Please school me on buying a used or open box iPhone

[NewtonMP2100]

....so it's better than a.....Swappa......meet......???

[AllGold]

It's definitely scary. I was looking at a highly rated seller on ebay with multiple listings for what I want. They show the IMEI for each phone but don't tell you the status. When looking them up, some could be activated and some could not.

It seems like most sellers on ebay and locally don't bother to give you any information on whether you'd be buying a phone that is useless.

And there are listings like this: "100% fully functional device locked to the AT&T network. Cannot guarantee activation since it is financed. Will not accept returns." So, no returns and it's financed which means it can't be activated. Why would anyone buy it?

I wish Apple had more of a selection of refurbs.

[fauch]

I'd buy open box if it looked good, but never used. You have no idea what they actually did to the phone of if it was floating in the toilet.