Selection of used phones at MBK vs. Fortune Town?

[OutofSiam]

I'm looking for a specific used phone that's not particularly common (Sony Xperia X/XZ1 Compact) and possibly a cheap used Android tablet. 

 

I've been to Fortune Town and bought a phone there before, but their selection really isn't that wide if you're looking for something other than an iPhone/iPad or Chinese brand phone. 

 

Is it worth trekking down to MBK? Do they have a bigger/wider selection than Fortune Town?

 

I know their reputation is a little iffy, but I'm not planning to spend much anyways.  

[impulse]

It's hit and miss for a specific old phone.  Given that MBK is an easy trek on the BTS, it's worth trying. 

 

Their selection will be wider than Fortune Town's.  Hundreds of kiosks with used phones and tablets on display. 

 

You may also ask one of the guys specifically for what you want and they'll generally find it for you- but then they add a little for their efforts.  Of course, most of them will try to convince you to buy what they have, but they'll go to great lengths to make money change hands- if you've got the patience.

 

[OutofSiam]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

It's hit and miss for a specific old phone.  Given that MBK is an easy trek on the BTS, it's worth trying. 

 

Their selection will be wider than Fortune Town's.  Hundreds of kiosks with used phones and tablets on display. 

 

You may also ask one of the guys specifically for what you want and they'll generally find it for you- but then they add a little for their efforts.  Of course, most of them will try to convince you to buy what they have, but they'll go to great lengths to make money change hands- if you've got the patience.

 

Nice, thanks for the info.

 

There were a handful of Sony's at FT, many of them older than the model(s) I'm looking for, so I'm hoping I'll luck out with a larger selection.

 

 

[impulse]

One more word of advice...  There are lots of different sections at MBK with used phones.  Don't just look at one floor or area and give up.  Even when your eyes tell you you have hit the mother lode, there are more places to look at MBK.

 

 

[OutofSiam]

Will do. Thanks again for the advice.

[OutofSiam]

Okay, so I finally made it down to MBK. In fact, I went twice. I also went to Fortune Town twice within the past week, though I'd already been there a few times already.

 

So, I'll try to compare them a little in case anyone is wondering.

 

Selection: MBK obviously has a much larger selection. However, it's not that simple.

 

For one, 90% of the phones at both locations are iPhones and Samsungs, so if you're looking for one of those models within the last few generations, either place should have it. Second, for a less popular brand, like Sony, MBK had a few more but: 1. They also have like 5x or 10x time more stalls. 2. Most of them were the budget models, like the XA1, and maybe half were in mediocre condition.

 

That being said, they did seem to have more older Samsungs and definitely more tablets.

 

Price: I feel like half the stuff I asked for a price on was overpriced, however you can find good to very good deals at both. Partially because some of them just don't know how to price things. Within the Xperias that I was looking at the, the Z5 was consistently priced higher than the XZ's and X's, even though it's the oldest phone of the three.

 

Another thing that annoys me is that the much older phones are consistently marked way too high. You can get an iPhone 4s for like $40 in the US, but they're like 3500 baht here. Meanwhile my iPhone SE was only 4000 and I got a 2016 Sony for 2900.

 

Since MBK has more booths, I think you'd have a slightly higher chance of getting a deal on a normal iPhone or Samsung there, but again, I've found deals just as good as FT.

 

Convenience: This is the one area where it's not even close. MBK is far from the BTS (unless you take the other line to National Stadium; and the BTS is packed either way), MBK is way more crowded, and the sellers at MBK are WAY, WAY more annoying. These people just do not shut up, and you have Arabs and Indians shouting at you from down the aisle asking "what you need, my friend?"

 

On top of that, the arrangement of the stalls is poorly laid out, so you have to really pay attention or you won't know what you have/haven't looked yet. I didn't even see the phone I ended up buying the first time I was there.

 

On the other hand, the MRT lets off right at Fortune Town, it's not crowded, and the shopkeepers are much less annoying.

 

Shorter version:

 

Selection: MBK has more stalls but the phones are mostly the same anyways. I also think MBK has a larger number of phones in bad condition.

 

Price: Not that much different, from what I saw, though MBK has slightly more pricing competition, so I'd give them the nod slightly.

 

Convenience: Fortune Town by a landslide.

 

Ultimately, I ended up buying from MBK this time, but only because I literally only found one Z5 Compact (FT) and one X Compact (MBK), and the X was like half the price despite being a newer phone. FT had an amazing deal on a normal Z5 thought.