What to know before purchasing 'Used Phones'
Transcript
00:00 Nigeria's multi-billion Naira used phone market. Previously used products are not
00:07 new to average Nigerians. From household appliances to personal gadgets,
00:12 previously used items are a common feature of everyday life in this part of
00:17 the world. It is a smart way of cutting costs in most struggling economies where
00:22 disposable income is a big deal. In most developing nations, the fairly used goods
00:27 market is a huge economy. There is no issue with UK used phones. A lot of people don't
00:33 know this because they feel, why would I buy a UK used phone? I would prefer to go for a brand new
00:38 phone but then there's no difference because what a brand new phone can do, a UK used phone
00:43 can do. So subjectively buying a UK used phone, now it depends on the vendor and where you are
00:48 getting a UK used phone again. Take for example the used smartphone market. The
00:55 market in Nigeria is dominated by Apple and Samsung products. The market is
01:00 saturated because the price of a brand new phone is way expensive and not everyone
01:05 can afford it so they go for the UK used phones. According to the NCC, Nigeria had 222
01:12 million mobile subscriptions as of 2022. In 2022, the International Trade Center,
01:18 ITC, claimed that Nigeria spent 2.35 billion dollars on telephone
01:23 importation in three years. 807.95 million dollars in 2019, 765.57 million dollars in
01:33 2020 and 772.25 million dollars in 2021.
01:40 In 2021, the number of Nigerians who purchased refurbished iPhones and Samsung products rose by
01:50 10 percent, mostly UK used. This is easy because Nigeria and the United Kingdom's
01:56 diplomatic relations allow easy importation. Some phones are also
02:00 imported from countries like the USA and Canada. These phones are shipped to
02:06 different parts of Nigeria, particularly Lagos which has the highest revenue
02:10 generated in Nigeria with the computer village in Ikeja being the hub of
02:15 mobile and computer gadgets.
02:19 Some sellers get the phones by purchasing them through contracts
02:23 abroad while others get theirs by registering on websites like Amazon and
02:28 eBay. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of stolen mobile phones are exported because
02:34 Nigeria has not signed up for a global deal blacklisting stolen phones.
02:39 Yes, we do face challenges in the sense that the IMEI number and the tracking number, if they are not
02:45 correlating, most of the time we find out that our shipments are lost in the sea or in the air.
02:51 We have someone at FedEx that helps us check the IMEI number of each phone.
02:57 So there's a website we go to to check the IMEI number, the serial number of the
03:01 phones. That helps us to tell that yes, this is not a stolen phone, this is a blacklisted phone.
03:07 European countries, the US and South America have signed a deal to blacklist
03:13 stolen devices.
03:16 If the phone falls into the hands of a new owner who is either unscrupulous,
03:24 the activities of that individual will be attributed to the previous owner.
03:31 And that person will be hard pressed to convince law enforcement or security
03:37 agents that the activities were not perpetrated by him or her.
03:42 So those are the issues that do arise, even when you're gifting a phone to somebody.
03:51 Under the agreement, each phone has a unique number that is added to a global database when it is
03:56 reported stolen, making it useless in the countries that are signatories to the agreement.
04:02 Although some people claim that there are still parts of the world where stolen phones can be
04:07 unblocked and all that is required is a new SIM card.
04:11 For whatever reason, there's nothing wrong with purchasing a used device or there's no stigma
04:18 around ownership of a used device.
04:21 Just ensure that you understand the age of that device.
04:27 I speak to age because the older the device is,
04:33 clearly the more vulnerable the device is to hacking.
04:38 Or the higher the probability that it's no longer supported by the manufacturer.
04:48 So when next you are buying that used phone, make sure it passes all security and
04:54 certification tests to avoid being a victim of stolen property.
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05:04 I am Ifunaya watching Overguardian TV.
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