Buying iPhones at MBK

[dubyadee]

What have you heard/experienced about buying iPhones at MBK? Worth it? What is the price? Can you negotiate?

 

Thanks!

[blackcab]

If the shop lets you negotiate they are ripping you off. The busiest shops with the best prices have a printed price list on display and everyone pays that price. Cash only.

 

Don't expect any sort of conversation. These shops get busy. Tell them what you want. They will get the sealed box and open it if you want them to. They will check the phone in front of you if you want. Then you pay cash and go.

 

If they open the sealed box understand you will be purchasing the phone (unless it doesn't work for any reason, which as you can imagine is very rare). They don't open phone boxes just for the curious to have a look.

[dubyadee]

Thanks, great response. Any idea what an iPhone 6 or 6s costs?

 

 

[4737 Carlin]

Bought a used Iphone 5 there last year. Cost me about 3 thousand - i keep it updated and it still works fine. If your after a used one get there first thing in the morning when it first opens, you'll get a good deal with some haggling - they have thousands of the things to shift.

[gjoo888]

i would never buy a phone at MBK, tourist trap that it is. I tried to buy a phone there years ago and got tired of the run-around. After spending 4 hours checking phones and putting up with all the BS, I left and found the phone I wanted for hundreds of Baht less at a Jaymart store. 

[steven100]

7 minutes ago, gjoo888 said:

i would never buy a phone at MBK, tourist trap that it is. I tried to buy a phone there years ago and got tired of the run-around. After spending 4 hours checking phones and putting up with all the BS, I left and found the phone I wanted for hundreds of Baht less at a Jaymart store. 

I bet your one of those really fussy shoppers ...  nothing would be suitable, price too high, no freebies ....    I just guessed because of your 4 hours to buy one phone.

[geisha]

How to be sure they are not fake though ?

 

[spidermike007]

Just keep in mind, that when you buy from the smaller vendors, some of the merchandise is grey market. So, the manufacturer may not honor the warranty. Has happened to me before, with Samsung phones. Also, some of the smaller vendors are not very good in the area of post sale customer service. For that reason, I stick to the big box vendors. They typically stand behind their products, and sell products you are not going to have many issues with later on. For me, not worth the small savings.

[DDbkh]

I bought a used 4s about 5 years ago - it was fine never had a problem. Obviously I had to reset the machine and delete all the games but once done it was fine.
Using my Apple ID I loaded all my contacts etc and all went well.

[Lt Frank Bullitt]

Bought a New Samsung for the missus from MBK many years ago about 1000B cheaper than the advertised price, apparently original so thought we got a bargain, 6 months later  took it to Samsung for repair after a water dunking and was asked straight away where we purchased, apparently it was a Samsung but not officially supported, when new models are manufactured they get various vendors to make a 1000 samples or so and then they are sent to Samsung for analysis, phone, chargers, packaging included, if they are not up to par the IMEI label has the corner cut off (as in ours) and returned to the vendor, they are then sold off by the vendors to recoup costs, then the phones make their way to the black markets. Samsung tech said they can fix them as they are basically the same just there is no warranty so all repair costs to the owner.

[Sumarianson]

Remember that what you are buying is an imported A,B, or C rated phone from MBK any shop other than Samsung or iPhone retail Shops and the like. It will be written on the back of the phone. A B  or C. They carry no guarantee whatsoever no matter what you are given or told. I made this mistake and it has cost me more than a new Samsung S8 and is still costing me. I was told it was new, not second hand, which was a lie. I was given a guarantee and a receipt, none of which were honoured.I have had a new mother board 2 new screens and now the back camera is gone on my Samsung S7edge. Buyer beware. 

If you want a good phone cheap, then go to lehit shops and bargain. I could have got my phone new from samsung for just 17000 which was 2000 less than I paid for it in MBK 9 months ago.

Consider yourself warned and look up the grading and what it means online if you are silly enough to consider a purchase from those conmen.

[Thian]

4 hours ago, geisha said:

How to be sure they are not fake though ?

 

Or stolen from India or so...that was a scandal some months ago..they were sold at MBK

[blackcab]

I've bought several new phones from the same shop in MBK, including the phone I am using right now. I've purchased a new S5,  S7 and an S8 plus a couple of iPhones and a couple of A5's.

 

They've all been great apart from the S5. About 2 hours after I purchased it I dropped it in a bucket of water to see if it was as waterproof as claimed.

 

It did well, but the headphone socket stopped working. I took it to the Samsung shop in Siam Square and they repaired it under warranty for me. No problems at all.

 

This particular shop has the best prices I have found anywhere. There is no after sales service. For that you have to go to a service centre. My experience was this was free of charge.

[blackcab]

23 hours ago, dubyadee said:

Thanks, great response. Any idea what an iPhone 6 or 6s costs?

 

 

 

[blackcab]

On 9/14/2017 at 3:25 PM, geisha said:

How to be sure they are not fake though ?

 

 

All I can say is the shop I use has been there for years, has 100k likes and 100k followers on Facebook.

 

When I go there the customers are all Thai. I doubt the shop would be as successful as it is if it was full of fakes and rip offs.

 

I have no connection with the shop whatsoever. I'm just speaking as I find.

[ExpatOilWorker]

I once got a phone from Pantip that had some Vodafone firmware installed, so watch out what you get.

[Foozool]

I never trust MBK for buying pricy stuff. 

MBK reminds me Istanbul. Most of businesses operated by Turks very long time ago, but after years they were replaced by Arabs, Indians and other middle easterns. It is happening to MBK as well.

MBK is a tourist shopping place and already over priced. You will negotiate to get an item at regular price. 

Besides above, being genuine is questionable. 

