I'm impressed by the number of sales, the shipping costs for any item tends to be fairly high.
I find researching the seller as much as the product give you better luck in getting a running or easily salvagable unit, despite being untested.
For example, consider this ebayer, Surplus Tech Mart. Most such folks have separate websites, that link to eBay or vice versa. From there, we can find added hit words to locate:
http://junkyard.recycleinme.com/jy-effy8000/buyoffer-722.aspxand the guy Effy Sal and his phone number. From there we can find Sal's name against electronics sales ebay etc. and find additional links to him like his publicly offered dossier:
http://www.liveperson.com/effy-sal/
and possibly his US based home:
http://www.dotmed.com/services/user/118491/What does this tell us? It suggests Sal is likely a broker of junk goods. The likelihood of the online seller knowing technicalities about the item is fairly small, since the items can come from anywhere and from any network of purchasers, all flowing into a some type of warehouse. If you buy from him, you are likely to get WYSIWYG, and the photo and descriptor is everything.
Now look at his eBay rating, the type of people who buy from him, particularly
power buyers, and what type of gear they buy. What makes those folks risk buying from him? How much negative feedback have they given others? Good buyers rarely give negative feedback either because they haven't the time or they rarely make errors. How can they not make mistakes while others do?
Now, finally, why would anyone who knows how to decipher excellent 'untested or 'was pulled from a running environment' etc., eBay goods, give away such a technique publicly? Armed with those techniques, others looking for a similar item will become formidable bid opponents, and raise the buying price for teacher

.
The one phrase I love the most is "was pulled from a running environment" (by five dogs and a mad cow).
It's usually not worth it unless you know you can fix it or need a certain part.
One ebay seller comes to mind: http://www.ebay.de/itm/150726048148?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648
I know it's wrong but I laughed very hard when I saw this. Hey at least they are honest and say that it doesn't power up.