The Nokia 6151 has got to be one of the hardest 2nd hand phone models to find these days. Either teh hoi polloi is holding on this particular model or it must be too sucky even for the hoi polloi.
I was with my '2 weeks to go guy', Arnold, yesterday at Greenhills just to look for a 6151. Of course, what better to place to start the hunt at the catwalks between Virra Mall and Shoppesville.
We started looking for an 'estante' (glass shelf) with the sign that says the people behind the estante is able to accept credit cards readily. Just a tip for the bargain cellphone hunter, it maybe just possible that each and everyone of those merchants are actually offering credit card payments for an additional fee.
As is typical in bargain hunting, these merchants will offer you a price for the model at the condition (brand new, open line, service provider-locked, never opened, slightly used, or the phone happened to be in an African elephant orgy party) you're looking for. And as is typical.. if you show disinterest because of the price or show interest but gave you three raised eyebrows for the offered price, these guys are more than willing to lower the price to match their competitors or slightly lower the price for you. It all depends on the prevailing trading price, plus and minus the condition of the unit.
It might sound sad for us out there, that these guys in Greenhills are actually disheartened by the fact that they have sold only one or two units the whole day, so some may actually go a bit more lower than the final asking price. But I'd rather not take advantage of that on general principle as a human being.
The condition of the unit is an important selling point of the unit as we've experienced. They will gently but firmly retort behind your back as soon as you leave that their unit is in mint condition, hence the offered price. I gently and goofishly retorted that, in truth, I would just be returning a phone that was issued to me by the company. And it would be a violation of my general principle as an @$$hole that I will not return a brand new unit just to be enjoyed by some noob jockstrap in the consumables sales department. *grin* Well, I did not actually say that but, I managed to get the point across, which of course raised more than a few laughs with the merchants.
We settled for a moderately used unit for 4,500 php (with a free Kingston 520Mb MicroSD).. which would strangely mirror the condition of the 6151 I lost early this year. Oh wait, did I just say lost? Wahehe, yes the reason I was bargain hunting iz becosh it is the deadline for returning the phone to management (and the line, since we have a new line on a different provider) and I have nothing to return. ^^;;
In adjunct to the final price, an 8% 'swipe' fee was imposed which isn't really bad. And judging from the rapport I made with my Moslem merchant, she was happy with our transaction. Positive FB please! XD
Oh btw, the first picture is supposedly a picture of the 6151 from the Nokia.ph site, but unfortunately led to a 404 page with a picture of a noob jockstrap from the consumables sales department. Just kidding. XD It would seem that Nokia.ph no longer sells the 6151! ^^;; Just for kicks, here's two more 'random' images from the same 404 page:
Okay.. that was rich. XD Okay without any further tummy rumbling, here's a stock photo of the phone from GSMArena.com (some rare model, huh?) :
