Buyer guides

Know what you're buying before the money leaves your account.

Straight answers for phone shops and repair businesses buying phones and parts from China, written from the market floor in Shenzhen.

Grades describe how a used iPhone looks, not how it works. Here is what each grade usually means and the written spec that stops surprises.

The same phone model is made in China, global and regional versions. Buy the wrong one and your customers lose Google apps, network bands or updates.

The nine checks that separate a profitable box of used iPhones from a box of problems, and where to find each one on the phone itself.