Trust ebay sellers?

[JKLaud]

Yeah, they have a 24,690 positive review rating. So does AT&T but, having worked for them from Tier 1 calls on up to patrolling hotcalls in my old T/S call center, I question anything that sounds too good to be true. A new(other) 920 for $200 falls under that particular umbrella.

I'm fairly solid on desktop and home networking security but admittedly clueless on phone/tablet platforms. I've seen that there is no AV/FW listed for Win-phone due to Microsoft's sandbox tactics. Is there a way to clean-boot a 920 I buy via ebay just to make sure or am I forced to depend upon the seller's "say so" that their phone is clean?

Thanks in advance

 

[xandros9]

Yeah, they have a 24,690 positive review rating. So does AT&T but, having worked for them from Tier 1 calls on up to patrolling hotcalls in my old T/S call center, I question anything that sounds too good to be true. A new(other) 920 for $200 falls under that particular umbrella.

I'm fairly solid on desktop and home networking security but admittedly clueless on phone/tablet platforms. I've seen that there is no AV/FW listed for Win-phone due to Microsoft's sandbox tactics. Is there a way to clean-boot a 920 I buy via ebay just to make sure or am I forced to depend upon the seller's "say so" that their phone is clean?

Thanks in advance

Of course, eBay sellers are human, with the goods and bads. But I'd say that many positive reviews is at least a good thing to go off of. Assuming they aren't bogus.
It could potentially be a mistake, there was a thread some time ago about someone listing a Lumia 520 as a 920. Whether it was malicious or simply not knowing better is not clear.

I would say that deal is very good and would probably spring at it. Make sure the pictures line up! But be prepared at the risk you've taken, you've shifted the cost from the price tag to risk.

When a phone is clean, it probably means that the phone's ESN (unique serial number) is clean. Meaning it has not been flagged as stolen or otherwise has unpaid bills to its name and can be used as normal. (flagged/blacklisted ESN = no cellular functionality)
When a Windows Phone is hard reset, it means everything except the core system apps and some manufacturer and carrier goodies baked in will remain. (Even some of those are uninstallable)
So you can rely on the knowledge a hard reset Windows Phone (and typically most other reputable phones) is as clean as it gets.
But be careful its not stolen or otherwise disabled, perhaps you can ask for the ESN and test it at a website that checks those things.

 

[worldspy99]

If the phone is not on the Let's get started page, your best bet is to go to settings>about>reset and wipe the phone clean and start. Note that the 920 does like getting stuck on spinning gears when being reset this way so better read up on Nokia Software for retail if you need to get out of the spinning gears. Good luck.