Buying 'new' xperia X compact on eBay

[AaLF]

Haven't thrown my old iphone 5s in the bottom drawer yet.   But time's getting close.   After much googling have short-listed the X-compact as best choice.  The price jump to the XZ & beyond is too much for this old pensioner.

I'm in Sydney Australia.  "New"  X-compacts are cheap on eBay.au   The market seems to be cornered by chinese importers.  (link below as sample)

Is it sensible to save $ & buy one on eBay?   The shopping mall mobile shops seem to have forgotten to lower the price as time marches on.

ebay examples-

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sony-Xperia-X-Compact-F5321-32GB-Factory-Unlocked-Black-White-Blue-Smart...

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Unlocked-in-Sealed-Sony-Xperia-X-Compact-F5321-4G-LTE-Smartphone-Mobile-...

[Uliwooly · Accepted solution]

@AaLF 

The Xperia X it's a good phone, it'll be wise for you to play with it at your local store before buying any phone, just to see if it is what you want. 

[Jonas]

Hi @AaLF, I'm happy to hear that you are interested in an Xperia X Compact!

As there is only one version of the Xperia X Compact, you should not run into any strange behaviour when it comes to the bands that are supported by the device and your operator. However, as always with devices that are imported, it's very rare that they will have the same software customization in the device compared to if you bought one in a store in Australia, where it would most likely come with an Australian customization.

This can affect features such as VoLTE (voice over LTE) and Wi-Fi calling. I'm not sure if your operator supports these features, supports them for the Xperia X Compact, or that you will use them, but it's always something to keep in mind.

You may also want to check with your Local support team in Australia regarding warranty and so forth and if the device can be repaired (if needed) in Australia, or if you need to get in touch with the seller on eBay (which can be a bit tricky) to have the device repaired.

Let us know if there is anything else that you are wondering about!

[paraben]

Hi, I am using the X Compact for more than 2 years now, and I'm still very happy with it. Compact size, fast enough, long battery life (even after 2 years). The common price in official webshops in our country at this moment is about 270 euro. I can recommend this device without any hesitation. You should however consider the fact that it doesn't get firmware or security updates anymore, because of the Sony policy to stop updates 2 years after the phone is released.

I think the most important thing is to buy a definitely new one, not a used of refurbished device, so you are sure you will get a new battery.

[itisntnew]

The "new" sony xperia phones on ebay are not new.  I've bought two at different times.  Both had major failures and a large number of intermediate failures.  When warranty work is requested, you'll find they've been previously registered.  Apparently they get bulk broken xperias and replace screens, cameras, etc with cheap chinese knockoffs, print new boxes and shrink wrap them to look like new.

[Jonas]

Hi @itisntnew, welcome to our community!

Yeah, that is always the risk when purchasing online, especially electronic devices. I don't know how big it is these days, but back in the days it was very easy to fake reviews and a seller that sold basically garbage had only awesome reviews and a very trusted score, which was not true at all.

We don't really have eBay or Amazon in the country where I'm situated so I haven't used them to order anything, but hopefully they have a very good policy and system on how to get the money back when the product you bought is not the same as the one you ordered.

Another good way is asking about the IMEI before purchasing the product and if the seller does not want to give you this number, something may be a bit shady.

[AlBrown252]

I think this is a great phone, thank you for your feedback. By the way, if I buy last year's model, I can save some money. I remembered that I recently found the DontPayFull service that provides promo codes for various products in popular online stores. This is a great opportunity to save money or buy more products for little money. Maybe I can find a promo code there and buy a phone at a reasonable price. Then I'll have enough money to buy nice Christmas gifts for my mother and sisters. Anyway, if you know where I can find this phone at the lowest price, please share it with me.