Totally, look for phones in “excellent” or “mint” condition, read the description carefully, and check the seller’s feedback carefully. I’ve bought 4 or 5 phones on eBay with great results. Every phone I’ve gotten is indistinguishable from new.
Open Box is also worth checking out. I snagged an Xperia 1 IV for 50% retail price, which was around the same price a lot of “very good” condition used ones were going for. A few months with it now and no issues so far!
Absolutely. I’ve bought all of my phones from eBay and never had an issue.
eBay is fine. Just check the seller’s reputation first before buying.
If overall positive feedback is greater than 99%, and they’ve sold hundreds of items, then there’s no problem buying from them.
I’ve bought dozens of phones from eBay over the last two decades, never had any issues.
Over the past 10 years most of my phones have been used, and I’ve been way happier with it. Save money for the same thing.
Personally I’m worried to buy a phone that is filled with spyware and adware.
Factory reset, cousin.
On a phone with spyware installed that wouldn’t do anything. There are probably ways to get rid of it, but how can you be sure?
By checking whether the bootloader is unlocked or not. If the bootloader is unlocked, then all bets are off, but if the bootloader is locked, you can only run the original, unmodified firmware. Any alternation to the firmware will result in the dm-verity check failing, causing the system to not boot at all. The only data which can be altered is user data, which is wiped in a factory reset. So a factory ressr definitely gets rid of it.
If you’re paranoid though, you could always flash the stock firmware downloaded directly from the manufacturer’s website, which will override all system partitions, so you can be absolutely sure there’s no spyware - besides the spyware included by Google etc of course, or the spyware embedded into the hardware by the chip manufacturers…
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 2•10 months ago
None of this will save you. The boot loader can be replaced with one that merely pretends to be locked and merely pretends to flash the replacement operating system it’s sent over the USB port.
If the phone has ever been in the custody of someone you don’t trust, you can’t trust anything about it.
They said spyware and adware
And?
Those usually are made to persist after factory reset. The phone is rooted and factory reset is modified to not remove the bad software.
And rooting the phone requires an unlocked bootloader, which would present a warning when the phone is booted up.
If you know what you are doing, it won’t.
Yes it will. There’s no way to bypass it, if there is, that would be a serious security flaw - the kind that would get patched very quickly. There have been some phones which had a vulnerable bootloader that allowed this in the past (eg: OnePlus devices), but there’s no such exploit available for current generation devices
I’d like to see some sources backing up your claim, which is applicable to current generation phones.
Depends on the condition and the age but I personally say yes it’s worth it especially if its still getting security updates
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
yeah, but also account for the cost of a battery replacement
Yeah, I got a perfectly good phone for half the price of buying new
Backmarket?
I bought my unlocked phone on Backmarket. Works great so far.
I never have problems with phones from ebay. Take your time, look and read closely. I buy a lot of the cheap ones for family members who are too rough/careless with their phones, and it’s worked out pretty good.
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).
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 1•10 months ago
Only if you enjoy the thought of the previous owner watching you through its microphone and camera.
Assuming you get a phone at all, and not just a cardboard mockup of one. You all remember “P-p-powerbook”, I hope.
I did. It was perfectly fine, got a new condition, slightly older model phone for about half price. Unlocked.