[JQuill]

I just received my Diamond in the mail that I bought off e-bay. I got it for $230.00 with NO contract, clean ESN, and I just activated it today with no problem, simply called customer service and had them do an ESN swap. Got it brand new in box FROM THE SELLER, not from Asurion or anything shady like that. Here are some tips...again this does not mean you will get ripped off if you don't do this, it's just what I did and I got a brand new phone with a clean ESN, on time, shipped to me from the seller's address.

Do not purchase "buy it now"'s that sell you the phone without a contract on new phones LIKE THE DIAMOND. Alot of buy it now auctions will have the phone WITH contract for upgrade/new customers, and 90% of the time those are legit e-bay businesses. But if it's a buy it now with no contract for something REALLY LOW like $250, then I wouldn't trust it. Bidding auctions ensure that the seller knows he doesn't know who he's going to be dealing with, so he can't fool you. When a lot of the times on shady buy it now's sellers will have things in the auctions like "call this 800 number before you click buy it now to get an approval code!" or "contact seller first before buying", DO NOT buy any of those phones. And my last and best piece of advice is, especially with a NEW phone like the Diamond, as new as it is, only trust auctions for these phones from POWER SELLERS. If you're a power seller you can be trusted, somebody with a couple hundred auctions and positive overall rating is still capable of deception, power sellers are ALL legit.

So I guess it's....

Do not buy NO CONTRACT phones from buy it now auctions if the price seems too low, trust your own judgement.

Do not trust no contract auctions that need your Sprint mobile number in order for you to purchase the phone, there is literally NO NEED for them to know if they're selling the phone without contract, IF it's an honest auction.

DO NOT bid on any auctions where the seller is telling you to contact them before bidding.

I personally would only bid on phones that are NON buy it now from POWER SELLERS ONLY. Thats how I got mine for $230.00 with no contract.