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I was cheated by eBay seller. Need to unlock Motorola Backflip. Read it please.

Hello there! I live in Argentina I bought a Motorola ATT supposelly "unlocked" by eBay. When the cellphone arrived home and I tried with an Argentina SIM card the phone was locked to ATT.
So I tried to buy an unlock code by eBay but code was not found.
Please can you help me? The imei is: 356693031939442
Really I need your help, it took me month to get the money to buy the phone and now I cant use it.
Thanks in advance!

A
mercadocel said:
Hello there! I live in Argentina I bought a Motorola ATT supposelly "unlocked" by eBay. When the cellphone arrived home and I tried with an Argentina SIM card the phone was locked to ATT.
So I tried to buy an unlock code by eBay but code was not found.
Please can you help me? The imei is: 356693031939442
Really I need your help, it took me month to get the money to buy the phone and now I cant use it.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't ebay. But couldn't you go through them to get your money back for false advertisment. Anways, good luck and i hope you get it unlocked.
Sent from my Eris using XDA App

I don't know how things work in Argentina, but I know here in the states, if you've been with your carrier long enough you can request an unlock code from them at no charge.

mercadocel said:
Hello there! I live in Argentina I bought a Motorola ATT supposelly "unlocked" by eBay. When the cellphone arrived home and I tried with an Argentina SIM card the phone was locked to ATT.
So I tried to buy an unlock code by eBay but code was not found.
Please can you help me? The imei is: 356693031939442
Really I need your help, it took me month to get the money to buy the phone and now I cant use it.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erisftw is right you should open a Dispute via PAPAL for False Advertising you will be able to get your money back as this is Frowned upon very strongly in ebay,unless you are of course happy with the phone

lufc said:
Erisftw is right you should open a Dispute via PAPAL for False Advertising you will be able to get your money back as this is Frowned upon very strongly in ebay,unless you are of course happy with the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^ Exactly what this guy said. CONTACT EBAY RIGHT AWAY!
CALL THEM ON THE PHONE. Say, "Item not as described". Tell them you want to escalate it to a claim. They will tell you to ship the item back and give them a tracking number, also get delivery confirmation. You will get your money back as soon as eBay gets delivery confirmation from the postal service.
Experience: Returned a touch screen acer laptop with dead zone in the touch screen when it was claimed to be 100% working
AND WHEN YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK... I have 2 Motorola backflips... I bought one unlocked, used it on T-Mobile for 2 days, and then saw AT&T was offering free backflips with new service. So now I'm on AT&T with a free Backflip, but I do have an unlocked Backflip sitting here as well. I'll sell it to you for $280 + shipping, via eBay. I bought it for $290 about 3 weeks ago. You should also use "Bing Cashback" to get 8% cash back on the "Buy it Now". PM me if you're interested.
The Backflip is the hottest phone ever.. Lol. Good choice.

lol i dont know about the backflip being "the hottest phone ever" but i guess to each their own right

If you bought something on eBay but didn't receive it or you received something that's significantly not as described, PayPal Buyer Protection can help.
PayPal Buyer Protection covers eligible transactions for the full purchase price plus original shipping charges. Some purchases -- like vehicles in the Motors category, capital equipment in the Business & Industrial category, and Real Estate -- aren't eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection.
To qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection:
Use PayPal to buy an eligible item on eBay.
Pay for the item with one payment. Items purchased with multiple payments aren't eligible.
Send your payment by clicking the Pay For It button on the eBay invoice or by clicking the Pay Now button on the eBay item page.
Let the seller know there's a problem with the transaction by opening a dispute in the Resolution Center within 45 days of making your payment. Then, escalate the dispute to a claim within 20 days of the date you opened the dispute.
Keep your PayPal account in good standing.
Find out more about PayPal Buyer Protection in our PayPal User Agreement.
You can report your problem in the PayPal Resolution Center or the eBay Resolution Center. Either way, you’ll receive the same coverage.
To find out how to report a problem on eBay, go to eBay and click "Resolution Center" at the bottom of any page.

The fastest way
I am not going to add anything useful to the conversation. BUT....
While the Paypal dispute resolution center is a great thing. I think the fastest and easiest way to go about this is to get a freaking code. He has the phone there, there's no need to reship wait and buy another and so on. That is if he can get a code... That was the question.

