Seller recommendations

Watcher

Hey all, I'm trying to get a phone for graphene and can't seem to find a place that sells a pixel 6/6a that has an unlocked bootloader. Every seller I've reached out to (Backmarket, Ebay, Amazon) just tells me they have no way of knowing if the bootloader is unlocked before I purchase it. Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to buy a pixel 6/6a for sub $150-$200 that has the bootloader unlocked? I'm on a bit of a budget, so I can't swing much higher than that. Maybe another $50-$75 if I had to.

de0u

Watcher Keep in mind that the non-6a 6 devices are expected to hit EOL much earlier than the 6a devices: https://endoflife.date/pixel

That said, I had a good outcome twice on eBay, with large-volume sellers who described devices as "factory unlocked". But make sure the return policy is reasonable, and keep in mind that used hardware always involves some risk.

Watcher

de0u I appreciate it a lot. Do you have a link, if that's no trouble?

de0u

Watcher Do you have a link, if that's no trouble?

I don't really want to get into advertising for specific eBay sellers. But anybody with tens or hundreds of thousands of transactions and an approval rating above 90% and a good return policy would seem like a reasonable risk. To be clear, even a reputable seller might miss a defect every now and then, so the return policy and the return process matter.

Be sure to thoroughly test a device: test Bluetooth, test Wi-Fi, test the speakers, test the microphone, test the face sensor, test USB data transfer, test GPS, test all cameras, test the accelerometer, test the SIM tray, test NFC if you plan to use it... all right away.