I've been looking for a store or swap meet or flea market that specializes in used phones or second hand phones in or around patong. Please advise.

theres mobile shops every 5 meters in every direction that all sell second hand phones.

Middle floor at Central....basement at Big C...top floor Junk Ceylon or at Tesco Lotus

You can get a color MP3 playing cam phone for 1000 baht.. new with warranty (tesco lotus) OK looking ones for 1300 baht.

Why buy second hand with an old battery and no warranty ?

Middle floor at Central....basement at Big C...top floor Junk Ceylon or at Tesco Lotus

I also go to the big market near phuket town on Saturdays/sundays. There is only one guy that sells cell phones.

Have not checked out middle floor of central. "Junk-celon" IT Island at top floor tends to be too pricey. You can look into their eyes and see the "how much can i sucker out of this farang" look.

Big C and Lotus are interesting shops.

You can get a color MP3 playing cam phone for 1000 baht.. new with warranty (tesco lotus) OK looking ones for 1300 baht.

Why buy second hand with an old battery and no warranty ?

I was hoping to grab a couple of spare phones for 3-600 bhat untill i was ready to buy a nice phone. I realized that the "copy" phones are much more functional out here than the "real" phones, unless you can get a brandname pda/smartphone with thai language. The stick/slider phones that are genuine brand name are not worth the price. I bought a new genuine samsung slider 2010 model phone for 2500 baht. It was dual band, only had 1.3 MP camera, and the internal memory was like 10 MB. Any songs stored on the SD card could not be used as a ringtone. I could not customize the home screen keys.

Compare that to my ex-girlfriend's "nokia" stick phone. If it had a full qwerty keypad, it would be excellent.

I wouldn't even been in this predicament if someone hadn't stolen my genuine blackberry. oh well.

But your point is valid, as i was wondering if all the running around is worth it.

Perhhaps i'll tart another thread asking if there are any second hand shops around. Dont see too many yard sales going on. Big Market cannot be the only swap meet in phuket.

Have you actually used those no name copy phones ?? Usually awful UI and terrible failure rate.

I would stick to big names.. But then not trying to find phones for 600 baht either.

Have you actually used those no name copy phones ?? Usually awful UI and terrible failure rate.

I would stick to big names.. But then not trying to find phones for 600 baht either.

the 600 baht phone was just for backup while i research a good copy or brand name phones for a couple thousand bhat. There are the copes like imibile and jphone, etc. then there are the copies that are disguised as brand names. some of those can fool you if your not careful.

Back in the states, i could get a great brand name try or quadbad phone for 2-5000 bhat new or refurbished on ebay or a local reseller. I'm seeing the some of the same phones here for 8000-15000. I'll admit, i havent been to every shop yet. So i guess i'll keep ckecking and building honest contacts. Hopefully by Oct 6th, i'll have my new phone in hand.

anybody know if i order a phone or other items as well from the INTERNET if i can ship it to my house in Thailand..???

what kind of customs fees or tax and shipping times should i be expecting???

really want to get some things for Christmas from the Internet but not sure of shipping regulations to Phuket from Internet shippers....???

anybody know if i order a phone or other items as well from the INTERNET if i can ship it to my house in Thailand..???

what kind of customs fees or tax and shipping times should i be expecting???

really want to get some things for Christmas from the Internet but not sure of shipping regulations to Phuket from Internet shippers....???

I buy mail order too much... You can (if its a big ticket item) go to the customs office and check the actual levels, I guess pre checking would stand you in good stead when the bill comes.. But theres lots of cascading taxes they can add in series and the descriptions are semi vague. For instance many times I have paid a 7% 'sales tax' on items and then others I have paid a +7% 'sales tax'and a +30% 'luxury goods tax' compounded on the exact same items.

If you send it DHL / Fedex or other courier you will pay all the taxes, charged to their absolute maximum, even bundled with the couriers own 'clearance service' fees.. No idea of DHL are scamming these taxes or if they do it as a cover their ass as its pay first and pay the tax via the courier co. I once ended up paying 12k baht to get about 4k bahts worth of stuff !!

If you send it regular parcel post, I would suggest registered / signed for also, and its marked as 20 USD or less it comes through tax free.. I tend to bounce stuff through family in the west if I can and even large boxes no one seems to ever question the value or descriptions.

Have you actually used those no name copy phones ?? Usually awful UI and terrible failure rate.

I would stick to big names.. But then not trying to find phones for 600 baht either.

Here's my conclusion,

LivingLOS is correct. stick to buying the big names. This includes good thai brands like iMobile. Better to get genuine Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, etc OS on phone for any type of multitasking. AVOID the copy phones (especially from china), unless you are getting a cheap one with a qwerty keyboard. But for the same money, you can get iMobile. And you wont have to drive all around looking for some local guy's repair shop. You can get guarantee direct from manufacturer or at one of their authorized repair shops.

I found that iMobile is the best deal for the price. http://www.i-mobilephone.com/Catalog.aspx Their Android phones are awesome. but the regular ones in the 2-3k range are pretty good and even have 2-3mp camera. Make sure you buy from a chain store like BigC, Carrefour, PowerBuy,Tesco Lotus or the iMobile shop.

The android ones seem to only be at their iMobile shop in phuket town Tesco Lotus shopping center. They have the 3G 8500 for 7000bht and includes 2g memory. 5mp camara, android, 256mb 3G. They have another one without 3g (6500?) for 4000. That was the deal-breaker (3g). That and the lady lost the box. If only the android ones had 2 sim cards.......

SAVE YOUR RECEIPT. Make a dark photocopy as those other receipts can fade quickly.

If you are going to buy a used phone (good one), better to buy from company where you have some sort of guarantee. And stick to the genuine brand names (iMobile, SKG, etc is ok. )

if you can, take your laptop with internet stick or mobile phone with good browser with you so that you can compare features on the spot. Thai people tend not to know much about multitasking on the phone.

On 9/27/2010 at 12:58 AM, glassdude007 said:

anybody know if i order a phone or other items as well from the INTERNET if i can ship it to my house in Thailand..???

what kind of customs fees or tax and shipping times should i be expecting???

really want to get some things for Christmas from the Internet but not sure of shipping regulations to Phuket from Internet shippers....???

i will never ever deal with thai customs again, they just slap on whatever they feel