anyone have any experience with this. I really want the Nextel i870, but i dont want to pay about 500 bucks for it and i've seen many post on ebay. I just dont know how safe it is.

8/11/2006 1:07:29 PM

I know someone who bought one, but it wasn't a new one, but just a cheap replacement for a phone that broke - if possible get all the serial info ahead of time, call your service provider, and make sure it isn't stolen first. They might be able to tell you the last time it was used or if it was ever used, but I'm not sure.

8/11/2006 1:09:31 PM

that is all you need to do - this should be pretty much common sense though i thought

8/11/2006 1:10:16 PM

a ton of phones are sold on ebay, if it's listed as a new phone, in the box with all the manual and crap that came with it, it's probably not stolen. i was just bidding on a phone this morning (lost though).

8/11/2006 1:13:02 PM

with iDen you can just swap the card, so who cares if its stolen

8/11/2006 1:14:44 PM

^^ true, if it had the box/manual/disc then the likelihood it's stolen is much lower.

8/11/2006 1:19:34 PM

hmm, i may have to do this, those i870 are NICE...

8/11/2006 1:21:36 PM

i was planning on gettin a motorola E815 sometime in the near future, but ebay makes me wary

8/11/2006 1:27:30 PM

i bought an unlocked refurbished phone so i could use it abroad with a chip. the phone was fine, but the battery only lasts about 8 hours. so watch out for that

8/11/2006 1:53:38 PM

I'm looking into buying a phone on ebay as well. Ive bought phones on there before with no problem. I need an unlocked gsm phone to use when I move to Europe at the end of the month, any suggestions? At the moment considering the SLVR L7 and a few Sony Ericsson models.

8/11/2006 2:11:08 PM

Just read the feedback score of the user you are buying them from. If they have a good history then they probably dont misrepresent what they are selling. If the phone is used make sure it has a clean IMEI & serial number. If the number has been blacklisted (reported lost/stolen, etc) you cannot get insurance on it, repairs, or help from customer service. You can use the phone is the s/n is bad but you will get no support from nextel or motorola.

8/11/2006 2:29:39 PM

yo miguel remember that time i got REALLY drunk at your place and i woke up the next day wondering where my cell phone was

yeah i had to buy a cell phone from ebay after that...got hooked up with a bomb ass deal for 125

8/11/2006 2:41:07 PM

I have the i870

I paid full retail for it though, without any contract ($449.99)

8/11/2006 2:53:03 PM

^how do you like it?

Quote :

"yo miguel remember that time i got REALLY drunk at your place and i woke up the next day wondering where my cell phone was "

haha..that was pretty crazy, it was like the day after the first time meeting you, i think you came with roxanna maybe? Anyway, we were like who the hell is this dude on our couch..haha. That was a crazy crazy night.

8/11/2006 3:27:06 PM

I bought an unlocked Cingular phone (they use the simchip so i don't have to worry about activation) that was only released in Europe. Works fine on our networks and didn't have any problems really. Just make sure it's unlocked so you can use it with your carrier. (Not sure if nextel is only for one carrier)

8/11/2006 3:29:36 PM

i've bought two off of eBay. only problem i have experienced is that the 'free charger' didn't actually work, i thought it was the phone. i took it to the sprint store and they figured that out for me (which i probably could have figured it out on my own had i really thought about it).

8/11/2006 3:33:07 PM

Quote :

"I'm looking into buying a phone on ebay as well. Ive bought phones on there before with no problem. I need an unlocked gsm phone to use when I move to Europe at the end of the month, any suggestions? At the moment considering the SLVR L7 and a few Sony Ericsson models."

i was looking at the SE W300i. it's got a slot for memory stick micro (comes with a 256mb stick) and works as an mp3 player, plus it's quadband, so you should be covered no matter where you use it. looks like it'll be between $220-$240 after shipping.

8/11/2006 3:39:21 PM

^ I've been looking into the W300 as well but its a little more than Id ideally like to spend. I may suck it up and spend the extra cash for it anyway.

8/11/2006 3:49:17 PM

theres some pretty basic steps to take, things to consider:

1) feedback, there should be alot...100+, hopefully much much more. it should be 100% positive or damn close to it. go through the past feedback comments, make sure its all good.

2) make sure theyve been in business on ebay for a while.

3) i would want it shipped from a seller who resides here in the US

4) make sure the phone is actually brand new in the box and not an open box, or refurb or something like that.

5) make sure the phone is covered by a factory warranty. i wouldnt trust their warranty unless theyve been in business a long time.

6) make sure you pay with paypal and not some money order shit

7) make sure you actually buy it from an ebay auction and not something "on the side"

thats all i can think of for now, check these links and invest a little time reading if you wanna do this right. i bought a $350 phone on ebay from a reputable seller and everything went great.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-52,GGLG:en&q=safe+ebay+buying

8/11/2006 3:50:16 PM

it's pretty solid, I don't really use any of the MP3 player or camera shit because I lost the little card that goes in there

I actually switched from the 930 earlier this year for this phone, I like it a hell of a lot better than that beast

if I were you I would wait until the new ones come out that run on Sprint AND Nextel's network

but, if you don't want to wait the 870 is solid

8/11/2006 4:09:08 PM

The i580 is the best Nextel I have ever owned.

8/11/2006 4:15:44 PM

i bought a samsung a900 from ebay in may. Checked the ESN with sprint and everything before I bought it. Turns out the phone was stolen from a sprint store in seattle but they didnt report until the end of june (inventory time i guess). So i bought the phone and imagine my surprise when it stopped working at the end of june. anyways I am trying to get my money back from the seller through ebay because he claims he did not know the phone was stolen and owes me nothing because of it. This has been the only incident with ebay, but the 4 or 5 other times though Ive had good experiences buying phones from there.

8/11/2006 10:10:59 PM

^ Just complain to sprint in the mean time, they might do something about it. File a complaint with the BBB that your phone was working and they cut it off.

8/12/2006 12:42:09 AM

I'd sell my i870 for a good price, I am looking at getting a different phone anyway. How much are you looking to spend?

8/12/2006 12:43:32 AM

I would just like to add that I won an auction for 2 Samsungs(D600 + D820) yesterday, both brand new in the box, for $400.

carry on.

8/12/2006 12:37:37 PM

ive gotten 3 phones from ebay, all said they were new and purchased from sellers with really high ratings, and all worked out great

8/12/2006 12:39:19 PM

just never buy from anyone with less than a score of 1000, and youll be allright.

8/12/2006 2:44:24 PM