Vast majority are refurbished. But I was surprised to get the one from IMG, just checked the website and they dont have any left in stock.

So Im gonna recap my buy, review it, or whatever it's called.

Buying
So I bought it from eBay, here is the link, from ordinaryworld2009 who is a top-rated seller with 99,7% positive reviews from Hong Kong.

He seemed pretty genuine and very service-minded. His professionality was above what I was expecting, he even sent me a picture of the package before he shipped it and basically started contact right from the moment I bought the phone till it was shipped to make me feel safe. I knew it was not a real nokia n900, but from what I could read from reviews it had the same specs and same OS as the n900 and was fully operational.

Shipping
I was a little scared that shipping was gonna take a month+ but I got it in 6 days. I did not pay any shipping fee as advertised though I can read other customers has had problem with this service of his.

As an extra service he even marked the phone as a gift and valued it at 15$ as to avoid customs and taxation, without me requesting it. This could only hurt him, because if the phone was damaged during transport he would only receive 15$ from his insurance. I repeat, I did not request this, nor mention or hint it to him, this was very generous of him. But I can not promise or say he will do the same for you. This was not advertised anywhere so I do not know why he did it, but Im happy he did.

The whole progress of shipping could be monitored on hongkongpost.com, which ofc was a day behind on updating the progress - as is the usual with these services -, which made me feel very safe.

Unpacking/Using Phone
So it's here, I pick it up, get home, put the package on the table and take a deep breather.

I open the package and its wrapped in a 1cm thick wrap of some kind to protect it. When I get the box out I can see it's the fake version and I get a little disappointed, but hey, it should still be fully operational and work as the nokia n900 according to the reviews I read. So I open the box and inside is a letter saying he opened the box to do something with the battery so it wont be seen at the post office 'cos "it's illegal to ship batteries" (my *****), which get me a little scared. He also says in the letter to rate him 5 stars on ebay and contact him if I have any negative experience before rating so he can resolve them for me, which was nice (He actually seems pretty obsessed with eBay stars, anyone who gives him negative feedback he will instantly write to and try to resolve their problem).

Inside the box is: The phone, the battery, a charger, a VERY small usb connecter (probably 10 cm long), a english manual, an ovi CD and some earpieces. I instantly take out the phone, put in my sim, put in the battery and try to boot it. BAM, the phone goes into a bootloop. Battery was flat, D.O.A. ****, I get on #maemo and get a TON of help from all the nice users there, psycho_oreos, lava_croft, keiro and others but it wont boot. So I order a new battery and order a pizza to swallow my sadness. I put it in the charger and go to sleep. Next morning I try to boot it again and lo' and behold, it has generated enough power to boot and it works! So now Im just waiting for my new battery.

The OS is maemo5, I installed CSSU and it works, I installed rootsh and it works, I installed pierogi and it works, I installed MBarcode scanner and it works, basically everything seems to work. The phone is fast, responsive and looks 100% like a real n900, both hardware side and software side. Also while on #maemo and trying to fix it we flashed the kernel with flasher-3.5 and it worked. It comes with a stylus, everything is as it's supposed to be as far as I know. I have only used it for a few hours, and it's my first smartphone and first n900, but everything seems to work perfectly and as it's supposed to. However, we'll see in a week if it's still functional. This is the end of my review so far, I'll add more if I encounter any problems or positive experiences.

Just curious, how can maemo5 run on a "fake" n900? Or maybe it's genuine in the first place?

I dont really know a whole lot of this stuff, but since the original N900's were produced down there it probably wouldnt be hard for them to get their hands on the software and hardware specs and reproduce them. All I meant by fake was "not produced by nokia". So, atleast from what I know with my limited knowledge of these things, a fake gucci bag could be exactly the same as a real gucci bag. Yes, most of the time fake articles has materiels swopped out for cheaper ones, but it is not implied that would be the case for it to be fake.

Have you seen this: www.ebay.com/gds/Fake-Nokia-N900-Now-Has-Surfaced-Updated-01-20-2010/10000000014391506/g.html? Is your N900 like the ones described?
But anyway, since you are running the Maemo5 and even installed CSSU, I think it's enough proof that it is genuine although with fake accessories.
And the N900 is designed in Finland and made in Korea, not China.
Congrats on your purchase.

Not at all. The fakes ones is clearly not maemo, you can see that from both the text, the placement of things like battery status and the "ok" & "back" button. Mine looks exactly like the real thousands of n900's I have drooled over on youtube for years.

Thank you :-) Guess I got lucky.

I still have a genuine N900, sealed in the factory box, and I can guarantee you it most likely will have a flat or near flat battery. Yet it is genuine.

I also have yet to find a satisfactory explanation (including descriptions of the chemistry and physics involved) on how flat lithium ion batteries degenerate faster when left uncharged for prolongued periods. And, how does storing a N900 for a long time without a battery hurt it in any way?

This is basically an excuse to justify sending an open box. The box is going to be open (and problably it won't even be the original Nokia box) because these N900s are actually refurbished or fake.

Another thing they do to justify this and not tip unsuspecting buyers is "include presents" in the box. These companies (mostly Chinese) make a lot of money fraudulently selling as new devices which just aren't. I think eBay should crack down on them but they won't because eBay just cares about making money.

Hello, can you to check your revision type in xterminal:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

too:
look here : http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=90556

you have got a good refurbished n900 i think and they are not bad usually damaged n900s are repaired with one another or with parts available and then given a shiny casing then nothing wrong with that as long as its perfect and n900s arent produced anymore so let them revive a few thousands if you want to check you need to open it ... Just enjoy man you have a shiny n900 deliverd anyway i am also using a self refurbished n900 btw check my thread