i know this seems illogical, but how can i verify if my bold 9900 is original?

i ask this question because of two main reasons.
1. i bought it from eBay
2. in more than 80% of the reviews i have read (not only in eBay), people have written that it doesn't feel like an original and that most of them are counterfeit BlackBerrys. specifically BB bold 9900.

Before purchasing the phone, i contacted the seller and this is what he told me - " its an original phone imported from another country. i do business with importers and exporters and to save money, they ditch the accessories and the original box and only import the phone and the battery. after going through customs, they unlock the device, put it in a box with all the third party accessories and sell it."

i was very sceptical doing business with this seller but of all the other people i contacted, this was the better choice.

so please help me in figuring out if the device i have is the real deal.
i received the package a couple of hours back. still haven't opened it.

i don't know what part of the phone is important to check its authenticity. i shall wait for you to guide me. i will upload any photo you tell me to of the device i have with me.

if it helps, im from India and i ordered it from eBay India. i paid around $65 for the phone.

You have pictures of phone?

A link to the listing or eBay item number also help.


Posted from my  Passport

yes i have the phone with me. tell me what to photograph and ill send it right away

Originally Posted by littlebuff

A link to the listing or eBay item number also help.


Posted from my  Passport

IMPORTED BLACKBERRY 9900 BOLD 4- BLACK - UNLOCKED - SEALED PACK - 100% NEW- COD | eBay

this is the link

Take a picture of the front and back. Remove the battery door cover and battery, take a picture of the white sticker that should be there. With this information we can tell if it is real or a fake.

Sent From My Legacy Model  9900

Originally Posted by Ighishi

i ask this question because of two main reasons.
1. i bought it from eBay
2. in more than 80% of the reviews i have read (not only in eBay), people have written that it doesn't feel like an original and that most of them are counterfeit BlackBerrys. specifically BB bold 9900.

Before purchasing the phone, i contacted the seller and this is what he told me - " its an original phone imported from another country. i do business with importers and exporters and to save money, they ditch the accessories and the original box and only import the phone and the battery. after going through customs, they unlock the device, put it in a box with all the third party accessories and sell it."

i was very sceptical doing business with this seller but of all the other people i contacted, this was the better choice.

so please help me in figuring out if the device i have is the real deal.
i received the package a couple of hours back. still haven't opened it.

i don't know what part of the phone is important to check its authenticity. i shall wait for you to guide me. i will upload any photo you tell me to of the device i have with me.

if it helps, im from India and i ordered it from eBay India. i paid around $65 for the phone.

If it's not original, it's probably a refurb, which really isn't a problem. They re-use a good screen and motherboard and replace the housing and keyboard. You can find out if the motherboard was previously used by doing the BUYR test described in this post: BUYR Test.

I really think a refurb with OEM parts for $65 is a great deal. My 9900 is completely built of parts from eBay, and I don't think there were many aftermarket parts produced by third party suppliers. Everything I've bought appears to be OEM (and often Verizon or AT&T branded). It seems that they're surplus production parts. Some sellers also have a lot of parts with defects (factory seconds?), but they'll always send you a replacement if you ask.

Ah well, I was expecting a listing on eBay.us
Now, for the story they told you, it did not go well with the listing, because if they repack after import it should not be sealed box. And if they test before shipping meaning opening up the box, it should not be sealed box.
For the phone, as sesp9 has written, take picture of the front, the back, and the label inside the battery bay. The label can be black or white depending on the models/carriers. Don't remove or move the screen sticker and other stickers before taking these pictures. And try not to remove any of them until you are happy with the phone.
Start up the phone and see if any carrier logo comes up during the start up sequence.
After the phone is on, goes to the main screen and press the combination of keys Alt Shft H, and get the vendor ID number in the next screen, as well as the IMEI and PIN number.
Google for the vendor ID number to find a corresponding carrier and match it to the carrier logo on start up.
Match the phone IMEI and PIN number with those on the UPC label in the battery bay.
If you want to dig more into IMEI and PIN number, google for how to access engineering screen. The engineering screen contains phone information (IMEI and PIN) and I haven't heard that it could be changed.
Go to Options-Device-Device and Status Information. Key in BUYR (will not display on screen) and scroll down to the bottom to look for Data usage and Call time.
On the hardware part, lift up the chin (the smiley piece of plastic right below the keyboard). It is glue in place so it take a bit of finger nail sliding around before lifting up. On the left there should be a screw with a white tamper sticker on top. If it is broken or is not there, the phone has been disassembled before. If it is there, the phone probably has not been opened up yet - I posted a picture of this in the 'Is it too late' thread. 'Probably' here because I'd seen these tamper stickers being sold in large quantity by some Chinese.
If you are really picky, get a magnifying glass and inspect the screw on the right for any mark and scratch. Fresh screw should be free of such, whereas in the shop, the screw drivers often have harder tips, or they just are not careful enough nor having proper equipment and thus leave marks on the screw heads most of the time.

Well, I think I've emptied my bag of trick here. Let us hear of your finding.

Posted from my  Passport

Originally Posted by Shuswap

If it's not original, it's probably a refurb, which really isn't a problem. They re-use a good screen and motherboard and replace the housing and keyboard. You can find out if the motherboard was previously used by doing the BUYR test described in this post: BUYR Test.

