I bought two in the past six months from eBay. I've had no trouble at all. I have also purchased many big ticket items through eBay. I make sure the seller has a good rating and I usually call them prior to bidding. Good Luck!
I went through the feedback of many Ebayers that were selling plasmas last night. I think only one of them had sold a big ticket item in recent weeks. A majority of them had sold stuff like car chargers, batteries, ink cartridges, etc. and NOW they have a $4000 plasma for sale??? Kind of weird. I'm becoming even more weary.
Here's where to get excellent reviews, reasearch, comparisons etc on Plasma's. http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/ I researched my purchase for many months. I got the Panasonic TH-50PHD-6 which I will debate is the best plasma on market. I purchased mine from DTV City. http://www.dtvcity.com/ They were great, an authorized dealer, answered all questions, air freighted the plasma. The picture is outstanding... simply amazing. 100% satisfied. -- Z
First, make sure the seller is a member of Square Trade. Third make sure the seller has quite a few product sales (succesful, maybe a few thousand). Third, don't look for a seller with a few thousand plasma TV sales, that ain't happening. Next, pick a seller that might have a credible reason for selling plasma TV's in the first place: http://stores.ebay.com/Audio-Video-Deal-Depot_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm http://members.ebay.com/ws2/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=plasma-concepts http://stores.ebay.com/GIGABUYZ_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm http://stores.ebay.com/recoup-IT_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm Then check some of the buyer reviews. In the case of the second seller here you can see their history. Send a quick e-mail or two to the buyers and see if it is valid. The last seller is really a reputable vender with the kind of history that should ease your mind a bit. Over 8,000 sales with a 99% rating. Hope all this helps a bit.
I think you mean "best value on the market". Panasonic plasmas are a great value and look very nice, but do not set any new benchmarks in performance. There is no comparision between a Panasonic plasma and a real high end unit like the Pioneer Elite Pro-1110HD that has the 3/3 pulldown system, and with the 1024 gradations in the gray scale and 1 billion colors. It however is twice as much as the Panasonic, but the difference visually is huge and very striking with a DVD demo using the DVI input.
Rumor has it that all the HDTVs are gonna drop in price over the next few months. Our TV is on it's last legs, but I'm holding out to get an awesome replacement at a decent price (ie less than the price of a decent used car). Fortunately, I have my trading TV that we could use in a pinch (since I hardly ever watch it any more). EDIT: And I forgot to add a few eBay tips. Don't buy from somebody out of the country (Canada might be an exception). Be sure to read the auction thoroughly, many are refurbs or demo units. Some are pickup only (and always seem to be in California ). Be sure to get S&H costs prior to bidding. A seller that sold for much less than he hoped may be tempted to make up some of that by inflated S&H.