[scirocco]

I'm not sure what's wrong, but I have the following suggestions:

1. Check on the handwritten information the ebay seller has sent you. There was some sort of password on that but it was probably the SIM card password not the Orange account.

2. When you enter the phone number on the Orange portal, it needs to be in the form 06 xx xx xx xx (your number but without the spaces, I just put them for clarity). Don't put country codes or anything.

3. Did you definitely enter the phone number in the first time users section? Don't enter it in the "déjà utilisateur" section (existing user), instead look for where it says: "Si vous ne vous êtes jamais identifié sur orange.fr, recevez votre mot de passe par SMS." (If you have never previously been identified on orange.fr, receive your password by SMS). If you are successful, you should see the message "Votre mot de passe a été envoyé sur votre mobile Orange" (your password has been sent to your Orange mobile).

4. Try another local carrier in your home country. Maybe whatever carrier you are on does not allow international SMSs.

5. Maybe wait a little longer with the phone turned on. It may take some time for the information from your home country carrier that the phone is actually in your country to get back to France, so that the Orange network knows where to send the SMS. (make ultra sure you don't have data turned on on the phone while you do this as a smartphone will chew the phone credit at half a euro per minute.)