Serious questions for the cheap iPhone 15, which are sold on Yandex Market. Why are they opened?

In the first days of sales, Yandex Market listed the iPhone 15, installing configurations at an unexpectedly low price – 96,990 rubles.

The cost of these smartphones from large retailers in Russia for parallel imports averages 130 thousand rubles. Therefore, the high interest is logical.

2 weeks have passed since the initial news, and I became interested in what the buyers of these particularly profitable iPhones were writing, where the smartphones were coming from, and so on. However, it quickly became clear that… nothing was really clear.

And now I have 4 questions for which Yandex Market technical support, as well as the results of the analysis, did not provide answers. I present them for general discussion. Perhaps you have theories or answers?

1. Nothing is really clear about the warranty.

To determine the warranty period, it is necessary to “fail” the characteristics of the device. This information is not on the main screen or on the table.

On the pages of these cheap iPhone 15 the warranty period is stated as follows: 1 year. Let’s imagine that I need this guarantee. What happens next?

I quote the response from Yandex Market technical support:

1 year warranty. You can order the red color of a complex product within 15 calendar days from the date of purchase.

If more than 15 calendar days have passed, you must contact the service center.

To clarify the information, you must contact the APPLE hotline number 88005556734 or send a request to the manufacturer’s website.

Everything is fine, except for two things. Firstly, there is no service center in Russia that would accept these iPhones under the manufacturer’s warranty. ASC services free of charge only those devices that Apple officially sells in Russia – that is, those that appeared before February 24, 2022.

And secondly, in this situation, contacting the hotline or Apple technical support is absolutely useless. Since the iPhone 15 was originally purchased in another country, you will simply be directed to the country’s service center for selling the smartphone (obviously, not in Russia).

Correspondence with Yandex Market support.

I found out about this Yandex Market technical support, to which I received the following response:

If the warranty period has not been extended, you can contact the seller of the product regarding warranty service.

For some reason, the scheme changed dramatically, Apple disappeared from it, but it did not become any clearer. Let’s say everything is like this. Let’s try to contact the seller.

2. You can contact the seller either in no way or only by miracle

To communicate with the seller before purchasing, Yandex Market provides a section called Ask a question about a product. Theoretically, there you can find out everything about the device, maintenance, characteristics and other characteristics.

You can ask a question about the seller in the “Ask a question about a product” section. You will show a link to it on the card with the product, she put it under the brief description.

This section contains all questions about products and answers to them – not only from sellers, but also from other users and experts.

– Yandex Market technical support

On the corresponding page on this iPhone 15 I see thirty questions for a week and a half – and no answer:

The only answers were given by other Yandex Market users, but not by the seller.

Questions are asked in a logical and reasonable manner. What about the warranty, what country is your device, and so on. The seller did not respond to any of them.

How then should I communicate with the seller? do purchase if he doesn’t respond? For some reason, other forms of communication are not provided in Yandex Market. I quote the response from technical support:

We indicate information about the seller on the product card before adding it to the cart, in your personal account after placing an order, and also in the “Confirmation of Purchase” document.

The company is located in the UAE. Who, how to call, where to write?

The Proof of Purchase document does contain legal information about the seller. The discussed iPhone 15, for example, is sold by a certain company Digital Planet. Here is her data from cards on Yandex Market:

MOBILE TRADE SOLUTIONS LLC

Address: 000000, Shams Business Centre, Sharjah Media City Free Zone, Al Messaned, Sharjah, UAE

There are no other contacts. If the seller does not answer the questions in the relevant section, what then will happen regarding warranty issues? I contact technical support and get the following response:

If you have a warranty claim after purchasing your phone, you can contact the seller directly. If he doesn’t answer you or doesn’t help, you can write to us, we’ll definitely sort it out.

So, let’s summarize the situation with the guarantor on these iPhone 15, according to the responses from Yandex Market technical support:

▪ 1 year warranty
▪ you can contact the service (impossible!) or Apple (useless)
▪ you can contact the seller (theoretically – yes)
▪ if the seller does not respond, contact Yandex Market technical support

That is, in the end, issues will have to be resolved through Yandex Market technical support privately? I note that the superficial Yandex Market is not the seller of this iPhone 15. If something goes wrong in the warranty situation between you and the seller (for example, he does not respond), then it turns out that you must rely on the kindness and goodwill of the marketplace’s technical support.

3. With leaving, nothing is clear in advance, guess for yourself.

Review of this iPhone 15 on Yandex Market.

According to the laws of the Russian Federation, orders from abroad in the amount of 1000 euros and above are subject to duty. The 128GB iPhone 15 costs $699 in the US and €969 in Europe. It turns out that they can be considered duty-free.

The cost of an iPhone 15 with 128 GB in the product card on Yandex Market is 96,990 rubles. At the current exchange rate, this is about 912 euros. Again, the result is less power than the duty-free import threshold.

Another review about the duty, now in the questions about the product section.

However, there is some evidence to the contrary in messages, as well as in reviews to the seller of this iPhone. According to these reviews, buyers are charged private fees after placing an order.

It is very strange that the buyer will think about whether his goods will be sold for duty-free import without first starting the prices at which the documents will be drawn up. Where does the need to pay duties come from if the official price both from Apple and on the Yandex Market page is under the duty-free import threshold? What is its size?

I don’t have an answer.

4. Judging by the review, iPhones are opened before delivery

Recent review of the sale, complaints about the opened box and activation.

I noticed in the reviews that the buyer received the smartphone in an already unpacked box and pre-activated. This is a common practice for smartphones imported from the UAE. But both of these facts are not reflected in any way in the product card.

To me, this is simply wrong. Either I don’t understand something about how it should work seriously, and all the trying market factors cause a VPN buyer place with an official offer price, click “Buy” and so on.

My personal opinion on this whole situation

No one denies that buying and servicing equipment in Russia has changed a lot over the past two years. Many small, but often important “moments” appeared.

But if I buy emphatically new smartphone on the marketplace at a fixed price, which is below the duty threshold, with a clearly indicated warranty period, it is not logical to expect an answer:

▪ tools for fast, effective communication with the seller
▪ transparent, understandable terms of warranty service.
▪ withdraw payment for a commission that is not specified in advance
▪ a packaged smartphone and without prior activation

If the above is not the case, then how does a large marketplace differ from a gray market without obligations and price restrictions? To understand, you can now buy the same iPhone 15 with 128 GB in Moscow for 92-95 thousand rubles, but without waiting for delivery.

I will wait for Yandex Market’s answer to my questions. As soon as I receive it, I’ll tell you. I hope that my complaints are the result of a misunderstanding.