Watchout!

These units are NOT being sold, per se. 

 What you are buying in every case, is a LEASE plan for the unit.  After you register and activate any of these units, Directv will tell you, on your first bill, that you DO NOT own the unit, they do.  They will charge you $4.99 "lease" fees for the unit plus an additional $4.99 a month "DVR" and/or "additional receiver" fees. In addition, they will "lock" you in to either a 1 or 2 year obligation, which means that you cannot terminate their service without paying a substantial penalty.  This occurs regardless of whether or not you are a new or long-time customer of Directv.  Their contention is that NOBODY is authorized to sell you any Directv equipment except them and at their price.  They do this all without benefit of any contract with you; without advising you that they are doing it when you activate the equipment; and without your signature on anything!  BEWARE!!! Once you have activated the equipment, you are SCREWED!!  If you then attempt to terminate the deal, in order to avoid the "lease" fees that these EBAY sellers claim you will not pay, you will be tagged with an "Early Termination Fee" which will amount to several hundred dollars! 

 What do you get from them, in return?  NOTHING.  They will NOT repair it if it breaks; and, they will not replace it if a newer version comes along.  They WILL penalize you severely if:  You terminate your DirecTV contract; or attempt to dispose of the unit in any way.  In effect, you are paying them  for the privilidge of storing their unit in your home and then you are paying them $4.99 per month, forever, for the privilidge of keeping the unit.   A Bill of Sale from your seller, stating that the unit is SOLD to you, that it is PAID IN FULL and no additional purchase/lease fees are due, is useless. Directv will not abide by it; and, they are not obligated to do so.  These EBAY sellers are NOT representitives of DirecTV, and cannot sell these units at any price other than DirecTV specifies.  ANY other sale, new or used, of DirecTV receiving equipment is governed by the terms of DirecTV; NOT the statement of the seller.  This applies to those who buy USED equipment at garage sales, too.  Unless that equipment has been DEREGISTERED by DirecTV, it is still considered LEASED and will incur a lock-in with activation.  

Yes, there is a LEASE clause in ALL  LEGITIMATE, DIRECTV purchases, so why not go ahead and buy them directly from the leasor, rather than be deceived into believing that you own the equipment in the first place. and then being told AFTER the fact, of the "gotchas"! In addition to DIRECTV charging you the "lease" fee forever, in many cases they will also, without your knowledge, lock you into a 1 or 2 year "commitment" when you activate the receiver.  At no time will you be told about this commitment, not even when you activate the receiver.  DIRECTV and their authorized distributors will SELL you a DVR or a receiver, and it WILL be yours, unencumbered; however, it is very expensive.  The R20-700 DVR sells for $749, when available; the R21-700 is nearly the same.  That is the FIXED price that Hughes electronics/DirecTV has placed on this item.  Selling it for less is NOT selling it, it is selling a lease on it. 

Is this legal?  Personally, I don't think so; but, at this time, they are getting away with it.  I cannot see how Directv can  produce an enforceable "contract" when you have NOT agreed to any of the terms.  DirecTV rationalizes it this way.  ONLY they and their AUTHORIZED representitives are allowed to legally sell this equipment and only at the price fixed by DirecTV.  They do not own the equipment, per se; but, they DO own the software that runs it.  Much as MICROSOFT owns the WINDOWS operating system in your computer.  When any customer legally obtains one of these pieces of equipment, he signs a contract with DIRECTV, to a 2 year lockin.  If he terminates his agreement before the end of that period, he is supposed to be charged the early termination fee, and the equipment flagged to prevent anyone else from using it until it is de-commissioned.   From time to time, Directv has deals where they will "give" you a DVR and activate your service for $200 or so.  Many of these EBAY selleers got their DVR's this way;  for that introductory price.  They breached the contract and are now selling those same receivers to you at a nice profit; BUT, they are NOT doing you any favors, as you will discover if you buy one of them and attempt to activate it!  You can go to a legitimate DirecTV dealer, and do the same as they did, and save yourself a great deal of money and problems.