Open a dispute, or spend $2.15, its not that expensive
http://cgi.ebay.com/UNLOCK-Code-4-A...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item23086e6c8f

All you guys fail with your comments
I say he should ask him for the $3 to get a unlock code. He will probably say yes to avoid shipping costs of sending it back and the hassle of dealing with a return.

ebay
Hi,
I bought several times in Ebay from Argentina, I opened a dispute once and got my money back, but maybe, in this case, it's better to just unlock the phone in your hands.
Anyway, I'm willing to buy a phone, mainly for internet and email while traveling in Argentina. I want to buy an AT&T blackberry or similar. I know this unlocked phones do work for sms and calling, but I don't know if they work for Email and Internet or 3G: did you unlock your phone? does it work for Internet and Email?
Thanks

What is the difference with whole same name phones?

http://www.everbuying.com/Wholesale-Cell-Phones-b-22.html
Heres a little back story... my phone was stolen, I am with tmobile, I went into the store to replace the phone. Turned out since I had transferred from my contract to prepaid I still owed money on my contract so I wasnt covered with insurance, and they couldnt activate a new phone for me.
I called tmobile in the morning who helped straighten out my balance, but I didnt want to pay for a phone through air mail because I need the phone ASAP immediately. I had an HTC Amaze.
I went into the store where they told me they could still NOT activate me a phone, but they could add my new phone to my previous stolen phones pre paid plan. (its alot more complicated than this, but for the point of this threads sake...)
So basically if I bring in a phone they can activate my old plan and keep my old number. So I found this site http://www.everbuying.com/Wholesale-Cell-Phones-b-22.html but I do not know which phone is which because they are different names than the name brand phones.
I really really want the Galaxy S II from Samsung...or Nexus from Verizon... but which phone is close here? Which is worse? How can I find details of the best phone so I can get this situation straightened out, and get all of this horribke experience behind me?

Three words. Coun ter fit.
If not counterfeit, then if it looks too good to be true...........

85gallon said:
Three words. Coun ter fit.
If not counterfeit, then if it looks too good to be true...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.everbuying.com/product134739.html
http://www.everbuying.com/product111662.html
http://www.everbuying.com/product117369.html
These three are similar to the GSII Specs Hereut they all lack something. For one they are all 3G speeds. They wont let me buy the GSII at the store without paying full price so I am trying to find something close if not exact that is closer to my price range. They want $600 for the GSII at most I have like $400 and that is double what I prefer to pay...making payments is not a problem.
Here is something similar to the HTC Amaze but it has Android 4.0 on it. I was considering it but I really dont want the Amaze again...thats the one I just had that was stolen.
http://www.everbuying.com/product136232.html
Otherwise thanks for the feedback, I am getting my friend one of the cheap $40 iphones so I guess well find out how fake they are or real. + 1

Do not buy used phones: you are powerless!

