I’ve searched around quite a lot for areas to find used phones.
The best I’ve found, and I haven’t really heard people mention this area, is a large area of many vendors on 1F in an old building in the middle of Ximen (西門) below the Shin Kong Cinema (link). There’s about 30 or so stalls in there just selling phones.
Other than the odd 3C store, are there any other areas like this in Taipei or new Taipei.
One place I keep hearing is the Guang Hua Digital Plaza (光華商場) but there’s it’s no where near as good as that Ximen area for phones.
Not so many used phone shops around Taipei or Taiwan. Nothing like SE Asia countries where hundreds of shops.
Ximen is probably the biggest spot with shops together. Other used phone shops just here and there.
Taiwanese generally don’t want used things for a few reasons… new phones can be had quickly and cheap on phone plans every 2 years or so… Feng shui… ghosts…
OFWs are also interested in used phones to match their OFW obtainable SIM cards. So there are places where they hang out and shop like the Indonesian shopping area near Taipei City Underground Mall Exit Y26. Other shops here and there outside of Taipei near train stations.
I have trouble with phone plans because they want you to pre pay a year or more. Sometimes I rather have a carrier lock… It’s basically not worth it when you account for the more expensive phone plan you must have.
Nova sells used phones. My wife bought an iPhone 8 in a branch located in Taichung a couple of years ago. The only issue was the fingerprint sensor stopped working a few months later.
If you’re in a tight budget (maybe 10K) and looking for an iPhone with good camera and face id, then iPhone XR is your best bet. Currently PChome is selling iPhone XR 64Gb for only 10,490.