Ebay is a fantastic place to take part in what would otherwise be a barely profitable scam. For instance: Say you were interested in the new Handspring Treo 600 "smart"-phone. You might notice that if you owned an older Treo model you could buy the new one for $100 off the regular price. You might try going to various wireless sales offices looking for a demo Treo hoping to steal the serial number from... but you would find that most places only have mock phones, or have anti-theft devices affixed in such a way as to cover the serial number. You would be disappointed. But here's where ebay comes in: Search on Ebay, and sure enough, for $2 you can buy a genuine Treo serial number... no waiting for the auction to end, that's the buy-it now price. Less than 20 minutes later, you order could be confirmed for said phone at a still healthy $98 discount. Hypothetically, of course.