I really think a refurb for $65 is a great deal. My 9900 is completely built of parts from eBay, and I don't think there were many aftermarket parts produced by third party suppliers. Everything I've bought appears to be OEM (and often Verizon or AT&T branded). It seems that they're surplus production parts. Some sellers also have a lot of parts with defects (factory seconds?), but they'll always send you a replacement if you ask.

UPDATE:

after unboxing the phone, i noticed a couple of things.
overall the phone is nice and clean. but the back panel is not the usual carbon fibre finish. its just hard rubber/plastic kind of material.
second thing i noticed is that there's no NFC.
another problem im facing is that when i connect to a wifi, im not able to browse. every time i open browser, i get an error mssage saying "unable to connect to the internet, please try again later"
but the wifi is working fine on other devices. this blackberry connects to my wifi all fine but theres no internet.
please help

UPDATE:

after unboxing the phone, i noticed a couple of things.
overall the phone is nice and clean. but the back panel is not the usual carbon fibre finish. its just hard rubber/plastic kind of material.
second thing i noticed is that there's no NFC.
another problem im facing is that when i connect to a wifi, im not able to browse. every time i open browser, i get an error mssage saying "unable to connect to the internet, please try again later"
but the wifi is working fine on other devices. this blackberry connects to my wifi all fine but theres no internet.
please help

Well it's definitely not new with that back door. It sounds like a really low-end refurb. I'd be arranging a return the minute I saw a non-standard part.

I don't know what the problem with the WiFi might be.




Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by Shuswap

Well it's definitely not new with that back door. It sounds like a really low-end refurb. I'd be arranging a return the minute I saw a non-standard part.

I don't know what the problem with the WiFi might be.




Posted via CB10

the keyboard also has arabic letters on it. maybe its from Saudi or somewhere and maybe thats why the back panel is not a carbon fibre one? im just guessing.

Well, the ad said 'new and original'. The pictures show a standard keyboard and a regular carbon fiber battery door. I'd return it based on those misrepresentations alone, but you could also try that BUYR test.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by Ighishi

i ask this question because of two main reasons.
1. i bought it from eBay
2. in more than 80% of the reviews i have read (not only in eBay), people have written that it doesn't feel like an original and that most of them are counterfeit BlackBerrys. specifically BB bold 9900.

Before purchasing the phone, i contacted the seller and this is what he told me - " its an original phone imported from another country. i do business with importers and exporters and to save money, they ditch the accessories and the original box and only import the phone and the battery. after going through customs, they unlock the device, put it in a box with all the third party accessories and sell it."

i was very sceptical doing business with this seller but of all the other people i contacted, this was the better choice.

so please help me in figuring out if the device i have is the real deal.
i received the package a couple of hours back. still haven't opened it.

i don't know what part of the phone is important to check its authenticity. i shall wait for you to guide me. i will upload any photo you tell me to of the device i have with me.

if it helps, im from India and i ordered it from eBay India. i paid around $65 for the phone.

Contact BlackBerryHelp on Twitter and inquire about your device imei and pin. They can give you the best answer you are here looking for.

Originally Posted by Shuswap

Well, the ad said 'new and original'. The pictures show a standard keyboard and a regular carbon fiber battery door. I'd return it based on those misrepresentations alone, but you could also try that BUYR test.

Posted via CB10

i performed the buyr test and this is what i got..

Data usage: 7606.2K
Voice usage: 2:16
IT policy: enabled

what does this tell us?

IT policy enabled may be the reason for non working browser, if the policy block the phone from accessing the internet.
Not able to browse may also happen due to personal OS setting. I used to block my son's Blackberry from accessing the internet by removing certain deamon file from the ROM.
The strangest thing is that data usage and call time are displayed when IT policy is enabled. Normally, when IT policy is enabled, data usage and call time would not show, and vice versa.

The rubber back alone is enough for a return case. All original black 9900s come with carbon fiber patterned back.

It's a poorly refurbished phone.

Posted from my  Passport

amazon.ca list few "new" 9900. 141 each.

Originally Posted by littlebuff

IT policy enabled may be the reason for non working browser, if the policy block the phone from accessing the internet.
Not able to browse may also happen due to personal OS setting. I used to block my son's Blackberry from accessing the internet by removing certain deamon file from the ROM.
The strangest thing is that data usage and call time are displayed when IT policy is enabled. Normally, when IT policy is enabled, data usage and call time would not show, and vice versa.

The rubber back alone is enough for a return case. All original black 9900s come with carbon fiber patterned back.

It's a poorly refurbished phone.

Posted from my  Passport

oh my
how do i DISABLE IT policy? another strange thing is that ill be able to browse internet when i switch on wifi and data services. at first i thought it was from my carrier. but i was able to browse even when i turned off the carrier. is this normal?

usually I have seen "new" 9900's for around $100 but a few examples bottom out around $75.

I am noticing the Cdn prices FINALLY going down and it took long enough. The electronics store where I bought my unlocked 9900 charged $90 but now they are $75.

-sent from a beautiful Bold 9900