Gnux, if the phone works, I assure you it's a real N900 unless it's obviously running Symbian or some knock-off OS, or obviously looks different from the pictures you've seen of N900s in other ways.

Just because the seller sells crap accessories with unknown condition phones doesn't mean the phones are fake - they might be, and early on when the N900 first came out there was at least one somewhat convincing-looking N900 immitation out there, but I don't think this guy's selling fake N900s. (Actually, I think this guy would if he had some, judging by his utter willingness to scam people - but I think it'd be harder to buy a fake N900 nowadays than a real one [because most people who bought them probably just threw them out or otherwise didn't bother reselling them.)

Like i said before, this sound like it was stolen, not a knockoff but not legit either.

I experienced the same problem from this seller. I received Nokia n900, even though phone looked new it was refurbished, many of the keys were not working, warranty check indicated it was out of warranty, battery was not charging. Be careful friends and don't buy from cellphoneforever ebay seller.

Does this guy sell other brands of mobiles?
Sounds to me like he has access to trade in devices (phones that people used prior to upgrading).
Or he's perched himself in the middle of the recycle chain. Normally, when you upgrade a phone, the dealer/supplier says they don't want the accessories, just the handset.

This guy sells all type of phones and accessories. Unfortunately, most of them are refurbished. I researched the company that debited my Paypal account and the description of that company indicated "they are resellers of refurbished phones." Cellphoneforever, YTshopping2008, Mabili Intl. Company Ltd. are all one. Don't deal with them. Pay more and buy new from reputed sellers, which are hard to find to buy N900 these days.

i always check the feedback and this seller's feedback would set alarm bells ringing, i wouldn't touch this seller with a barge pole. wonder how many times they've been reported?

Oh, great. I wish I'd seen this post about a week ago.

OH BTW I was able to recuperate full refund from the seller, seller was prompt in refunding, seller also refunded my return shipping. This is what I did. 1) contacted the seller and told him the defect in the phone, 2) immediately opened the eBay resolution case, 3) waited for seller to assure me that he will fully refund, including return shipping cost, 4) left a negative feedback on eBay ("Beware Buyer of Nokia N900, Seller is Selling Refurbished Phone Claiming as New"), 5) waited for seller to provide me the instructions to return the phone, 6) returned the phone via USPS priority international, (7) communicated to seller the total refund amount, 8) once the item was accepted by the USPS Seller immediately refunded the full amount. Every communication was done through "eBay message center." Seller requested me to change the feedback to positive, I did change the feedback to positive and simply indicated that seller resolved all issues and refunded promptly. On second thought I think I should have left my feedback as it is to warn others. If you are in a similar situation, please keep receipts of everything, just in case you have to dispute with eBay.

Thanks...that makes me feel better. I plan to record the unboxing, just in case.

Well, I received the phone and it seemed OK at first, though the packaging was unusual like the OP's (no manual, no video cable, an unreadable CD).

But now it won't charge or turn on. I've tried various things from this forum and elsewhere to try to get it to work, but nothing helps. I hope I'll be able to get a refund.