[Q] Finding an amaze to buy has been such a pain.. any suggestions? - HTC Amaze 4G

I've been looking for a month now, easily. I tried buying one on XDA, but it didn't work out and now I'm waiting for a refund(I get it tomorrow), several were listed on craigslist, but either they sold it before I could get to it(prices around 350-375) or they seem sketchy(selling for 400.. oh wait, you don't want to pay 400, how about 200? Buy it now motha&$%&@*..) like they probably just stole it.. found a guy on craigslist right now who wanted to get a sensation xl, but then was thinking about trading for my vibrant with cash on top so he could get the wireless tethering, and NOW is talking about keeping his damn phone and paying me to root it! Sigh..
So where did you guys buy your phones at? I don't want to go the route of going contract to get one on sale(why pay more per month to save 200 bucks?), and the cheapest I see them by sellers on ebay is around $420 if they have a return policy like they run a business..
I would probably keep looking on XDA, but until the mod there removes the negative feedback that the seller left(I didn't do ANYTHING wrong as the buyer), I can't very well expect anyone to take the chance on me.. besides, the guy who was selling sounded safe enough to buy from, but nothing about that deal worked out the way it should have.
So yea, anyone have any suggestions for some other places to get a decent deal? Maybe some other forums? I plan to buy a spare battery and charger, and am trying to keep the price for everything under 400 total.. I figured it would make more sense to ask here since everyone here has probably already done the same research I've been doing!

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How much are you looking to spend mine is like two weeks old and mint. It's been in a case with a screen protector. I might be getting a new phone so I could give it up.
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using XDA App

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ebatr8 said:
How much are you looking to spend mine is like two weeks old and mint. It's been in a case with a screen protector. I might be getting a new phone so I could give it up.
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using XDA App
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I Pm'd you back.. I don't want a mod to move this to the marketplace thinking I am just asking to buy a phone here, if someone here wanted to sell theirs and it seems legit, cool.. but mainly if someone has some advice for some other places to find one, that would be even better. After a month of looking, and drooling over the development forums, and waiting for one to get here, and it never coming.. I just want to get my amaze!
The guy I've been talking about on craigslist sounded like he was game and wanting to meet till I said we should meet at a tmobile. I told him I've been hearing about people selling blacklisted phones(which I have been hearing) and that I would feel safest if they can check the imei.. suddenly he decided he is going to keep it.. so back to the drawing board.
So where are you guys finding yours? I'm seeing the going price about 350-400 depending on condition and extras, but like I said, I haven't found a legit seller in person yet who still has it so..

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i agree 100% on this! i see them for like $280-$350 in STL but i have no ride there. on ebay they are around $400+ USED <--- wth? The most id pay for this phone is $350. I guess ill wait till the price drops..

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stratax said:
i agree 100% on this! i see them for like $280-$350 in STL but i have no ride there. on ebay they are around $400+ USED <--- wth? The most id pay for this phone is $350. I guess ill wait till the price drops..
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I guess it is just a matter of getting lucky. If you could get those at that price, you could resell em on ebay for a mint. Im just trying to get a phone and extra battery for $400.. I'd wait if I could, but im stuck with a samsung vibrant till I replace it. The same phone for a year and a half.. what kind of tech geek am I?? Lol.

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Silentbtdeadly said:
I guess it is just a matter of getting lucky. If you could get those at that price, you could resell em on ebay for a mint. Im just trying to get a phone and extra battery for $400.. I'd wait if I could, but im stuck with a samsung vibrant till I replace it. The same phone for a year and a half.. what kind of tech geek am I?? Lol.
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im stuck with this phone till i buy the Amaze http://lexus.letstalk.com/img/prod/cell-phones/att/pantech/pantech-matrix-red-att_xl.gif rofl. cause im sending back my sensation and have no backup phone besides this

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stratax said:
im stuck with this phone till i buy the Amaze http://lexus.letstalk.com/img/prod/cell-phones/att/pantech/pantech-matrix-red-att_xl.gif rofl. cause im sending back my sensation and have no backup phone besides this
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You're making me feel much better about my vibrant, lol(sorry).
Sadly, the cellphone gods are really trying to teach me patience, paypal says the refund will go through on the 29th, I called them because it hasn't gone through yet.. evidently they have till the end of the business day.
The good part about that is that I have several people who contacted me with a few reasonable offers, and maybe even the best would be local.. so I guess I wait and see who pulls through when I have the cash in hand.
If you are looking to buy one too, and you have the cash in hand, I would mention it.. maybe one of them would rather sell to you than wait on me?

