Cell phone strategies and experiences for buying on ebay will vary widely. I actually try to stay away from the big power sellers regardless of feedback ratings. I prefer the individual and more personal sellers that are selling their own phones. Ones that list several close up pictures and have perfect seller feedback. Most ebay sellers I have purchased phones from have had less than 100 selling transactions. I have not had a bad ebay phone buying experience yet. Just a couple weeks ago I bid on and won a barely used Droid a855 in perfect brand new condition (not a mark on it) with a home charger, 16gb memory card, car dock and multimedia dock for 98 bux to my door! The seller listed it as having a good ESN and because they had 2 other recent cell phone sales that had excellent feedback I took them at their word. It was delivered in a box large enough to fit a basketball and was meticulously packaged with bubble wrap and air bags........ I will check past sales feedback comments, look for well written listings and then go by gut feeling. Those listings made with templates and containing 14 paragraphs of sales jargon and other crap don't impress me at all - I normally don't even give them a second look. If anything at all about the seller, the listing or the phone throws up even a small red flag I just move on to the next.
I recently tested the "don't mention a PP Dealer by name" rule here on PP Hofo......trust me, it is still in effect - got me a 7 day ban.
... I actually try to stay away from the big power sellers regardless of feedback ratings. I prefer the individual and more personal sellers that are selling their own phones. Ones that list several close up pictures and have perfect seller feedback. Most ebay sellers I have purchased phones from have had less than 100 selling transactions. I have not had a bad ebay phone buying experience yet. ... If anything at all about the seller, the listing or the phone throws up even a small red flag I just move on to the next.
My approach is similar. I look for the sellers who seem normal and dependable, but don't attract premium prices with high feedback counts and flashy pages.
To date I've had no problems on over a dozen transactions, and this includes sellers in the 0-10 feedback range.
I'm actually trying the opposite experiment. Today I will have my first power-seller phone delivered. I bought it because the price was low, as they responsibly listed a phone with a very sticky volume control as "Broken". Even though the same listing said it is tested and powers up and works in all important ways the word "Broken" scared most buyers.
AT&T and T-Mobile SF Bay Area+ Cell Sites - with Cell ID labels http://sfocellsites.com/ Over 1,100 AT&T sites in the 9 Bay Area counties + San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties Now over 1,500 T-Mobile sites in these 12 counties
Ask them of it has a clean esn and why are they selling it. Make sure they are the owners of the device, just because it has a clean esn now, but the true owners can report it anytime stolen. I have a DROID x with page plus
My approach is similar. I look for the sellers who seem normal and dependable, but don't attract premium prices with high feedback counts and flashy pages.
To date I've had no problems on over a dozen transactions, and this includes sellers in the 0-10 feedback range.
I'm actually trying the opposite experiment. Today I will have my first power-seller phone delivered. I bought it because the price was low, as they responsibly listed a phone with a very sticky volume control as "Broken". Even though the same listing said it is tested and powers up and works in all important ways the word "Broken" scared most buyers.
I agree with that statement. Whenever I see broken in the listing, I bypass it. Doesn't matter if it still works or not. I don't want a broken phone. I tend to look at the seller's feedback. If it's 94% or above then I bid. All of my phones that I have purchased from Ebay have been good handsets. A few scratches here and there but nothing major.
I agree with that statement. Whenever I see broken in the listing, I bypass it. Doesn't matter if it still works or not. I don't want a broken phone. ...
For my primary phone I agree with you on that.
But this phone will be running my personal Android app to track cell sites, so it just sites there most of the time. And there is no volume involved with that app.
Besides, being older, I'm no perfectionist when it comes to technology. All phones these days far exceed my expectations in most regards.
I'm not sure I follow you......do you mean ebay bucks? (I get that with any purchase)
I mean if something is wrong with the phone you can get a full refund (or sometimes exchange because powesellers are more likely to have multiple items)
I have bought several phones both GSM and CDMA from e-bay and all of them have been just fine. One of the used phones was sold as having minor scratches on the case but not the screen and that is exactly the way it was. All of my CDMA phones expect the Sammy i760 have been used. This includes a Moto Droid and an HTC Incredible. Both looked and worked as if they were brand new off the shelf. I look for smaller sellers and a clean ESN. Sometimes you will find good deals like mentioned by another poster with accessories included. Those accessories (data cable, charger, etc) are important to me so I usually get phones that include them. I like to have + feedback above 98% with more than 25 sales, but those are secondary considerations.
I just bought a Droid X off Ebay. I already have pageplus using a samsung omnia. To activate the Droid X do I just call pageplus and give them the ESN? Also will i be able to get the new gingerbread on my droid x or do i need to root? Thanks!
... I look for smaller sellers and a clean ESN. Sometimes you will find good deals like mentioned by another poster with accessories included. Those accessories (data cable, charger, etc) are important to me so I usually get phones that include them. I like to have + feedback above 98% with more than 25 sales, but those are secondary considerations.
I agree on the smaller sellers. I used to agree on accessories too, but now that Micro USB is so standard I just as often take a phone without if other buyers are giving a premium that day to accessories.
I just bought a Droid X off Ebay. I already have pageplus using a samsung omnia. To activate the Droid X do I just call pageplus and give them the ESN? Also will i be able to get the new gingerbread on my droid x or do i need to root? Thanks!
You can call customer service and let them do it for you. Or you can do it yourself using this site:
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Originally Posted by tracnet
AT&T and T-Mobile SF Bay Area+ Cell Sites - with Cell ID labels
Over 1,100 AT&T sites in the 9 Bay Area counties + San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties
Now over 1,500 T-Mobile sites in these 12 counties
if anyone needs one PM me. Its in mint condition i have several pics.
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