I got my renewed Note 9 specifically from the seller ReFoned. The phone is basically brand-new, I can't find a single blemish, the battery is great, and it has the original (bluetooth) S-Pen. I was confused about whether or not it was actually GSM unlocked, explained below.

As for the Note 9, I'm really glad I picked this phone. Upgrading from a Moto G3, this was quite an improvement. I'm also really satisfied by the S-Pen, I find myself using the phone significantly more often and for heavier-duty tasks, in part because I hate touch screens (oily hands all over the *screen*? insanity) but the pen means I never have to touch it. Plus, I find myself using it to draw pretty often, since the pressure sensitivity is pretty good even through a film screen protector. Two great bonuses about the Note 9 compared to newer models: No notch or holepunch in the screen for the camera, and it has a headphone jack.

The rest of the review is informative, in case you (like me) are confused by whether the phone is unlocked or not:

When I first put in my SIM card (from an AT&T reseller), I got the notification "SIM card is not from Verizon Wireless", and it came pre-installed with Verizon bloatware, despite me specifically choosing the "GSM Carriers" version of the phone.

However, all I had to do to get my SIM card to work was go into [Settings > Connections > Mobile networks > Access Point Names > Add], and then fill out the APN according to my carrier's information (just Google your carrier + APN to get the info for yours). Now it works fine with 4G LTE, calling, and texting, and I disabled all of the Verizon apps.

The phone is absolutely flawless now. I was worried before purchasing, but I picked out a seller that looked promising and replied to clear up negative reviews on their page, and I'm glad I did. I'm seriously impressed by how great the condition is, for way cheaper than buying new and much safer than buying used elsewhere.

I bought this product about a month and a half ago. So far I am very happy with my purchase. I upgraded to this phone from a Samsung S7 Active. I was very cautious buying a "Renewed" smart phone. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

But I want to make clear that the quality of the product could vary from seller to seller as it is not directly sold by Amazon but third party sellers who meet Amazon's specifications. My phone was sold by D'tech Mobile, and therefore your experiences my differ depending on your seller as other reviews suggest some are better than others in terms of quality. But keep in mind Amazon offers a decent 90 return/exchange policy.

Anyway, as for the phone cosmetics, this is a used product so I wasn't expecting a pristine phone. The phone had a few small dents on the corners indicating it had been dropped from a short height on occasion. The front and back glass were very clean and mostly free of scratches. There were a few very minor scratches near the edges of the screen that were only really visible if the light hit the phone at the right angle. The S-pen was also in good condition but it was obvious that the previous owner heavily used the pen based on the wear on the writing tip. But the pen was still very usable, and any defect was hardly noticeable. With the case and screen protector on, you wouldn't be able to notice any of these minor flaws. I considered dropping to 4 stars because of this, but reconsidered as it is a used product after all and doesn't affect the overall experience of daily use.

Now for the performance quality. The battery life was excellent. Part of the reason I upgraded was due to my previous phone's increasingly poor battery life. The battery life on this phone is excellent even used. I get a full day of heavy use, and two to two and a half days with casual use. The screen of the phone is top notch. The phone overall is very responsive. My previous phone had significant lag between inputs and seeing the action on screen. This phone lacks any such delay. The processor is very fast even with daily use though it is almost 2 generations old now. Side note: the phone is very large. I have large hands with long fingers and have issues reaching all corners of the screen with one hand. Keep that in mind if you have less than average sized hands.

Also, several other reviews have claimed that their product was not unlocked. My phone was unlocked and worked on my AT&T network. Keep in mind that this is a GSM phone, and therefore only works with GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile). Verizon and Sprint are CDMA carriers, and it seems most of the reviews that claimed in was not unlocked were for these carriers.

TL;DR: Great quality for the price. Don't expect a new product, but rather a product that performs like new. Your experience may differ based on seller.

