Love my bolt so much i'm buyin another one! Help me shop

[CaptainObvious]

So, as opposed to everyone else who can't wait to get rid of their bolt for whatever slightly upgraded phone they pay full retail for, i love the crap out of mine. And my girlfriend is taking notice. So i'm on a mission to go out and buy a used bolt on craigslist for her.

I've never bought used before. What do i need to look for? Should i meet whoever i buy from at a verizon store so we can check the esn? Any obvious red flags that the phone i buy might be defective or stolen? I've seen a few craigslist posts where they don't include a charger. This just seems odd to me like they yanked it from an old lady's hands on the street and since they didn't have time to ask the old lady for her charger, listed it without one.

Is there anyway to go through the unactivated phone for sale real quick to find any bugs/dealbreakers? Do i check if it's rooted and would it be a pro or a con? Hardware things i should look for?

 

[dragonsamus]

I would suggest meeting at a VZW store and making sure it'll activate on your line without issues. Check the water marks to make sure they have not been activated. Find out if its rooted. With regards to it being rooted being a plus or a minus is up to you. Do you know how to install custom roms? If not, being rooted won't be good because if its stock and rooted and if the update pushes to it then the phone could possibly become bricked.

 

[CaptainObvious]

How can I tell if Its rooted? And no. For it being my girlfriends future phone I wouldnt be interested in the root

 

[dragonsamus]

The easiest way would be by asking them. Then power the phone off. Next, hold the volume down button and press power while holding volume down. It'll boot to the Hboot screen. If it says "s off" that means it was messed with. Good luck.

 

[Mskgreenel]

I sold my old BB Storm on Craigslist and the person who bought it from me wouldn't pay until he called VZW to make sure everything was legit. Which was understandable. He activated the phone right from where we were.

 

[metropolitim]

I'm nuts about mine, and like you, am glad I got it a month ago, and would happily buy another if I needed one.

Don't forget that you can get one for a PENNY at Amazon, with free two-day shipping. You can also do all the activation stuff at Amazon too. Pretty slick.