As a matter of fact, I just returned the 4th ebay purchased phone today! I've had horrible experiences.
Over the holidays, DD dropped her phone in a glass of Dr. Pepper. Don't ask. We are due for early upgrades in February, so she needed a phone to get by for just a few months. I bought a used Verizon Chocolate on ebay for $51.00 = shipping. It arrived a few days later with a free wall charger and a free car charger. The phone worked fine for the first couple of weeks. Then, it started having problems (DD couldn't hear the other person unless she put it on speaker-phone. A couple of days later, the screen went white. I emailed the seller and he said to send it back and he'd send a replacement (he had a 30 day warranty).
Ten days later a new phone arrived. When I went through the steps to activate it, it would not activate. I called Verizon and they said the ESN# was reported as lost or stolen so the phone would not activate. I emailed the seller again and he said to send it back and he'd send another one.
Another 10 days goes by along with my expense at all of the return packaging and postage. The 3rd phone arrived and it wouldn't charge. I kept getting a "use authentic battery" message and then the phone would power off. I cleaned the connectors real good and was able to get it to turn on and charge, but every time DD closed the phone, it shut off. It got to the point that it would not come back on unless it was plugged in.
I emailed the seller again, this time quite upset. He emailed me back and said he didn't believe me when I said this phone was bad, too! What nerve! I sent him back the 3rd phone for a refund. I have yet to receive the refund.
In the meantime, I bought another phone off ebay for DD. When it arrived, I noticed the battery door was a different shade than the rest of the phone. I took off the door and saw that the white dot was dark red, so the phone had water damage. It worked okay, but since the seller only had a 7 day return and didn't mention in the auction that the phone was water-damaged, I sent it back (it could have died on me right after her warranty expired).
DD has another week before we can get her a discounted phone at Verizon. I do not recommend you purchase a phone off of ebay. If you want the name of the seller I bought from (he has lots of auctions), PM me and I'll give you his name.
