Question about selling 'unlocked' iPhone
 

I have an iPhone that I recently unlocked. I then went to eBay and saw them selling for more than $300.

Now, always thinking of ways to make money without any actual work, I thought of a plan where I would just buy a new iPhone 2G (about $150), jailbreak and unlock it, and then sell it on eBay for over twice the price.

1. Is this legal?
2. Does Apple sell iPhones for wholesale?

I don't think it's legal at this point. Doesn't Apple have a restriction on that in their license agreement?

I think whether they come after you depends on how many of these things you sell.

Alright.

When I looked on eBay people were saying that their phones were "legally" unlocked, and they then proceeded to price them over $500.

I guess I could sell one or two maybe, but not a lot :neutral:

I don't think it's legal at this point. Doesn't Apple have a restriction on that in their license agreement?

I think whether they come after you depends on how many of these things you sell.

It's not legal, and.....
 

First of all, Apple Legal really doesn't like the idea of people selling jailbroken and unlocked US iPhones. You do not want to raise the ire of these people. Besides, the utilities to do it are point and click, literally. The Woz jailbroke Kathy Griffin's iPhone over the web.

Secondly, the ones that are legally unlocked come from European and Asian countries where they have to be sold unlocked. That's not a problem at all if you can find a business partner in said country.

Thirdly, in the US at least, you're restricted to T-Mobile and EDGE speeds if you unlock it. What's the point?

Fourth, you can't update the firmware on a jailbroken/unlocked phone without breaking everything. That makes non-technical people pissy when their jailbroken apps are gone after trying to sync it with iTunes.

Also, if you sell a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch pre-loaded with apps, you will gain the attention of those copyright holders, such as Nintendo or Sega.

I'm sorry, but getting money for nothing in that way is just low. There's enough lowlifes trying to hustle to make money doing just that. Don't be like them.

Worst of all, when you figure out how much profit you make, divide that by your capital risk and labour input, you will probably find it isn't worth your time, and you'd get paid more in a real job.

Pissing off the lawyers from a major corporation sounds like a bad idea.