Have you ever bought a phone off Ebay?

[PYMOM]

That's why it's so important to check their feedback. Usually bad deals will follow the same seller. You don't usually wake up today and say, hey, I think I'll start selling bad phone.

Bad feedback is the key.

Jim Smith

X 1....Always look at the feedback...I have never had a bad experience on Ebay, and would never do business with someone with bad feedback.

[Aleria]

I agree with most every one else. Little/no or bad feedback sellers should be avoided. And if they are into selling a specific item, like cell phones, see what people have said in their feedback about those particular items.
I personally have bought a few phones, usually unlocked, from ebay with no trouble at all, but made sure the sellers were very reputable prior to purchase. But then I've also had a few people I know do the same thing, but not do quite enough research and end up getting scammed with those "locked/stolen" phones.
So as long as you do your research and don't just say "eh, the feedback is ok, but the price is just sooooo good." and go for it, then you should be good. That's usually where people get had, they can't resist that super low price so they accept low or bad feedback.

[Aztec4mia]

I have bought the last couple phones for both me and my wife, from flip phones to blackberry's on ebay, all have been good experiances, all have been unlocked phones and it took me a couple weeks to find the right one, checking feedback and reading the fine print is important.
I also think that it's harder to find phones for services that don't use sim cards like Verizon and At&t because you need codes to have them unlocked and you have to make sure the seller has them and blah, blah, blah...
you just gotta take your time.

[Blue Apple Herps]

I have bought one, and it went well. My phone broke about two months before my contract was up, and I was going to be switching carriers so didn't want to get a brand new phone I'd only use for a couple of months.

Anyways, bought a used Palm phone. Only problem was the seller sent a charger that didn't work, luckily my g/f had a compatible charger to get me by, but the seller did send a new charger at no cost to me. I think the key is to look at feedback of the seller.

Also keep in mind if it seems too good to be true it probably is.

[Zach]

ya this phone im about to buy (the verizon droid) seems a little too good to be true but i think im still gonna buy it lol. This guy has great feedback and hes a top rated seller and hes selling these phones for 50 bucks. hes sold them to 26 people already and there feedback was good.

[Aleria]

I'm pretty dang good at sniffing out a scam when there is one, have yet to be scammed myself after a decade of buying online. If you post the link to the ad I can probably tell you if it's going to be a problem or not.
I mean, maybe the guy just has the hook up for wholesale product. Buuuuut, it sounds more like a bunch of stolen brand new phones that will very quickly be marked stolen and disabled by the carrier Eeeeek.

[bsash]

I always check feedback before buying anything. Maybe I just have the worst luck.

[cinderbird]

slightly off topic, but this is something i've been wondering for a bit. When you buy a phone offline (like ebay), do you just take it to your service provider and have them activate it for you? I've been thinking about getting a smart phone but my contract isn't up for another year or maybe 14 months or something.

[Aleria]

slightly off topic, but this is something i've been wondering for a bit. When you buy a phone offline (like ebay), do you just take it to your service provider and have them activate it for you? I've been thinking about getting a smart phone but my contract isn't up for another year or maybe 14 months or something.

Usually you can activate it either online on your carriers website if you already have an account and just want to swap out your current phone for the new phone, or just give them a call and tell them you'd like to activate a new phone and tell them which line the phone will be on.

I've bought nearly all of my cells online and upgraded that way, going through the website is always soooooo easy rather than wasting time on the phone or going into the store to deal with them in person.

And if you are in dire need of transferring lots of contacts, etc and don't have a data cable to do so, then that's about the only time I'd recommend visiting the carrier store as they usually will do the transfer for free to your new phone. They don't particularly care where you buy your phone from as long as it's not marked stolen or illegal in their system they are just happy to be draining your bank account every month

Apparently I'm not just a computer person that works as an IT specialist hehe as I seem to be getting further and further into this whole phone thing as time goes by, both cellular and otherwise. I guess I pretty much just geek out over anything technical and have to know absolutely everything there is to know about it, but I do find it fun to help other people out setting things up and all that, especially when it comes to finding good deals on these things as I know how ridiculous the prices can get. I am totally the master at buying everything electronics related at the cheapest possible prices

[cinderbird]

Usually you can activate it either online on your carriers website if you already have an account and just want to swap out your current phone for the new phone, or just give them a call and tell them you'd like to activate a new phone and tell them which line the phone will be on.

I've bought nearly all of my cells online and upgraded that way, going through the website is always soooooo easy rather than wasting time on the phone or going into the store to deal with them in person.

And if you are in dire need of transferring lots of contacts, etc and don't have a data cable to do so, then that's about the only time I'd recommend visiting the carrier store as they usually will do the transfer for free to your new phone. They don't particularly care where you buy your phone from as long as it's not marked stolen or illegal in their system they are just happy to be draining your bank account every month

Apparently I'm not just a computer person that works as an IT specialist hehe as I seem to be getting further and further into this whole phone thing as time goes by, both cellular and otherwise. I guess I pretty much just geek out over anything technical and have to know absolutely everything there is to know about it, but I do find it fun to help other people out setting things up and all that, especially when it comes to finding good deals on these things as I know how ridiculous the prices can get. I am totally the master at buying everything electronics related at the cheapest possible prices

I have verizon, they don't use SIM cards so I'd need to transfer my contacts. I'll have to see about online activation. I'm not sure they have it.