I didn't spend more than I can lose
It came in a sealed, un-opened original package.. behaved like a new product with the only issue of not being seen by the computer (which seems extremely common with the kobo touch.). I can't be 100% sure but I saw no sign that it was not a factory new product. It's probably part of an unsold storage or something.
I found another way to do a factory-reset. It looks like the first time I started it now, I'll try to go through the set up again and see if it remembers it this time.
Haha! No wonder I didn't see you on the friends list..