[T-Mobile LG G5 Questions & Answers] Skipjacks:
So I just talked to LG (mainly because you freaked me out and made me question the authenticity here) ;)

I used this number 800 243-0000

Took about a minute to get to a real person. He tried to give me lots of superficial info until I said I wanted him to look up the IMEI then he was glad to do that. And he ended up being really helpful.

The LG rep confirmed the February manufacture date for my IMEI. And he confirmed that LG had never refurbished the phone. (That doesn't mean it wasn't refurbished by someone other than LG, but if it was they did a hell of a good job as there isn't a scratch on it and it runs perfectly fine.) The LG rep also said that it wasn't concerning to him that the phone first booted with software version 20i even though the box says 20c because that small security patch probably updated on first boot without me noticing. All in all the LG rep sounded like he reasonably knew what he was talking about and he said my device looked fine on his end and nothing I said gave him any cause for alarm.

The phone had all the stickers on it. The clear anti scratch stickers on the sides and on the screen and on the little part at the bottom that holds the battery, and it came wrapped in the extra layer of clear plastic that wraps all the way around it. Third party refurbishers don't do all that. Only LG does, and per LG this has never been sent back to LG.

I mean I guess it could have been locally refurbished into brand new perfect working condition and repacked into the box and the security seal diligently pealed off and replaced....but that seems unlikely when it could just be sold as 'new other' or 'open box like new' for $10 cheaper.

I also asked the seller about it before I bought it and they said (this is cut and pasted from their response) "This is a brand new sealed model and is the T-mobile model of the phone which is also GSM unlocked. "

So the seller and LG have both told me it's new. and thus the warranty is still in tact.

If your seller was "buyspry" then we bought the same deal.

Also it's VERY worth mentioning that this eBay seller has dozens of phone auctions. Most of them are for used and refurbished phones. So the seller does a lot of refurbished sales. It seems odd that a seller would be truthful about some listings but lie about others.

---------- Post added at 02:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ----------

So this is interesting...

https://slickdeals.net/f/10327428-p...tphone-silver-200-fs-ebay?page=10#commentsBox

This is a discussion about a deal this same seller was offering on eBay. But this page of the discussion is about the authenticity of the phones. Some people are saying theirs came with the 20i software (without doing an update) and the security seal on the box cut and repaired with a clear circle sticker over the original security seal.

Mine definitely had that circular sticker over the security seal, but I checked it up pretty closely before cutting it and it looked like the original seal was intact. I guess I could have just not seen a slice in that.

People on Slickdeals seem to think that that might have been done to unlock the phone since it was sold as unlocked. But if the box was opened, it's illegal to sell the phone as 'brand new' and massively against eBay's rules.

I'm gonna reach back out to the seller.

---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:44 PM ----------

And now that I looked diligently at the seller's feedback I see this (dated after my purchase)

That's what everyone on the Slickdeals site was saying too. I found photos of the G5 t mobile box with the seal intact and none of them have that extra circular sticker.

So I've changed my mind. I think this phone was NOT new and sealed from LG but was sold as such anyway.

---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 PM ----------

And this got worse.

I called eBay to ask about my options here, since if it is fraud I would not trust the seller to refund properly or not play an additional scam like claim they didn't get the phone back.

The eBay rep slipped up and told me that they have multiple reports about the exact problems listed above about this seller. She's not supposed to say that. That's supposed to be proprietary eBay information. But she did.

So this phone does NOT appear to be brand new in a sealed box.