Several years ago I bought a Galaxy Note 3. Great phone, never had a problem. Used it for several years. Everyone at work had an iPhone and since I work in IT, I thought I should get an iPhone so I would know how to use it. So I reluctantly shut down my Note3 and picked up an iPhone 6s. I really liked it but it was kind of small and somewhat limited- really nice phone overall though. What I liked most about the iPhone (besides the really slick GUI and the lightning cable) was that it was equipped with an NFC. I found I could use it to pay for just about everything. After a while though I grew tired of the whole iTunes thing and my eye began wandering. It landed on a MotoG7 which is really nice for a mid range phone. Runs crisply and reliably and has a lot of MOTO features that give it a very user friendly vanilla Android 9.0 experience. As of late, with the CoVid -19 onslaught, I began not really wanting to use my debit card and enter a PIN on some PIN pad at every store I went to. So I again went looking for a phone that had NFC, a good size with a vivid screen, and wireless charging. Samsung wants premium prices for their flagship phones so I looked for a phone with the features I wanted for the least amount of money. The Note9 fits the bill perfectly! I run my phones on the Ting network so I called them and they sent me a SIM immediately. I ordered this Renewed GSM Note9 and am thrilled with it. It ticks all the boxes and then some. It runs really well and has a very vivid display. The camera takes clear and brilliant pics. And... it has the NFC!! There is quite a learning curve with this phone. Samsung's OneUI overlay gives incredible flexibility, but it feels like it's trying to do too many things, too many notifications, too many reminders. But again, all of those things can be turned off and adjusted as needed. I ordered the phone on a Saturday and it arrived by Tuesday! This is significant since Amazon has been slammed by the pandemic and was showing a 3-4 week delivery window. Overall, great price, fast delivery, fantastic phone (literally looks and runs like new!!). It's good to have a Note in the stable again.

I was a bit concerned about buying a "Renewed" phone, especially after reading several complaints here about the phone not being truly unlocked, and still bound to a particular cellular service provider. Fortunately, my unit came without any such issues. After three days of digging into software, I couldn't find any info that could help identify the previous service vendor, if there was one. My current provider is Tmobile, and the phone seems to be happy to work on their network without any issues.

Speaking of software, the phone came with android 9 "Pie" OS preinstalled, as well as the usual Samsung bloatware, but that's it. No vendor-specific apps.

The package contained the phone (Snapdragon 845 version), charged to half capacity, a Samsung's charger and a noname USB type C cord. It's the bare minimum sufficient to get the phone up and running. The phone itself shows some evidence of prior usage (for which I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5): the sd/sim card door seems to have been opened at least several times, and there is a couple of microscopic scratches on the back near the fingerprint sensor. Not a deal breaker for sure, just a minor annoyance.

Everything the phone is supposed to be doing it is doing with gusto. And yeah, it is still a great device. As a longtime Note user, I can appreciate how much the brand evolved over the years. The upgraded S-Pen is so useful in so many ways, I can't imagine how most people manage to live without it. Maybe Note9 is not as cutting edge as it was a year ago, but it is so well-rounded in terms of features and capabilities that it's hard to find any other phone that's clearly superior to it, even among newer ones. The only thing I really miss is the IR blaster, which was present on some earlier Notes. It seems that all phone manufacturers decided to ditch IR altogether, so I don't really have a choice in this regard. Overall, I am happy with my purchase, especially considering the price.

The high rating is for the seller's benefit, as the phone was unlocked & in good condition.
That said, this is a bad phone. I thought the pen was pressure sensitive, and it was my biggest motivator to get the phone. It is not. For personal reasons it took me too long to be able to test that, so I was stuck with it. So... a way overpriced phone full of features I mostly don't care about, and that camera that I thought was supposed to be pretty good was actually kinda terrible. Whelp.
Also, a few years later, apparently a Samsung update came with a bug that damages the screen, so now I get to enjoy Samsung's green screen of, "oopsies, sure am glad no one can go after us for criminal negligence & destruction of property".
Won't every buy a Samsung product again. Wish I could have tested it back then, and returned it, as it clearly wasn't worth the price.