Sell iPhones directly to china?

So I recently sold an iPhone to a man on Craigslist. It was a 4s 16gb and I sold it to him for $350. I thought I was getting a great deal when he asked me why I was selling it for so cheap. He then told me how he buys iPhones and sells them to people in china for way more. He told me he would sell my 4s to china for around $500. I'm wondering how this is possible and if possible, how I could start selling my iPhones to china. Any ideas on how to sell iPhones to businesses or other buyers other than private buyers on eBay and Craigslist would be much appreciated.

Hi, to sell electronics devices to Chinese in China is illegal. But these people buy and sell to make profits. They must know many people there, know many contacts for buyers of different phones. If you have unlock phones wanted to sell to China, first, you need to find trusteds friend there. Yes, he is right, you price is too cheap. (What dollars is that) I have lot's of contact there too, but I don't use Craiglist, Chinese websites is better. If you like to promote your phones to China, please let me know, we can work out some plans. Send me your contacts by email;.

Thank you for asking.

Frequent China, Asia traveller.

He's most likely selling his items in person or via personal friends.

Authentic electronics are VERY expensive in China due to the foreign tariffs imposed by the government. That's why there's so many counterfeit goods… No taxes on what's produced in the country.

People who travel to the US often bring electronics back to China to sell. They avoid import taxes and import laws by doing this. The most common items that are "resold" this way are laptops, cell phones and cameras.

In your situation, if you advertised you wanted to sell your phone to a citizen in China, you would be advertising that you are breaking the import laws. I'd be satisfied with what you got and move on from there.

I sell collector's cross stitch items on eBay and many of my buyers are Chinese. I suspect they are either reselling them or knocking them off, but what can I do? I'm being legal (I even report my sales on my taxes) and if they are not being legal, then that's their problem.

MTP, yeah, that's a good idea, but so many people are doing this. They buy from USA, send to China, and sell it in China.

Actually a ipones4s isn't worth $500 for a second one, i can buy a new one about $400 in China. You can search it taobao.com. As well the price of ipones5 is about $850, you can see if it's possible to have profit if you sell it.

@KV, forget what the law says, once you buy a phone, it is yours and you have a right to resell at your will.

As far as the phone. The retail price of the phone is $599 or $699. You basically sold it for 50% of retail. While I doubt he can sell it at $500, he can definitely sell it at a profit.

You might think it is cheap because you probably got the phone at a discounted price of $199 (or similar due to carrier 1-2year committment). You are actually paying for the phone in your phone bill, it is just disguised as a monthly fee. Anyway, in China, they don't have such deals as most plans are by the minute. Meaning you pay for what you use, so carriers don't give out discounts for phones.

You can't start a business selling phones to China because it is being regulated. You can't even ship or take more than 1 phone with you into customs. This is another reason why the black market prices for the phones are so high.