Hey everyone, Just to bring everyone on the same page right from the beginning. Of course, I wasn’t that naive to assume this would really be a "new" iPhone, but let’s start from the beginning.
I bought an iPhone 12 mini 64GB for 389€ at eBay (https://www.ebay.de/itm/325896903820). It was advertised as new, but without original packaging since it was from a bulk/OEM/B2B purchase. Guess you heard that before. I thought I just give it a try.
When I received it the first thing I noticed was the sticker that mentioned "Data cleard" and "Rcvd; 09/28/2023". I also tried to get AppleCare+, which failed and checkcoverage.apple.com returned Juli 2021 as purchase date. Apple itself said (via Chat) it cannot give any more information. The vendor said it’s not AppleCare+ enabled since it’s from the OEM purchase. Is that really a thing?
Because I wanted to test it I switched it on and set it up without AppleID. The battery health is at 83%, but I don’t see any service history in settings>general>about, so at least all parts seem to be original. Am I right with this assumption?
Is it possible that this device has never been used and the battery is just that bad due to long storage? Is it more likely that this is a used iPhone that just has no parts exchanged or that it’s really "new" and was just laying around for years? I mean why would you clear data, if it was completely new? If it’s not new and this is proof, I would try to push the price a bit before sending it back. Are there any risks in using this phone? Any chance to completely rule out no parts have been exchanged? From the outside, it’s in perfect condition.