From the first days of sales, Yandex Market offered the basic iPhone 15 at an unexpectedly low price of 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 to which Yandex Market technical support, as well as my own attempts to figure it out, did not give answers. I present them for general discussion. Perhaps you have theories or answers?
1. Nothing is really clear about the warranty.
To find the warranty period, you need to “fail” into the characteristics of the device. This information is not available on the main product screen or when ordering.
On pages these cheap iPhone 15 warranty period is stated as follows: 1 year. Let’s imagine that I need to take advantage of this guarantee. What happens next?
I quote the response from Yandex Market technical support:
1 year warranty. You can return a technically complex product within 15 calendar days from the date of purchase.
If more than 15 calendar days have passed, then you need to contact the service center.
To clarify information, please contact the APPLE hotline number 88005556734 or send a request to 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. ASCs provide free service only to those devices that Apple officially sold in Russia – that is, those that were released 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 sent to the service center in the country where the smartphone was sold (obviously, not in Russia).
Correspondence with Yandex Market support.
I notified Yandex Market technical support about this, to which I received the following response:
If the warranty period has not passed, 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. Okay, let’s say that’s true. 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 on Yandex Market, there is a section Ask a question about a product. Theoretically, there you can find out everything about the device, maintenance, characteristics and clarify any other points.
You can ask a question to the seller in the “Ask a question about a product” section. You will see a link to it on the product card, it is located under its brief description.
This section contains all questions about the product and answers to them – not only from sellers, but also from other users and experts.
– Yandex Market technical support
On the corresponding page for these iPhone 15 I see 30 questions for a week and a half – and no response from the seller:
The only answers were given by other Yandex Market users, but not by the seller.
Questions are asked that are logical and correct. What about the warranty, what country are the devices, and so on. The seller did not respond to any of them.
How then should I communicate with the seller? to shopping if he doesn’t respond? For some reason, there are no other forms of communication 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 are her data from the card on Yandex Market:
ООО «MOBILE TRADE SOLUTIONS LLC»
Адрес: 000000, Shams Business Center, Sharjah Media City Free Zone, Al Messaned, Sharjah, UAE
There are no other contacts. If the seller does not answer the questions in the appropriate section, then what happens to the warranty issues? I contact technical support and get the following response:
If you have a warranty claim after purchasing the phone, you can contact the seller. 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 warranty for 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, then contact Yandex Market technical support
That is, in the end, issues will have to be resolved through Yandex Market technical support privately? I would like to note that, superficially, Yandex Market is not the seller of these iPhone 15s. 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. Nothing is clear about the duty in advance, guess it yourself
Review of this iPhone 15 on Yandex Market.
According to the laws of the Russian Federation, orders from abroad (and this one is marked as such) costing 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 current exchange rates this is about 912 euros. Again we receive an amount less than the duty-free import threshold.
Another review about the duty, now in the questions about the product section.
However, in the questions, as well as in the reviews to the seller of these iPhones, there is several evidence to the contrary. According to these reviews, buyers are required to pay a fee after placing an order privately.
It is very strange that the buyer is asked to decide whether his goods will be allowed for duty-free import, without knowing in advance the price at which the documents will be processed. Where does the need to pay duty 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
Fresh review of the seller, complaint 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 a large marketplace that is trying with all its might to inspire the trust of the buyer should work with an official offer price, a “Buy” button, 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, then isn’t it logical to expect in response:
▪ tools for fast, effective communication with the seller
▪ transparent, understandable terms of warranty service
▪ absence of payment for a duty 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 lower prices? Just so you 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.
🤓 Do you want more? Subscribe to our Telegram. Bookmark iPhones.ru From the first days of sales, Yandex Market has listed the basic iPhone 15 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 began to wonder what they were writing…
Nikita Goryainov
@ngoryainov
Editor-in-Chief of iPhones.ru. Thank you for reading us. Have a question, suggestion or something interesting? Write to [email protected].
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