Various conditions of cell phones on ebay - New, Never Opened | Refurbished | Used

What does this all mean? We want to be clear with our customers to make you an educated customer and give you the confidence to choose The Blue Dot when making your next cell phone purchase.

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New, Never Opened - This term describes a phone that should have never been activated on a wireless plan or used in any way. This does not always mean that the phone will come in the original box. Every cell phone has a Life Timer on it that record all the time that a phone is connected on a call. You can find the life timer of the cell phone in the "settings" or "timers" part of the menu. Do some searching in the menu section of the phone and you will find it. Every phone I have used, has one.

BUYER TIP - A lot of sellers are selling refurbished cell phones as "New, Never Opened" for more money. Most people can not tell the difference between refurbished and new. Selling something as new that is not is illegal and those sellers will eventually get caught! Any seller can slap a new LCD and housing on a phone and call the phone new.

For example - To find out if a Blackberry device is new - Go to Menu>options>Status then type BUYR. If the phone was used it will show that the phone has exceeded 250k of data and 60 minutes talk time.

Not all "Refurbished" phones are the same. Just because something says "refurbished" next to it, does not mean the same quality and workmanship went into it as another "refurbished" phone. There are different quality standards used by different companies who sell phones online. We like to think we regard our refurbishing standards among the highest out there. We only use quality, genuine parts when refurbishing our phones unlike others who use aftermarket or replica parts of lesser quality. Sure, the phone may work long enough to get you by a 30 day warranty, but you will probably want your phone to last much longer than that! Most people look for the lowest prices on phones online and do not take this into consideration. If lesser quality parts are being used, the phone can be priced lower. Wouldn't you rather pay a few dollars more for a quality product you know that is going to work?

Refurbished - Why buy a new cell phone when you can get a refurbished one at a fraction of the price? Refurbished can mean a number of different things and eBay does not clearly define the term. We want you to be as educated as possible when making your decision to purchase from us. We have 2 different sub categories for our refurbished phones.

When our report card shows "A+ / Refurbished" - These phones are fully refurbished cell phones and will actually look like new. In fact, most sellers on ebay who are advertising phones as new, are actually selling refurbished phones. Most people can not tell the difference. These phones have been fully tested under our strict guidelines, reset to factory setting, and the entire housing has been changed, so the phone looks and performs like a new one. There will be minute scratches if any at all.

When our report card shows "A / Refurbished" - These phones will be partially refurbished and the cell phone can have several parts of the phone replaced with newer pieces. Examples would be, an LCD being replaced to a new one, or the housing being replaced with a newer looking housing. In general, these phones may have minimal scratches but generally if the phone has scratches they must be looked at closely to find them. These phones will be fully tested and must pass our inspection guidelines to be fully functional - guaranteed.

Overall, our "refurbished" phones are the result of non-functioning or beat up used phones that have minor issues such as a broken housing, LCD, speaker or a keyboard issue that we can replace in our facilities with new pieces to make the phone function and look like new again. This is a great way to save a bundle on a cell phone with all the features you are looking for and there is no need to extend your contract .

Used - As the name states, these phone will be previously used. In general if you do not care an exceptional amount about the cosmetic look of the phone and you want to save a lot of money, than a phone in Used condition is right for you. These phones have completely passed our functionality tests and are guaranteed to be fully functional. We provide stock photos of the phones we sell, but work hard to accurately describe what the phone will look like so there will be no surprises when you receive the phone.

When our report card shows "B" / Used - The phone will show regular usage and will have noticeable scratches on the housing (outside of phone). The LCD of the phone will be in good shape and overall the phone will be in "good" condition. Good is not to be confused with great or excellent. Phones have passed our strict 7 point inspection guidelines and are guaranteed to be fully functional.

When our report card shows "C" / Used - The phone will show heavy usage and will have scratches on the housing (outside of phone). The LCD of the phone most likely will have scratches and overall the phone will be in "fair" condition. Fair is not to be confused with good, great or excellent. As with all of our phones, this condition phone will also be fully tested and must meet our strict 7 point inspection guidelines.

Our Used phones are great bargains! If you do not mind how your phone will look cosmetically or if you plan to cover the phone with a case anyways, you can save a ton of money compared to a new version.

TheBlueDot does not sell Refurbished Cell Phones as New - Period.

We test every model phone before leaving our doors and each phone must pass our 7 point inspection process before ending up in your hands. We stand behind all of our products with our 30 day satisfaction guarantee in the unlikely event that there was a flaw in the phone we may have overlooked. In addition to our 30 day guarantee, we also provide the option on all of our phones for an extended warranty through Square Trade which can cover our refurbished phones for up to 3 years and used phones up to 2 years. Rest assured if you have any issue whatsoever in the first 30 days, we stand behind our products 100%!

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I hope you found this guide helpful and check out my full line of new and refurbished cell phones on eBay on The Blue Dot web store on eBay

Want to learn more about this company? - Check out TheBlueDot eBay about me page