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I work at TMO in STL, if you found a buyer in STL, I could verify the phone and you could paypal me the money to buy, just throwing that out there

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Silentbtdeadly said:
You're making me feel much better about my vibrant, lol(sorry).
Sadly, the cellphone gods are really trying to teach me patience, paypal says the refund will go through on the 29th, I called them because it hasn't gone through yet.. evidently they have till the end of the business day.
The good part about that is that I have several people who contacted me with a few reasonable offers, and maybe even the best would be local.. so I guess I wait and see who pulls through when I have the cash in hand.
If you are looking to buy one too, and you have the cash in hand, I would mention it.. maybe one of them would rather sell to you than wait on me?
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haha, i dont trust paypal at all tbh. im afraid someone will not even send the phone or something when i give them the money. thats why i trust ebay more than anything. cause its actually protected now.
im actually waiting on my money, i am sending back my sensation and the people said it would take a couple days
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mikeschevelle said:
I work at TMO in STL, if you found a buyer in STL, I could verify the phone and you could paypal me the money to buy, just throwing that out there
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i found a guy but most people on CL wont do paypal.. i live about a hour and a half from stl and have no car so im sol xD

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I HIGHLY doubt you will find an amaze for 350$ unless it has a broken screen

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stratax said:
haha, i dont trust paypal at all tbh. im afraid someone will not even send the phone or something when i give them the money. thats why i trust ebay more than anything. cause its actually protected now.
im actually waiting on my money, i am sending back my sensation and the people said it would take a couple days
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i found a guy but most people on CL wont do paypal.. i live about a hour and a half from stl and have no car so im sol xD
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You could either send it gift or send it to me and I can give them cash

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Felinos11 said:
I HIGHLY doubt you will find an amaze for 350$ unless it has a broken screen
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actually, that is wrong. with a broken screen i almost bought one for $280. but didnt feel like dealing with it.
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/mob/2744262215.html actually cheaper than $350. there has been some for $320 as well, there also has been a couple for just $300.
none have broken screens i just have no ride to stl, which is my issue.
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mikeschevelle said:
You could either send it gift or send it to me and I can give them cash
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how would i get the phone then?
edit: if i can get one for $300 i can give you $50 for taking it to me. i live in Rolla, i could probably meet up closer though maybe.

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you would give me the money to buy it, and ship it???

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mikeschevelle said:
you would give me the money to buy it, and ship it???
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im saying if you bought it id meet you and give you the $350 cash. if it was $300, id still give you the $350 for meeting up since i cant get to stl. i dont trust the paypal method, ive hearad of so many people getting screwed from it and $350 is a lot to loose because of a phone.. lol

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i hear ya, I dont have the cash to front it though............

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Felinos11 said:
I HIGHLY doubt you will find an amaze for 350$ unless it has a broken screen
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I saw one with a broken screen get to $90 on ebay, I imagine it got higher but I didn't follow it.. I see them on ebay selling used in good condition now for $400 every day, and locally on craigslist in different cities I see it selling between 300-400. The value of the phone seems to be diminishing a bit more every day..
stratax said:
im saying if you bought it id meet you and give you the $350 cash. if it was $300, id still give you the $350 for meeting up since i cant get to stl. i dont trust the paypal method, ive hearad of so many people getting screwed from it and $350 is a lot to loose because of a phone.. lol
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If you gift the payment, there is no buyer protection. That means ANY payment under the "personal" payment options tab. If you pay for it goods, the person you give the money to will have 3% of it taken as a fee.. so if you pay 3% more than that price it covers the fee, and you will have protection. Just make sure you put in the description/note of the payment exactly what you are paying for, and put your address in the note area as well.
Don't gift payment, pay the 3% extra in fees and buy as "goods".. if there IS a problem you will get a refund. Just be careful the both of you, I don't want this post to cause a problem between members- hopefully the fact that you guys seem pretty local to each other keeps everything honest if you go thru with it!
On a side note, I still want an amaze.. I'm waiting to hear back from ebatr8 about his amaze now that I got my paypal refund, or from someone who said they may know someone locally.. a month of wanting/waiting for this phone is killing me!

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mikeschevelle said:
i hear ya, I dont have the cash to front it though............
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damn xD that sucks, ill try to figure out something when i actually get the money
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Silentbtdeadly said:
I saw one with a broken screen get to $90 on ebay, I imagine it got higher but I didn't follow it.. I see them on ebay selling used in good condition now for $400 every day, and locally on craigslist in different cities I see it selling between 300-400. The value of the phone seems to be diminishing a bit more every day..
If you gift the payment, there is no buyer protection. That means ANY payment under the "personal" payment options tab. If you pay for it goods, the person you give the money to will have 3% of it taken as a fee.. so if you pay 3% more than that price it covers the fee, and you will have protection. Just make sure you put in the description/note of the payment exactly what you are paying for, and put your address in the note area as well.
Don't gift payment, pay the 3% extra in fees and buy as "goods".. if there IS a problem you will get a refund. Just be careful the both of you, I don't want this post to cause a problem between members- hopefully the fact that you guys seem pretty local to each other keeps everything honest if you go thru with it!
On a side note, I still want an amaze.. I'm waiting to hear back from ebatr8 about his amaze now that I got my paypal refund, or from someone who said they may know someone locally.. a month of wanting/waiting for this phone is killing me!
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Yeah they can be a pretty good price if you get it in time, idk what that guy was talking about..
Thanks for the info, i dont really know much about paypal but i dont trust it, as what you have said. lol, thats why i only do ebay or CL. those are the most trusted. Yeah i am dying to get this phone too -_- you would think with all the issues it has it would deffinitely be below 400!

