How to check if the phone is unlocked/paid off? - Google Pixel 5 Questions & Answers

Hello friends,
I ordered an unlocked Pixel 5 GD1YQ from eBay and was wondering if there is a safe way for me to check if the phone is truly unlocked. From research I’ve been doing it says that I can check the IMEI on Swappa, is that a solid way to check for sure or that’s not reliable? Also what would be a good way to know that the phone is not under some payment plan and that the seller stops making payment or reports it as lost/stolen and I end up having an expensive brick? I am aware that google or amazon(sold and shipped by amazon) or bestbuy (buy unlocked) would be the most reliable sellers but when money is tight sometimes you get a good deal on auction sites, that’s why I bought it on eBay.
Thank you

Related

HD7 on ebay

Don't want to tempt anyone here but I've just noticed that unlocked HD7s are selling on ebay for between £400 and £550 a pop.
Crazy. Why would you pay that? Have these people never heard of using a shop? Or at least checking the going rate online.
digime said:
Don't want to tempt anyone here but I've just noticed that unlocked HD7s are selling on ebay for between £400 and £550 a pop.
Crazy. Why would you pay that? Have these people never heard of using a shop? Or at least checking the going rate online.
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I saw this its so crazy if i had the upfront cash i would so get in on that.
It's that price on eBay because:
1. It's only release in europe at the moment
2. US people can't be bothered to wait and usually order from overseas
3. It's unlocked
Main 3 factors which bumps up the prices.
That does explain some of the sales but plenty of sellers say they won't ship outside of the UK.
I checked some of the inflated completions and a lot of them seem to be bought by bidders with zero feedback. Something funny going on there.
Yea the zero feedbacks do sound a bit dodgy...
But with the ones that ain't shipping out of UK, it's unlocked, so people will pay anything just to put their Vodafone/Orange/Tmobile sim in it.
What i don't get is that you can do it yourself if you just buy it from O2. Learning how to unlock it will take like 15minutes for a newbie.
Indeed.
For the zero bid ebay buys I wonder if it's a way of making a product look more expensive than it really is. People probably decide on what's a bargain partly based on how much stuff tends to sell for.
So, if you flood the place with extortionately priced handsets and create ebay IDs to buy them people will presume that's the going rate and be willing to shell out more.
If an item sells then great. You go out to O2, buy one, unlock it and put in post to buyer. If it looks like it won't sell you use a fake ID to make it look like it sold and later get your advertising money back due to 'buyer' not sending payment.
Devious if true.

Would you keep this phone...

