Has anyone bought used cell ph from EBAY?

[MisterB]

My 14yr old daughter has destroyed her cell phone, she gets a new one every 2yrs with our current verizzon plan, so she now has to wait a yr for a new one, unless she buys one herself. She has her old one so we transferred service to it but she now has lost her keyboard to text...So she is looking on EBAY for used phones.... anything I should look for or avoid on eBAY? anyone with suggestions or ideas??

Thanks, Ed

[Oh Haha]

We have purchased many phones on the Ebay. Only one(recently BTW) was not any good.

My wife buys them about as often as she buys new purses.

The old ones we give to charity.

She looks for ones that come with most everything and in the original box, if possible.

[89911]

A few things: Make sure the phone is sold by the company you plan on using. A verizon for verizon, etc. Make sure the esn number is ok by having it veryfied by the carrier. This will make sure its not stolen, which on ebay is a strong possiblility. As long as it isn't you can see how it goes. If you go will a seller that has a long history of positive sells, it is a good thing. I would avoid the seller that has little history.

[Oh Haha]

Originally Posted by 89911

A few things: Make sure the phone is sold by the company you plan on using. A verizon for verizon, etc. Make sure the esn number is ok by having it veryfied by the carrier. This will make sure its not stolen, which on ebay is a strong possiblility. As long as it isn't you can see how it goes. If you go will a seller that has a long history of positive sells, it is a good thing. I would avoid the seller that has little history.

+1 to all he posted.

We have had Verizon for some time now and have never had any problems transferring service.

[cgarr]

I have too, no problems and rather cheap for a kid! If you had ATT I have a whole box of old phones!

[osidak]

any phone you are interested in get the full ESN and call verizon and ask if the phone is free and clear to activate on your account - if they say yes then you are good to go assuming the phone is fully functional

I would also check out craigslist for phones as my last two phone purchases have been there and I have paid pennies on the dollar

[masraum]

I've bought a couple of really cheap nokias on ebay. I don't know if I'd want to buy something like a smart phone on ebay. I did buy a smart phone locally on Craigslist, but that was a face to face sale.

[Danny_Ocean]

I was burned once...but it was my fault for not verifying. Bought the exact model phone to replace my damaged unit. Figured I could use the same charger, battery, case etc.

However, when I brought the phone to the store to have it activated, they told me it wasn't compatible with the Sprint network. Same phone, different "guts".

[Joeaksa]

Bought a lot of them there. Advise above is sound and buy from someone with lots of good feedback.

[Schumi]

awww she lost her keyboard texting capability.

I have no sympathy.

[porsche4life]

I've bought several... i go semi burned on a blackberry... It was presented as like new... Had quite a bit of pocket wear and was set up on an enterpise server. I got that fixed though. Worked fine till we got caught in a downpour out hiking and it got wet...

The rest were all painless and as described though. I'd do it again if I didn't have my iPhone...

My eyes have been wandering to the dark(android) side...

[widebody911]

Sounds like she has a year in which to contemplate taking better care of her stuff.

[gtc]

I would get a cheap phone to hold her over until she qualifies for a new phone.
You can buy a certified pre-owned / refurbished phone through verizon. The cheapest one at the moment (samsung "smooth") is $50.
A friend of mine went through this yesterday after he dropped his droid ($560 to replace) into his boat's bilge.

Now that I'm in front of a computer, it looks like you can get that phone at Best Buy for $40 without needing a new contract.

[Steve Viegas]

I have purchased them (smartphones) for development platforms and have not had problems.

Having said that, I have a 5 year old phone that is giving me fits. It has not been abused. I would make sure that what ever she buys is newer. They are not designed to last forever.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Sounds like she has a year in which to contemplate taking better care of her stuff.

Would totally agree with the above statement.

[red-beard]

A few thing which should be obvious when buying on Ebay.

If the price looks too good to be true, it probably is...

Look at the number of transactions the person is posting. Also look at what else they are selling and when the account was created. If someone has had an account for 10 years and has only a few transactions, is now suddenly selling a bunch of high dollar items, you can believe it is either fraud or the items are stolen.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by osidak

any phone you are interested in get the full ESN and call verizon and ask if the phone is free and clear to activate on your account - if they say yes then you are good to go assuming the phone is fully functional

I would also check out craigslist for phones as my last two phone purchases have been there and I have paid pennies on the dollar

+1 - exactly what I was about to post.

Definitely want to run the ein on a Craigslist phone. If it's got the wall charger and accessories, you're probably good. Just a phone and line about a "lost charger" is probably a bad sign.