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stratax said:
damn xD that sucks, ill try to figure out something when i actually get the money
---------- Post added at 12:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
Yeah they can be a pretty good price if you get it in time, idk what that guy was talking about..
Thanks for the info, i dont really know much about paypal but i dont trust it, as what you have said. lol, thats why i only do ebay or CL. those are the most trusted. Yeah i am dying to get this phone too -_- you would think with all the issues it has it would deffinitely be below 400!
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Check out this link: Paypal purchase protection
The important thing to realize, if nothing has changed, is that ebay owns paypal.. or maybe it is paypal that owns ebay.. either way, buying from ebay but paying with something other than paypal means you just have dispute resolution through ebay, not protection. Paying with paypal means you actually are protected-- they will collect evidence from buyer and seller, and if the seller can't prove that they have taken the actions needed to get the right product to the buyer, paypal will give you a refund and collect payment from the seller.
I guess the idea I am trying to put out there is that paypal is more protected than just buying through ebay, but a combination of the two is the safest. To sell something on ebay means fees up to 8% of the price, then to accept paypal payment costs another 3% of the price.. that is why the prices are higher on ebay than you will find locally, it costs up to 11% to sell something thru ebay.
Edit: so if I was going to buy on here or locally, and the lowest price for a safe buy on ebay was roughly $400 with free shipping(I see multiple at this price).. I would expect the price shipped to not exceed $360, or roughly 10% less than the ebay price.

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Silentbtdeadly said:
Check out this link: Paypal purchase protection
The important thing to realize, if nothing has changed, is that ebay owns paypal.. or maybe it is paypal that owns ebay.. either way, buying from ebay but paying with something other than paypal means you just have dispute resolution through ebay, not protection. Paying with paypal means you actually are protected-- they will collect evidence from buyer and seller, and if the seller can't prove that they have taken the actions needed to get the right product to the buyer, paypal will give you a refund and collect payment from the seller.
I guess the idea I am trying to put out there is that paypal is more protected than just buying through ebay, but a combination of the two is the safest. To sell something on ebay means fees up to 8% of the price, then to accept paypal payment costs another 3% of the price.. that is why the prices are higher on ebay than you will find locally, it costs up to 11% to sell something thru ebay.
Edit: so if I was going to buy on here or locally, and the lowest price for a safe buy on ebay was roughly $400 with free shipping(I see multiple at this price).. I would expect the price shipped to not exceed $360, or roughly 10% less than the ebay price.
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Oh, i mean buying from Ebay through paypal. That is the safest way that i know. If you buy from paypal and through paypal you have no proof really that you even bought the phone. i just feel safer buying from Gazelle on Ebay because its a actual company and they dont want to loose business and same for other people on ebay. if its just some random person they could probably care less.. as long as they have the money.
Yeah to this day $400 would be safe. I only like to buy stuff on ebay if you are able to return it as well, makes you feel like they are real. Gazelle has a amaze for about $410 or something. they are who i bought my sensation from and im about to send it back cause the screen is messed up. Im going to wait till i can find an Amaze for cheaper or Find someone to meet up

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stratax said:
Oh, i mean buying from Ebay through paypal. That is the safest way that i know. If you buy from paypal and through paypal you have no proof really that you even bought the phone. i just feel safer buying from Gazelle on Ebay because its a actual company and they dont want to loose business and same for other people on ebay. if its just some random person they could probably care less.. as long as they have the money.
Yeah to this day $400 would be safe. I only like to buy stuff on ebay if you are able to return it as well, makes you feel like they are real. Gazelle has a amaze for about $410 or something. they are who i bought my sensation from and im about to send it back cause the screen is messed up. Im going to wait till i can find an Amaze for cheaper or Find someone to meet up
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This one was listed at $419 the other day free shipping, buy it now, it didn't sell.. now is relisted at $399. Considering they do 7 day returns and have such good feedback, but it still hasn't sold yet.. I would say they aren't worth $400 anymore. After all, the value isn't based on what they are being sold for, but what someone is actually willing to pay. So if they aren't selling at $400 on ebay, I would say in person it is worth 10% less(they are tacking on their fees after all).. so $360+/- sounds like what the current value should be.
I'd prefer to do it locally, but it sounds like you have more options in STL than I do in Jacksonville.. or gainesville, daytona.. sigh.