Snapper <snapper1@y7mail.com> wrote:

> I'm looking around for some new mobile phones. I've not decided
> yet exactly what I want. However, the phones that I have looked
> at can be had for considerably cheaper online, such as Ebay,
> for example, than if I go into one of the telcos' shops.

> For example, the Nokia N95 is $1,195 outright via
> Telstra. Or between $800 and $900 on Ebay.

> For example, the Motorola V9 is $350 to $500 on Ebay.
> Telstra's price: $829.

> There are similar price differences for the other networks that I quickly checked.

> How can these Ebay sellers flog them for so much less
> than what Telstra, as an example, sells them for?

Quite a few of the phones sold on ebay arent sourced from Nokia and
Motorola in Aust, they're mostly chinese product imported by the seller.

> Why doesn't Telstra try to compete with this market?

They dont need to.

> Has anyone had any success negotiating a
> price break when buying outright from Telstra?

Didnt even bother trying.

> Last year when I was in the market for the Treo 750 none of
> the shops that I visited were interested or couldn't drop below
> the $1,095 "rrp" mark. Yet I bought one off Ebay for $600.

Me too with my N95. I deliberately chose one being sold with
a full Aust warranty from a seller with lots of feedback too.

> Someone's making a lot of money here, and I daresay
> that the EBay sellers aren't giving their phones away...

Corse they arent.