Skip Navigation
51 comments

  • Sure . I normally buy top of line flagship phones used. Except for my most recent purchase, they all came from ebay . Most recently I purchased something 'renewed' from Amazon.

    Make sure the description says the battery is good and that the photos show the screen in good order . I don't care about scratches/cracks on the back because the thing is going into a case anyways .

  • Just look through the product info and make absolutely sure it's not a "Bad IMEI" phone. These are usually stolen phones laundered through china, and will not connect with most regular carriers in the US (or in much of the EU)

  • Yeah, maybe not ebay. I used Swappa back in the day and that was cool. But phone hardware hasn't improved THAT much in the past 5 years. You can go pretty far back and have a pretty decent phone. Android phones lose their value a lot faster so you can usually get them super cheap. Should probably buy unlocked

  • Mostly. I'm certain some of the stuff moved on secondary markets is stolen, and if the previous owner did their due diligence, it should be blacklisted by service providers by the device's unique ID.

    There's also plenty that are 100% legit and you won't have any trouble whatsoever. I try to stay away from eBay for phones; I go to the local marketplaces, like FB marketplace, Kijiji or Craig's list and do the exchange in person. Being able to look someone in the eyes and ask them why they're getting rid of the phone, in and of itself, can weed out theives.... Not entirely, but mostly. You also get a clean cash transaction, you can look at the device and check it over to ensure it's what was described, get, and likely test any accessories, and do any last minute negotiation that might be required based on what you've found while handling the item.

    It's not perfect.... But your only other option is to buy a refurb from a first party seller like your mobile provider, which will probably cost more, it will also likely be carrier locked... But you can rest easy that it wasn't stolen....

    I switched to buying directly from manufacturers (in my case, Google) and just plugging in my carrier sim card. I've been happy with that. I also always run with a good case on my phone, usually spigen, and I haven't had any notable damage to my device as a result (which would require an early replacement).

    YMMV. Good luck

  • I got my last 3 phones used, all were at a great discount, and all lasted about as long as you'd expect a new phone to.

    I'll continue buying used until new prices become reasonable again, and even then I will still probably buy used because it's cheaper and helps combat ewaste (if only a little).

  • I've had good luck buying phones on eBay. I bought a OnePlus 6T last fall that was in box and practically brand new because the 6T has good Linux support, phone arrived and worked great. I just bought a OnePlus 6 because it too is well supported on Linux (postmarketOS) and doesn't have as big of a notch, good condition but minor OLED burn in. Problem is that the previous owner didn't realize that PIN lock remains over factory reset so it was locked. I managed to find an unlock procedure before the seller got back to me with the PIN and it's working fine now (though I think I will stick with Android on this one after all).

51 comments