So I know this type of discussion isn't really related to developing but since this forum was basically THE Android forum for me, I would like to get the word out here. I don't want another victim like me to happen; I hope this will help any future phone buyers from falling into the trap I did. This is going to be a long story but I hope I can clear up all this confusion about used phones, so strap in!
I bought an iPhone 4S last year from a guy on Craigslist; he offered to meet at an AT&T store to verify the clean IMEI and this action alone made me go against my gut instincts, which were telling me this guy looked kind of sketch. He was a white male in his late thirties, pot belly and dressed really sloppily; also had a slight hunch. But you can't judge a book by it's cover right? His story was that this was his wife's iPhone and that he sold his own a few days ago because he wanted a Samsung Galaxy S3; the phone had one more year on-contract and came with the original box so I knew it wasn't stolen. I gave him my $400 after inspecting the phone and left. Fast-forward to this week...
The phone was given to my dad to use on AT&T a month ago; I used the phone on T-Mobile for almost a year and nothing unusual came up. Just two weeks ago, my dad started getting messages saying "This device has been blocked from network use. Please call your service provider..." Not making much of it or even feeling any panic because I was that naive, I thought to myself "no way the previous owner would call in a year later to blacklist his phone. Who would even do that?" I called AT&T and after an hour, the representative was getting annoyed and said "I'll open up a case; wait three days." Three days pass and I had no word from them; I called in again and after another hour l found out my case was closed and got transferred to the supervisor. To sum up what he said: the phone was fine on T-Mobile until it was registered in the AT&T system, the owner can block a phone years down the line because the "30 days since it's loss" translates to "30 days since it's last been used by ANYONE," and that even if I have proof I bought the phone, only the original owner can remove it from the blacklist. So wireless carrier's have this huge hole in their policy that creates victims for people who buy phones secondhand and they honestly don't give a crap because it earns them money. I asked "so there is NOTHING to protect people like me? You can't even tell the police who this guy is?" He brushed me off and told me to call the police and open up a case, even if the police do get involved though, he said their company will stay quiet.
So I ended the call, speechless and dumbfounded. Lost, confused, and frustrated, I went to the police station in my city, but it turns out I lived outside the city limits so I had to call a dispatcher in another county; after the short conversation, the dispatcher told me to wait for an officer to call. The straightforward police officer, being much more friendly and understanding than the people at AT&T told me "since the phone wasn't actually stolen, it's a civil issue; the only thing you can do is try to find this guy and take it to court. We don't get involved in these kinds of matter. I know it's tough to accept but the wireless companies just want profit and this policy that creates victims like you gets them what they want. This happens all the time and us police officers can't do anything about it. I'm sorry for your loss and I really wish I could help but this is the truth; you're left to your own devices now. Whenever you buy a phone secondhand YOU TAKE A HUGE RISK!" I'm hung-up the the phone in a better mood than I was because someone actually had sympathy for what had happened to me. Left here with just an e-mail address, I knew there was no hope of finding this guy; this person that was a criminal in a moral sense, and yet was not in a legal sense. What this guy did, the police officer said it's COMPLETELY LEGAL!
So the best I could do was go on Craigslist again and find someone who wanted a phone with a bad IMEI for parts or use overseas; I guess luck and karma were on my side and this guy quickly responded, wanting to buy the phone for $200. It turns out he worked for a company that fixes phones and ships them overseas to sell. I knew this guy, who was in his late twenties and rotund, was trained in buying phones; he brought a toothbrush, SIM card remover, and various other tools to inspect the device. I was uneasy during and after the deal; left scarred and paranoid from the previous Craigslist experience. To show how paranoid I was, I even went to a bank teller, asking him to check if the money he gave me was fake. After this ordeal, I realized that spending that extra $300 to buy a brand new phone is worth it; all this stress, mental exhaustion, and time is worth saving by putting down that extra money.
But the problem wasn't over; I bought a T-Mobile HTC One on Swappa for myself when I gave my iPhone 4S to my dad, although from a trusted seller, I knew I could not risk it anymore. Even though I know this guy's name, address, PayPal account, and had proof of purchase, I was still powerless; the wireless and insurance companies don't care about the facts. The merit of facts flies out the window and all they do is put their fingers in their ears and scream "OUR POLICY!" But I remembered during the escapade with the AT&T supervisor, he said I could have transferred the ownership of the phone. To get my facts straight, I went to T-Mobile with all the evidence I had saying I bought this phone from Swappa; I didn't bother with the bottom-feeders and went straight to the manager. Guess what he said? "We can't tap into the system and transfer ownership of a phone since it's tied to a contract. The best we can do it make a note on YOUR account that you bought this phone; this won't prevent it from being blacklisted but it will help if you decide to escalate the issue to Asurion (the insurance company)." Now I thought to myself, "would Asurion even give a damn?" The answer: NO; no they would not. They would most likely try to push the responsibility to someone else and dismiss this huge hole that creates helpless victims because their business runs on customers "losing" their phones or getting it "stolen," and then paying them to replace it.
After all this time wasted trying to get to the bottom of things, I'm left with the cold hard truth: you WILL get burned if you buy a used phone and there is NOTHING you can do about it! NOTHING! The best you can do is to take matters into your own hands and sue; the companies don't care and the police can't help! Save yourself from what has happened to me; just spend that extra $300 to buy a new phone. It's worth every penny for that extra security because this world is full of people who will take advantage of you! I can already feel my idealism fading...

yorkies88888 said:
I bought an iPhone 4S last year from a guy on Craigslist.
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Click to collapse
I'm sorry this happened, but you purchased the phone off of craiglist!! You should of known better a simple google search would of told you about the dangers.

That was a long read but well worth it sorry that happened to you man, But i think recommending people not buy a second hand phone is somewhat extreme not everyone is a crook and are out to get you.
Anyway glad you were able to recoup half of the money back.

I often meet with someone on the way to sell me a second-hand mobile phone, I did not bother these people.

