Selling the First USB-C iPhone
After finishing the project, I decided the best way forward was to auction the iPhone.
Why?
For many reasons. The main one is that what I’m doing requires very expensive equipment. I’ve poured thousands of dollars into this project, and I’m just trying to recover some of that. If there is any extra income, it is going straight into purchasing an SLA 3D printer and my dream is to own my own CNC machine. I’m renting one by the hour currently.
Many people asked me if I could install the mod in their phone as a service. Sadly, this is not going to happen as I don’t want to be liable in case something breaks later. Also, electronics require a lot of certifications before being allowed to be sold. I don’t want to go through this hassle. Another reason is that it would almost guarantee me a lawsuit. No thanks.
The only way to make back some of my investment is therefore to sell the phone as a piece of collection. It was described by news outlet around the world as ‘the World’s First USB-C iPhone’, and I believe that gives it some value over other iPhones.
What happened with the eBay auction?
I think this auction really showed the current state of eBay. It’s a mess. It was heavily targeted by bidding trolls. I spent 10 days trying to ban them from the listing, hoping it would end. But it didn’t, and the potential legitimate buyers were scared off. I mean, how can you let someone put a 99 million USD bid without any prior checks? A lot of people were expecting this, including me. Near the end of the auction, eBay even blocked further bidding and deleted the listing, until I complained. Then, they told me they did it to secure the transaction. Whatever that means. They then suggested I relist the item, lol.
Metrics were very nice, and it showed real interest in the project. 450’000 page views and 5000 watchers.
So I’m obviously never selling on eBay again. I always try to see the positive in every situation. Here it was that it generated a lot of exposure to the project.
What’s next?
In the beginning, I actually had another plan to sell the iPhone. I hesitated for a little while, but then decided to go the conservative way and put it up on eBay. The reason is that the other way requires a lot more effort, and I wanted to focus on doing good work during my full-time internship.
I’m now working on the USB-C AirPods project and also on that new auction idea. For those who want to know more about the idea, I’ll just say it’s to do with cryptocurrencies. In the meantime, if you’re interested in purchasing the phone privately before the new auction, you can email me.