Aaron your generalization is absurd, I buy through e-bay all the time and have never once had a problem, as a matter of fact I bought my BB there for half the prize Verizon sells them for and it has been nothing but super. Granted there are all kinds in this world, and yes you are bound to sooner or later run into one, but to rant about everyone in one breath and recommending tht no one use it is not the right answer. By the way i have sold three phones on e-bay myself and bought a total of four with no problems. And by the way the risk is not necessarily higher from e-bay, I have been burned buying at a mall.