Bill Kearney wrote:
>> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
>> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer, and
>> learned.....
>
> Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop it
> off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.
>
> I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't from
> that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to that store
> instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.

I found a cell phone in the street once, and it was a real pain to get
it back to the owner. First, he had nothing identifying who owned it,
i.e. no "Home" entry in the phone book. Second, it was a T-Mobile phone,
so when I took it home I couldn't make any calls, and had to go to a
place with T-Mobile coverage. I called a random entry in the contact
list and explained what had happened, and the person contacted the
owner. I forgot to tell them to have the owner call me on my own phone,
not the found phone, so I couldn't receive a call from the owner at
home, but luckily he called me while I was out somewhere else.

It would have never occurred to me to try to sell it on eBay. If I
couldn't find the owner then I would have returned it to one of the
carrier's stores so they could contact the owner some other way.