How to Buy the OnePlus One without an invitation

You don’t actually need an invite to buy the OnePlus One, although there are risks and you won’t get quite as good a bargain. Third-party vendors such as MobiCity.co.uk and AliExpress.com claim to have stock that they are willing to ship to the UK. There are other sites listing OnePlus One phones as being in stock.

 Some of them are via Amazon, too. This o­ffers an additional layer of protection. We’re not recommending this route, or any of the sites listed here. But it is an option if you are keen. AliExpress is up front about the fact that it is shipping from China. It charges $495 for the 64GB OnePlus One, and there are additional fees for shipping. 

You may well be charged import duty by Customs and Excise, too (I had to pay £31 – since refunded – to import my OnePlus One via OnePlus). Be aware also that the spec may not be exactly the same as the UK version of the phone. You won’t have a UK charger, for instance, although any USB charger will work. 

And you will want to check that the correct LTE bands will work in the UK. Finally, AliExpress is to be credited for being upfront about delivery times. It claims that you may have to wait three weeks or more to get your OnePlus phone. MobiCity quotes a UK price of £367.19 inc VAT for the 64GB OnePlus One. 

In the specs it states: ‘Please note that this is the Chinese variant of the mobile, with CyanogenMod and Google Play installed prior to order fulfi lment.’ Delivery times are estimated as ‘Dispatched in 7 working days’ with an additional box that states: ‘This item is being restocked or is located in a secondary warehouse.

 Such items can take up to 3-7 days to be dispatched. Once shipped tracking details will be emailed to you.’ I would expect that you would have to wait a good couple of weeks to get hold of the OnePlus One – at the earliest. With all of these there are a couple of caveats. For one thing, whenever you purchase from an online store with no UK street address you are running a risk.

 Mitigate these risks by using a credit card – if the purchase goes wrong it is the bank’s money. Also read all the small print to make sure you know exactly what you are getting. Both of the sites mentioned above are clear that they are selling Chinese-spec phone handsets. Be sure that is what you want. (You may also wonder from where they are getting their stock.)

 You are also overpaying somewhat. The OnePlus One is great, principally because it is a high-calibre smartphone at a bargain price. The 64GB model sold in the examples above retails from OnePlus for £269 inc VAT and delivery. AliExpress’ $495 is £290 before delivery and import tax. MobiCity’s £367 is probably about where you’d end up from AliExpress. 

There’s nothing wrong with this, per se. The vendors are charging a premium for grey imports of in-demand products. But by overpaying you are reducing the reasons for choosing the OnePlus. Which leads us on to...

Oneplus one is really a powerhouse smartphone if you willing to buy it this is the best you can try.