Imei check message: This device is being financed and has an outstanding balance that must be paid or it may not be able to be used on the T-Mobile network.
Purchased on ebay, clean esn, seller claiming it will not get blacklisted.
Sent from my SM-G920T
Return it if possible.
1. Definitely try to return it, and hope the seller is willing to refund your money (obviously contact the seller before sending it back). If the seller has few prior transactions and/or lots of bad feedback, then the odds of getting your money back are pretty slim. I don't buy from sellers with less than 95% positive feedback, or zero transaction history. To me, it is just not worth the potential headache.
2. Always check the IMEI before buying, whether you buy on ebay or craigslist or swappa or wherever. Swappa offers a free IMEI check, and you don't need to buy/sell on their web site to use it.
3. After making sure the IMEI is clean, call your carrier and make sure there is no payoff or any other "gotchas" that would prevent you from using the device.
4. When buying from a local seller, put your sim card in the device and make sure you can make calls (for phones) or access your carrier's network (for tablets) before handing over money.
its probably going to get blacklisted
I have 6 months from purchase date to open paypal claim, 45 days to open ebay claim. Seller has good feedback 500+ transactions. He guarantees that it won't get blacklisted but I guess we will see. Worst case scenario my credit card will recover the funds, if payapal and ebay do not decide in my favor.
Sent from my SM-G920T
ambervals6 said:
I have 6 months from purchase date to open paypal claim, 45 days to open ebay claim. Seller has good feedback 500+ transactions. He guarantees that it won't get blacklisted but I guess we will see. Worst case scenario my credit card will recover the funds, if payapal and ebay do not decide in my favor.
Sent from my SM-G920T
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You should call tmobile instead of waiting. That way if he is wrong you can fix it now instead of last minute. How could your credit card recover your funds? They normally only do that for fraudulent charges, I know for a fact this isn't fraud.
ThePagel said:
You should call tmobile instead of waiting. That way if he is wrong you can fix it now instead of last minute. How could your credit card recover your funds? They normally only do that for fraudulent charges, I know for a fact this isn't fraud.
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They cover purchases of items not as described. If one buys a phone that claims to be clean and in w.e number of months it gets blacklisted, then I got an item not as described and all I have to do is provide tracking information that shows delivered at the sellers town and zip code and all good.
Sent from my SM-G920T
ambervals6 said:
They cover purchases of items not as described. If one buys a phone that claims to be clean and in w.e number of months it gets blacklisted, then I got an item not as described and all I have to do is provide tracking information that shows delivered at the sellers town and zip code and all good.
Sent from my SM-G920T
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That's pretty sweet.
I would not, one reason I miss iphones I would just do a warranty swap at apple to clean that up. I had that happen to me on a note 4 but my account is old with tmobile so they just removed the blacklist to make me happy so I lucked out. Unless you got a super good price or the seller promises to pay off the balance before the return period is up I would return it.
ambervals6 said:
They cover purchases of items not as described. If one buys a phone that claims to be clean and in w.e number of months it gets blacklisted, then I got an item not as described and all I have to do is provide tracking information that shows delivered at the sellers town and zip code and all good.
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Paypal is pretty good about refunding for items "not as described". Paypal wants you to keep using ebay because they make money on each transaction, so they will probably work with you.
I had a transaction in which the item was clearly not as described on the ebay listing, and Paypal refunded me within 1 day after filing the complaint. It is a pain the ass, but worth the trouble if you spent a significant amount of money.

Buying T813

Been waiting for the s3 to come out but the price is in my view too steep (£599) so my plan was to get the T813 but it seems impossible to buy it in the UK except via Amazon. However i am reluctant to buy something this expensive from a 3rd party reseller there. Has anyone seen it sold by some more reputable seller?
Eggstones said:
Been waiting for the s3 to come out but the price is in my view too steep (£599) so my plan was to get the T813 but it seems impossible to buy it in the UK except via Amazon. However i am reluctant to buy something this expensive from a 3rd party reseller there. Has anyone seen it sold by some more reputable seller?
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I got mine Open Box on eBay for $50 less than the going rate at the time, however I saw no signs of it ever having been touched. Original factory seals were in place and it came with a 1 year parts and labor warranty, and a 60 day full refund policy both from the seller. It is now available from them for $319.99. I have had it for about four months and have never been happier with a tablet.
They shipped it immediately (free shipping) and I had it four days from the purchase date. If you are interested shoot me a PM and I will send you the info.
pastorbob62 said:
I got mine Open Box on eBay for $50 less than the going rate at the time, however I saw no signs of it ever having been touched. Original factory seals were in place and it came with a 1 year parts and labor warranty, and a 60 day full refund policy both from the seller. It is now available from them for $319.99. I have had it for about four months and have never been happier with a tablet.
They shipped it immediately and I had it four days from the purchase date. If you are interested shoot me a PM and I will send you the info.
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Thanks for the info. Can't find the store on eBay in the UK.
My main concerns about buying something like this from someone on ebay/amazing marketplace is that I'll be hung and dry if it is a problem with it.
Eggstones said:
Thanks for the info. Can't find the store on eBay in the UK.
My main concerns about buying something like this from someone on ebay/amazing marketplace is that I'll be hung and dry if it is a problem with it.
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I get that. I feel the same way, so I researched for a couple of weeks, reading feedbacks, comparing with other sales. The warranty and return policy they offer was a big selling point for me and they have a 99.7% positive feedback rating in 263396 feedbacks.
Purchased from argos
Just bought the s2 t813 from argos. Advertised as t810 but when checked in store it was the newer version. £339 if that helps.
Steviepp said:
Just bought the s2 t813 from argos. Advertised as t810 but when checked in store it was the newer version. £339 if that helps.
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Is it. I ordered last night the T813 from ebuyer for £344.99. if i had known I would have gone to Argos.

Better to buy "new" international version or refurbished from Best Buy?

