[Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] alex_tytn:
I have 2 questions about an S5 that I bought on eBay.

How can I tell if it is a refurbished/reconditioned/used model?

Does what the seller told me sound fishy?

#1. Refurb?

There used to be an RTN menu on other Samsung devices -- you could get to it by dialing ##786# or *#*#786#*#* but that doesn't work on my G900H S5. You also used to be able to get to it by adding com.android.hiddenmenu to some custom launcher but that doesn't work on my S5.

There are many working hidden configuration/diagnostic dialer options that work for me like the service menu - *#0*# But that's not telling me what I want to know.

Any advice to definitely confirm that my device is a reconditioned, refurbished or used phone? Can I tell if it was ever registered on Google Play?

#2. Fishy eBay seller?

Cutting to the chase...

I bought an SM-G900H (Galaxy S5 Octacore) from an eBay seller with 20 to 1 positive reviews and thousands of sales so I was feeling good that everything would be OK. Unfortunately, the phone was clearly used and the seller told me that it was not but that this is normal for the box to be opened so that the phone can be checked for counterfit and/or carrier lock.

Have you ever heard of this? Does this make sense?

I'm not posting the sellers name because I don't want to disparage their reputation in case it is just me being paranoid.

The phone arrived and I noticed that the one sticker looked a little funny and it was already cut so I proceeded with extreme caution.

The first thing that I noticed was that the protective cover on the front had an air pocket. (This is my 4th S5 so I'm an expert at unboxing by this point.)

Next, I turned it over and notice that the protective cover on the back had been off for sure -- in fact it was even torn!

But I went ahead and put in the battery without touching the protective covers. The phone powered up 63% battery and went straight to the home screen -- no prompts to set language, nothing. IT WAS ALREADY SET UP!

Finally, I looked closer and noticed that the "do not accept if this seal is broken" seal had actually been cut and someone carefully put another larger sticker on top to cover that up.

So, I requested a return from eBay and Jenny called to explain that my phone was 100% new and that it is normal for foreign phones to be opened by customs (later changed to "Samsung distribution center") in order to "make sure they are not counterfeit." I asked her about all the items and she answered the questions by talking and talking. She told me that phones need to be checked to make sure they are not carrier locked. I countered each with more questions and she told me more stuff.

I asked about the sticker and how customs would have similar Samsung stickers to use when they opened the boxes. She changed to the "Samsung distribution center" and said it was normal. I said that it was a foreign phone so Samsung USA doesn't have anything to do with it, right? She changed the subject to ask if I knew about Beats headphones and told me that there is a huge counterfeit market for these and that all of them are opened.

I asked why it was already set up -- she said they needed to start it completely in order to check the carrier lock.

I asked why the protective cover would need to be removed to turn on the phone and check it as I didn't need to do this to turn it on.

Our conversation went on like this for 17 minutes.

In the end, I said nothing but did actually feel a little better about keeping the phone then I went to bed and now it's a new day.

DOES THIS SOUND FISHY TO YOU?

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD SUCH A THING?

WHAT WOULD YOU ADVISE ME TO DO?