on Ebay yet

KSV,
I've bought heaps of stuff off ebay (including my current rig; the Chev 6.5 V8 Patrol). I have never had any problems.

One thing you may not be aware of is that each seller and buyer has a rating which you can view. Now, I reckon if somebody has sold 10,000 items on ebay and has a positive feedback record of 99.8%, you're gunna be pretty stiff to get dudded.

Cheers

Roachie

sold my winch on there last night, cnut who got it scored a bargain. Not a thing wrong with it, just cant fit 2 winches on the GU, adn dont need to, its not a toyota.

It appeared to have nothing to do with compatability - only Iridium phones on the Iridium network is a given. It was Central Comms in Alice who was told this by their supplier ASTA.

Not so with Iridium.
It uses the same Sim Card system as used by GSM mobiles.
With Telstra I was able to select my own phone number.

Do Iridium phones use a IMIE number.