I bought my HTC one s from a local pawn shop. It was a fido phone which I unlocked and use on Telus network. So basically as long as you buy a phone which was not on the carrier you are going to use it on, then you are completely safe right?
Could you not have still switched that iPhone back to T-Mobile?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

350Rocket said:
I bought my HTC one s from a local pawn shop. It was a fido phone which I unlocked and use on Telus network. So basically as long as you buy a phone which was not on the carrier you are going to use it on, then you are completely safe right?
Could you not have still switched that iPhone back to T-Mobile?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.

Thanks for the info.. glad you told.the story. I know this now heh.. sorry for what happened
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the story.

I think it is pretty safe to buy second hand unlocked phone...
Sent via Tapatalk 2

yorkies88888 said:
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This applies to me as well. Without getting into too much detail: Purchased a late model android phone from Craigslist, an unlocked AT&T branded device and I use T Mobile. Fast forward until 2 weeks ago the phone would no longer make calls and gave me a specific error code which I forget now. Turns out that code meant "stolen or lost device" and it would no longer work on any US cellular networks.
Someone who isn't me was unsuccessful in changing the number that shall remain nameless in order to get the phone working again.... that is all

yorkies88888 said:
Well the problem is that carriers in the U.S. are starting to share the same blacklist; AT&T, T-Mobile, and the other smaller wireless companies under them share the same list. Once you get blacklisted on one carrier, you're blacklisted by most now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i am living in europe, so this doesnt really bother me, yet i am still curious: what if you buy a htc one (for example) that someone had with contract, and root it? Would it still be in a blacklist? And for the iphones: does a jailbreak do the trick to get the phone going again?
Also, sorry for your experiences :/
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my HTC MyTouch_4G_slide

Vauvenal7 said:
Now i am living in europe, so this doesnt really bother me, yet i am still curious: what if you buy a htc one (for example) that someone had with contract, and root it? Would it still be in a blacklist? And for the iphones: does a jailbreak do the trick to get the phone going again?
Also, sorry for your experiences :/
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my HTC MyTouch_4G_slide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Software modifications won't do anything as your IMEI has been blacklisted. The only way around that is a new motherboard.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

@ yorkie8888
*Interesting read, Sorry to hear what happened, everyone else, I'm from London UK and was wondering if anyone else had experienced anything similar to yorkie here in the UK?
Sent from my Revolutionary Htc One X

Anyone know if this affects Canada the same? For example using an unlocked fido/rogers phone on Telus. Do they share a blacklist too?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

This I feel has to be said:
Your spent $400 on a USED iPhone?
Buying used phones entails some downsides, like not getting to claim warranty, and this blacklisting thing is really sad, but, meh, that's why we buy them cheap.
Also, I feel the lesson here is, take precautions when buying second-hand, for instance, leave the phone unused for 31+ days. Buy a bat and work out. Take incriminating photos of the seller, etc.
Anyway isn't it possible -although illegal, I know- to change your IMEI?
Seems to be "common" losing/changing it when flashing ROMs.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks for the info
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app

Thanks for sharing this info.

So what is the point of someone blacklisting a phone a year later? Do they get a insurance claim or something.
I have bought used sprint phones for years, but now that I am using a phone (tmobile) with a sim card/imei it seems that you are more likely to get screwed.
Does swappa and PayPal not protect against this issue? And if not what the hell is swappa charging the customer $10/transaction for?

I am almost positive I got this same error a couple of years ago on a phone purchased directly from AT&T. It was a bad SIM card. I wasn't able to make calls or anything. They replaced the SIM and it worked. So for those who buy a used phone and get that error, check your SIM card first.

I've been buying and selling used phones for the last 2 years and never had an issue. I've don't buy off craigslist though, I stick to swappa or ebay where you have some protection via paypal. Yes you always run the risk of someone reporting the device lost/stolen after the sale, but that's why you only buy from reputable/rated sellers and skip on anything that looks too good to be true.
I'm sorry to hear you got screwed on your iphone, but I wouldn't consider your experience the norm. As for the warranty/insurance issue on your other phone, that's just how it is, do your research. The warranty only applies to the original buyer of the device (when bought through an authorized retailer). Same with insurance, you can only add it in a certain time frame when you've bought the phone from an authorized retailer.
However, some carries do have an "open enrollment" where you can add insurance to your device regardless of when/where you bought it. Verizon actually has it going on right now through Dec 2.