[dubyadee]

Is there a more local friendly electronics mall that has better prices?

[dubyadee]

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

All I can say is the shop I use has been there for years, has 100k likes and 100k followers on Facebook.

 

When I go there the customers are all Thai. I doubt the shop would be as successful as it is if it was full of fakes and rip offs.

 

I have no connection with the shop whatsoever. I'm just speaking as I find.

Link me this shop?

[Thian]

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

All I can say is the shop I use has been there for years, has 100k likes and 100k followers on Facebook.

 

When I go there the customers are all Thai. I doubt the shop would be as successful as it is if it was full of fakes and rip offs.

 

I have no connection with the shop whatsoever. I'm just speaking as I find.

100k facebook likes also means nothing to me, have you read about those chinese gangs who use thousands of phones only to give likes and fake reviews?

[blackcab]

On 9/15/2017 at 12:45 AM, Thian said:

100k facebook likes also means nothing to me, have you read about those chinese gangs who use thousands of phones only to give likes and fake reviews?

 

I have, which is why I also mentioned the firm's long standing presence, that it does appear to be rather successful and also my own experiences buying from the business.

 

Added together it would seem to be a reasonable place to buy from. If it wasn't, why would I be a repeat customer?

[blackcab]

46 minutes ago, dubyadee said:

Link me this shop?

 

I'll PM you.

[Thian]

7 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

I have, which is why I also mentioned the firm's long standing presence, that it does appear to be rather successful and also my own experiences buying from the business.

 

Added together it would seem to be a reasonable place to buy from. If it wasn't, why would I be a repeat customer?

 

 

 

I didn't write that those phones are bad, only that you can't trust likes or reviews these days...there's a lot of fakes...Also i still wonder if those chinese gangs used real iphones since they had thousands of them stacked on racks to scam reviews and likes.

 

Also i expected Apple to buy and destroy all the B and C-grades to keep a good reputation...now they even pay for the fake ones which are being sold on the market again.

 

Myself i would only buy one from the real Apple-shop if i wanted an iphone. I'm happy with my Samsung J7 phone though and my Lenovo YOGA 720 15" laptop is much faster/better than Apple's fastest topmodel pro notebook for less than half the price. I think Apple is overrated and far too expensive.

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by Thian

[userabcd]

Bought all my phones for the last 15 years in MBK. Mostly use NASA and never had any problem with the phones.

[blackcab]

1 hour ago, userabcd said:

Bought all my phones for the last 15 years in MBK. Mostly use NASA and never had any problem with the phones.

 

I wasn't going to mention it, but NASA is where I buy from too.

[itsallmedia]

On 9/15/2017 at 12:04 PM, blackcab said:

 

I wasn't going to mention it, but NASA is where I buy from too.

Do they sell used phones as well or only new?

[richard_smith237]

On 9/14/2017 at 1:04 PM, gjoo888 said:

i would never buy a phone at MBK, tourist trap that it is. I tried to buy a phone there years ago and got tired of the run-around. After spending 4 hours checking phones and putting up with all the BS, I left and found the phone I wanted for hundreds of Baht less at a Jaymart store. 

 

When you see scores and scores of Thai's buying their phones from MBK you can rest assured that securing repeat trade is of importance to these vendors. 

 

That said, when looking for new it would make sense t check the prices in regular shops such as Jaymark, iStudio, Banana IT etc..

 

It pays to shop around a little. 

 

If looking for a second hand deal there are plenty to be had at many of the Shops in MBK. My Wife bought a second hand iPhone 8 plus last year (November time I think), after a couple of days there was a problem with it (kept crashing), she took it back and they swapped it for another second hand model without issue. I also bought a second hand iPhone X from the same shop. 

[Esso49]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

When you see scores and scores of Thai's buying their phones from MBK you can rest assured that securing repeat trade is of importance to these vendors. 

 

That said, when looking for new it would make sense t check the prices in regular shops such as Jaymark, iStudio, Banana IT etc..

 

It pays to shop around a little. 

 

If looking for a second hand deal there are plenty to be had at many of the Shops in MBK. My Wife bought a second hand iPhone 8 plus last year (November time I think), after a couple of days there was a problem with it (kept crashing), she took it back and they swapped it for another second hand model without issue. I also bought a second hand iPhone X from the same shop. 

But Thais don't mind fakes but many of us aliens would prefer the genuine article, second hand or new, which is why MBK is to be avoided. 

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

When you see scores and scores of Thai's buying their phones from MBK you can rest assured that securing repeat trade is of importance to these vendors. 

 

That said, when looking for new it would make sense t check the prices in regular shops such as Jaymark, iStudio, Banana IT etc..

 

It pays to shop around a little. 

 

If looking for a second hand deal there are plenty to be had at many of the Shops in MBK. My Wife bought a second hand iPhone 8 plus last year (November time I think), after a couple of days there was a problem with it (kept crashing), she took it back and they swapped it for another second hand model without issue. I also bought a second hand iPhone X from the same shop. 

But Thais don't mind fakes but many of us aliens would prefer the genuine article, second hand or new, which is why MBK is to be avoided. 

 

No Thai I know of would tolerate a fake phone... 

 

... T-shirts, handbags etc maybe some... but just like foreigners and anyone else with a brain... Thai's will not accept a fake iPhone in place of a real one. 

 

Additionally, the fake iPhones etc are extremely easy to spot and are not sold as genuine, no one is trying to 'cheat' the customer here... also, if you have any familiarity with the OS of the phone you wish to purchase its impossible to not to spot the fake iPhones.

[blackcab]

5 hours ago, itsallmedia said:

Do they sell used phones as well or only new?

 

Only new phones.