How do I know I'm not buying fakes?
It's difficult buying online, even with all the safety protocols in place. The fake goods market is so lucrative, in some countries (we're looking at you, China), some fake goods actually sell more than their genuine originals. If you're spending what could be several hundred quid on a shiny new phone, how do you know you're getting the real deal? Well most of the time you don't. The fakes are so good, and work so well, it's near impossible for even experts to tell sometimes. But we know it's important to you and we promise all our phones are 100% genuine.
"Ah, but anyone could say that", I hear you say, and that's very true. So we'll prove it. If you buy a mobile phone from us you can simply go to
imei.info. to verify it's authenticity.
So how does that work?
Every mobile phone has an IMEI number which is effectively the phone's serial number.
imei.info is simply a database, which phone manufacturers provide the serial numbers of their models to. Simply type in your phone's serial number and if it's on there, your phone is genuine. It's not totally foolproof unfortunately, not every single phone is on there and while there are occasions when some phones may not appear on there, it doesn't mean you phone isn't genuine. If you're concerned we urge you to contact the manufacturer directly.
Anything else I should know?
Yes. On occasion the information about the model shown might not be 100% accurate on the
imei.info database, and may show a different model. There are generally two reasons for this.
- Manufacturers often give their models different names in different countries, and even different model numbers. For example, the Samsung Galaxy A21s is known as the SM-A217F in Russia, so the model number shown may not exactly match.
- Manufacturers often re-use IMEI numbers. This can be from the stock of older phones that may have been withdrawn, so again the database on occasion might show a different model. However, if the number is there and relates to that manufacturer, the phone is genuine.
How do I find my IMEI number?
There are a couple of ways:
- Check the (usually white) label on the end of the box the phone came in. The IMEI number is shown on there. Note that dual sims have two separate IMEI number. The database only uses the first number.
- Using your phone's keypad, dial *#06# (as if you were dialling a phone number). The * and # keys are either side of the 0 (zero) button. The phone will then display your IMEI number on screen. Again, if you have a dual sim phone it will display two numbers, so only use the first one.
More information
You can even see features such as the specifications of your phone, which version of Android and so on, but this varies by phone and again, on occasion some phones may show no information at all. So there you have all the information you need. Genuine items, UK stock, 2 Year Warranty and Secure Payments (including PayPal), so when we say "Buy with confidence" we really mean it!