So I got one on amazon that was supposed to be new and a us warrantied model.
Turns out it's not a us model. Also the box wasn't sealed and Sony says that the warranty info says it would expire over a month prior to a year past my purchase date... indicating to them that it has been previously activated.
I noticed best buy occasionally has them refurbished with a 90 day geek squad warranty.
Any thoughts on which is the better option?
Thanks in adavance
I wouldn't buy a refurbished phone, but that's just me. Too bad you can't get the US version sold by Amazon anymore, and too bad that seller shafted you - looks like they are the only NEW seller on Amazon currently.
Do you have any international sellers in mind? Perhaps depending on the vendor, you could at least have some kind of return option for the worst case scenario of a DOA phone.
I hope you can get this all resolved. And partly because I'm hoping you'll share the exact steps you take to get root/fingerprint/t-mo all working on the phone so I can replicate it. Good luck.
camaro322hp said:
I wouldn't buy a refurbished phone, but that's just me. Too bad you can't get the US version sold by Amazon anymore, and too bad that seller shafted you - looks like they are the only NEW seller on Amazon currently.
Do you have any international sellers in mind? Perhaps depending on the vendor, you could at least have some kind of return option for the worst case scenario of a DOA phone.
I hope you can get this all resolved. And partly because I'm hoping you'll share the exact steps you take to get root/fingerprint/t-mo all working on the phone so I can replicate it. Good luck.
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I'm sort of leaning towards the international one, but i have my doubts that this one they sent me is new. I should have no problem flashing the modified firmware to keep the fingerprint sensor and enable wifi calling/vo-lte. I just worry about the battery lifespan mostly.
Regardless by the time I'm finished unlocking and rooting I won't be sending it in to sony for any repairs.
POMF2K said:
I'm sort of leaning towards the international one, but i have my doubts that this one they sent me is new...... I just worry about the battery lifespan mostly.
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I would feel exactly the same. The battery unknown is a big reason why I would avoid refurbed phones. Even though you bought from a 3rd party on Amazon, you should have some protections from amazon, especially in the case where the item is not as described. Sounds like you have proof of that, so I would pursue trying to return that.
As far as where to get a replacement though, I'm not sure, unless you want to buy from a European supplier such as Clove.
camaro322hp said:
I would feel exactly the same. The battery unknown is a big reason why I would avoid refurbed phones. Even though you bought from a 3rd party on Amazon, you should have some protections from amazon, especially in the case where the item is not as described. Sounds like you have proof of that, so I would pursue trying to return that.
As far as where to get a replacement though, I'm not sure, unless you want to buy from a European supplier such as Clove.
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Never heard of Clove. Pretty reputable? As long as exchange is good it should still come in under $400 us.
I've actually asked the amazon company if they would exchange for a sealed in box model or give me a discount since it wasn't as described. They have pretty good feedback, I just worry about the battery.
I recently got a brand new international model from Ebay.
POMF2K said:
Never heard of Clove. Pretty reputable? As long as exchange is good it should still come in under $400 us.
I've actually asked the amazon company if they would exchange for a sealed in box model or give me a discount since it wasn't as described. They have pretty good feedback, I just worry about the battery.
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I haven't personally used Clove, but they've been mentioned by XDA users over the years as a good source of unlocked phones. Or, like Dean says, there is always Ebay if you end up having to return your Amazon phone.
POMF2K said:
So I got one on amazon that was supposed to be new and a us warrantied model.
Turns out it's not a us model. Also the box wasn't sealed and Sony says that the warranty info says it would expire over a month prior to a year past my purchase date... indicating to them that it has been previously activated.
Thanks in adavance
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Click to collapse
At least here in Germany the phones did not come sealed (we bought 3 phones so far) and the Warranty started at a date that was much earlier than our purchase date. Dropping an email to Sony fixed the problem
I'd get a new one, and it's not like region matters if you're planning to flash an international firmware to get the fingerprint sensor working anyway
POMF2K said:
Any thoughts on which is the better option?
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You could buy a new one from Amazon Germany AND save some money. Then the fingerprint scanner will work out of the box.
Didgesteve said:
You could buy a new one from Amazon Germany AND save some money. Then the fingerprint scanner will work out of the box.
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This is a good find, but why you guys do not recommend buying used phones from Amazon? For example this one: Amazon.de blue xz1c.
I mean, the only concern would be the battery, right? Because there is no info about how much and for how long it has been used.
I am also looking for auctions on eBay.
Didgesteve said:
You could buy a new one from Amazon Germany AND save some money. Then the fingerprint scanner will work out of the box.
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Assuming I got a fair exchange rate it would still be right around $400 us for a new one. Even if shipping it here wasn't crazy expensive I'd still have to wait for it.