question re possible stolen phone

i have been offered a 2nd hand phone at a very good price, however the person offering the phone is not shall we say the most honest person in the world. if i were to buy this phone and shove a sim into it and use it could it
a. be locked at a later date
b. tracked
c. is there anything i could do in the way of rooting or something in order to avoid this.
many thanks

The answer would be to not buy the phone. I received an iPhone as payment once and I called to see if it was legit. It was stolen. I contacted the og owner and there was a huge fiasco with the cops and how the owner thought i was the one who stole the phone. If I had stolen it I certainly wouldn't have tried to return it. Long story short. Don't buy stuff that could potentially be stolen or lost and always check everything out before hand.
Sent from my D5503 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Unfortunately the ESN or electronic serial number CA be blocked by any of the providers and that means phone blocking which suuuuucks! What I have done in the past when I have received questionable devices I have called the provider and asked them to verify that the phone has a clean ESN before I paid for it or allowed it to be used as payment for services rendered. Most of the time if you play stupid and tell the provider that you bought the phone and were totally unaware that it had a bad ESN, they will usually send you the same model if you ask and tell them that you are going to send them the stolen one. There have been a couple of times they haven't done that and I've been stuck with the bad phone and in that case I used those as scrap and just cannibalize the parts to fix other phones.
I hope this helps you but if you have any doubt that it is stolen I would ask them to pay you with something that won't bring the cops to your door.
Sent from my LG-D950 using xda app-developers app

I used those as scrap and just cannibalize the parts to fix other phones

Don't buy it, when you buy you support robbery, I was robbed once so I know the feeling , if you want a good deal buy a nexus 5

People selling their upgrade S7 Edges on ebay

I don't get people buying other people's contract upgrade phones on ebay. All of them are network locked, and not just that. With some of the networks, they own the phone for the first 6 months so you're selling someone else's property. If the person selling the phone stops paying his bill, some networks have been known to block/blacklist phones, so the guy who bought it is stuck with a nice expensive paper weight.
Plus they pay nearly exactly the same for it than it would have cost to just buy an unlocked, sim free phone directly from Samsung.
I did a bit of searching and found mine with 20% off, brand new and unlocked.

Biggenz said:
I don't get people buying other people's contract upgrade phones on ebay. All of them are network locked, and not just that. With some of the networks, they own the phone for the first 6 months so you're selling someone else's property. If the person selling the phone stops paying his bill, some networks have been known to block/blacklist phones, so the guy who bought it is stuck with a nice expensive paper weight.
Plus they pay nearly exactly the same for it than it would have cost to just buy an unlocked, sim free phone directly from Samsung.
I did a bit of searching and found mine with 20% off, brand new and unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only goes for the US... For example European devices are not carrier locked... I get a new Smartphone every year through my provider so I will sell a one year old flagship or the new flagship every 12 months...
But if it comes to the US most times it is fraud somehow.

hlenforcer said:
That only goes for the US... For example European devices are not carrier locked... I get a new Smartphone every year through my provider so I will sell a one year old flagship or the new flagship every 12 months...
But if it comes to the US most times it is fraud somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the UK and every upgrade phone here is network locked.

Biggenz said:
I don't get people buying other people's contract upgrade phones on ebay. All of them are network locked, and not just that. With some of the networks, they own the phone for the first 6 months so you're selling someone else's property. If the person selling the phone stops paying his bill, some networks have been known to block/blacklist phones, so the guy who bought it is stuck with a nice expensive paper weight.
Plus they pay nearly exactly the same for it than it would have cost to just buy an unlocked, sim free phone directly from Samsung.
I did a bit of searching and found mine with 20% off, brand new and unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol...a carrier cannot blacklist the phone for someone not paying the bill. Stop spreading these false accusations.

shollywood said:
Lol...a carrier cannot blacklist the phone for someone not paying the bill. Stop spreading these false accusations.
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Click to collapse
Why don't you have a read of this before you make anymore smart arse comments. Particularly message 8.
https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Apple...-that-is-locked-to-EE-and-want-to/td-p/248111

shollywood said:
Lol...a carrier cannot blacklist the phone for someone not paying the bill. Stop spreading these false accusations.
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Click to collapse
Oh, they most certainly can if the phone itself is under contract / not paid off.
It happens all the time in the US, so you are just completely wrong.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

shollywood said:
Lol...a carrier cannot blacklist the phone for someone not paying the bill. Stop spreading these false accusations.
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Click to collapse
Uh you don't know what you're talking about. I am an authorized dealer for MetroPCS, I see it happen every other day.
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