Question Samsung S21 Ultra bought from the USA - help/advice needed

Hi folks , I bought this Samsung S21 Ultra from EBay US ( I wanted the snapdragon version). I’m confused as to the message that I am receiving . I have checked Swappa, checkmend and it is a perfectly clean phone with no issues or anything outstanding . So why would it present me this message ? I’ve been on chat with Xfinity live agent , who have said they can’t just unlock it from the IMEI but they need the account number that it was purchased , the sim/number used associated with the account in order to submit an unlock request . (Person who sell it to me is just a general reseller) . The phone is not stolen or has outstanding finance , so why would it present this issue .
I can’t provide the agent with the details as o don’t have them and I can’t get them . Do I have any options here at all ?
You need to contact the seller through ebay and file dispute immediately. The phone is carrier locked. Meaning they have a balance due on the phone or they were to lazy to call xfinity and ask for it to be unlocked or couldn't show proof of purchase. Either way, the phone is useless until xfinity unlocks it.
Return it.
You can't do anything with it
Simply raise dispute with eBay and get refund.
You can unlock it with third larty but phone will miss some features if unlocked this way it will coat 120$
That's just one of the risks associated with purchasing a used device. Disputing it with Ebay or PayPal is the best option at this point.
varcor said:
That's just one of the risks associated with purchasing a used device. Disputing it with Ebay or PayPal is the best option at this point.
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Indeed. I don't like ebay.
A lot of scamming going on in general now.
Best to talk to the vendor on the phone before buying. Ask the right questions and feel them out. Avoid vendors that won't talk by phone.
I paid $800 for a new N10+ Snapdragon 3 weeks ago. Sounds high, but it was a factory sealed box and the 10+ that was in perfect condition. It was worth the extra $200-400. The vendor was easy to contact and seemed trustworthy. The phone arrived 3 days after ordered, free shipping, shipped day of order. Good to their word.
Dstu10 said:
You need to contact the seller through ebay and file dispute immediately. The phone is carrier locked. Meaning they have a balance due on the phone or they were to lazy to call xfinity and ask for it to be unlocked or couldn't show proof of purchase. Either way, the phone is useless until xfinity unlocks it.
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I chekced on SWAPPA and CHeckmend but there wasnt anything that showed as any finance owed or any blacklisting or sorts. Im not sure if i have grounds to raise a dispute as the seller said it would only work on xfinity .,Is there anything whatsoever i can do , via rooting etc ?
blackhawk said:
Indeed. I don't like ebay.
A lot of scamming going on in general now.
Best to talk to the vendor on the phone before buying. Ask the right questions and feel them out. Avoid vendors that won't talk by phone.
I paid $800 for a new N10+ Snapdragon 3 weeks ago. Sounds high, but it was a factory sealed box and the 10+ that was in perfect condition. It was worth the extra $200-400. The vendor was easy to contact and seemed trustworthy. The phone arrived 3 days after ordered, free shipping, shipped day of order. Good to their word.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I chekced on SWAPPA and CHeckmend but there wasnt anything that showed as any finance owed or any blacklisting or sorts. Im not sure if i have grounds to raise a dispute as the seller said it would only work on xfinity .,Is there anything whatsoever i can do , via rooting etc ?
123hugga said:
I chekced on SWAPPA and CHeckmend but there wasnt anything that showed as any finance owed or any blacklisting or sorts. Im not sure if i have grounds to raise a dispute as the seller said it would only work on xfinity .,Is there anything whatsoever i can do , via rooting etc ?
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Click to collapse
If bought with a card, call the bank and file a charge back request. The phone must be returned before they can do anything.
If things really go south file a complaint with your state attorney general's office.
That sounds like theft by wire fraud to me, a felony.

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