The purpose of this guide is to help honest buyers to do the right thing, so they do not get stuck with a directv receiver that can never be activated.

1.  Lot of people fail to read the fine print.
2.  People do not understand the lease that Directv
     started back in March 2006,

This guide is mostly pertaining to the receivers that come from ebay. There are guides on here that pertain to the leasing model that directv began doings back in MARCH of 2006. I am mostly dealing with used Directv equipment to help people understand the concepts when buying used Directv equipment here on ebay.

SELLERS that been selling directv receivers on ebay for while, should know by now to list the RID with any receiver by default. But they still fail to do so because they are either dumb as a "load of bricks" or they are just too lazy to do it. COME ON PEOPLE or SELLERS the RID is in plain sight on the receiver (inside access door on a sticker)  (on the back of receiver on a label)

Since there are so many directv receivers floating around on ebay. BE CAREFUL when bidding on the newer Directv Receivers and as well for the older Directv Tivo units.

As almost all the R15's are leased equipment from Directv and being sold on Ebay, the sellers are dishonest about them instead of confirming with directv they are owned. Lot of Directv Tivos are in collections.

I have already took the HOOK, LINE & SINKER on few of these receivers on ebay without doing the first, asking for the receiver RID, as i did the same thing for the older tivos as well.

Regardless of how a receiver is obtained, if it is a lease from Directv, you do not own it!!!  The sellers on ebay (dishonest sellers) do not have the right to sell leased Directv equipment.  Most of the sellers on ebay just try to make a profit off the deal in anyway they can.  Even if the sellers say the directv receiver is "SOLD AS-IS". Do the right thing. Check with directv the RID. Because it could be a lease.  If it is a "lease", Then inform ebay telling them the problem you are having with the seller. If the seller gives you problems.

ACCESS CARDS: Sellers may include the access with the receiver.  Once a card has been deactivated it cannot be reused. A new one must be purchased from Directv. Thats only if the receiver is owned and not in collections. NO IFS OR BUTS ABOUT access cards, once they are used and decommissioned they are good as ice scrapers!!!!!
Access cards can no longer be bought on ebay.

I strongly advise people out there shopping to get a good used Directv DVR any brand or model or a standard newer receiver off of ebay, is to !!!!!!!!!!!!!"ALWAYS ASK FOR THE RECEIVER RID"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and check with directv to make sure the receiver is not a"leased" but "owned", before placing a bid on any newer directv receiver, D10, D11 R10, R15, R16 ETC. The price may sound right, but the sellers may be dishonest about the receiver of not saying if it is a "lease" or "owned" receiver in the description.  IF THE SELLER DOES NOT RESPOND BECAUSE HE OR SHE REFUSES TO GIVE THE RECEIVER RID, or just giving you the run about the receiver, turn them into ebay, stating the problem, they refuse to give you the RID number. I also highly recommend that you put them on your not so good list of honest sellers list. As I tried to ask for the receiver rid number from sellers on ebay, and few of them refuse to respond or give out the rid. 

Lot of the folks fail to do this and then later to find out they have this brand new receiver they got from ebay and cannot get it activated.

When confirmed with Directv with a receiver, ask to speak to the access card department, they have the final word on the receiver, the lower end department of directv people don't know their heads from their rear-ends!!

The more people that do this, it will get ebay's attention and maybe they will start enforcing new rules for listing Directv used equipment. And sellers must include the RECEIVER' S RID before it can go up for sale on ebay.

And help ebay to be a safer trading place for buyers.

R stands for a recorder (DVR) in any directv receiver model number (R10, R15, R16)

D stands for a standard receiver (D10,D11)

H you will find the newer receivers such as HR20 HR21 they are
"HIGH DEFINITION RECEIVER"

Directv always will keep a record of all previously activated receivers on file. They will refuse to activate a receiver that is leased but deactivated on the previous directv customer's account.

NOTE: The Directv R10 receivers out there some are still leased but most of them aren't since directv is doing away with them and using the r15 & r16 series now to replace the tivos.

Directv began rolling out new dvrs. R16 and the HD-DVR 21,22 & 23 series.  As folks will be being looking for these on ebay soon. But the same concept here applies to those receivers as well

Following the advice that is in this guide will help you and other folks out there so they don't end up losing money in the deal.

If you find this guide useful please cast your vote on it, It will move up to the top of the list and help the ebay community understand the facts about Directv used equipment on ebay.

Hopefully Ebay will start enforcing new rules on listing Satellite equipment such as Directv receivers, the RID must be listed in the auction, or Ebay will refuse to list the item for sale.

Directv does not like owned receivers in their stream of leased receivers they provide.Because it takes away from their revenue. TO ME I THINK ITS STUPID THEY STARTED THE LEASING MODEL BACK IN MARCH OF 2006!!

There might be better reviews on ebay then what i have wrote here, but i am putting in basic details of what i know, if you find on other reviews, with leased directv receivers: 

ONLY BUY RECEIVERS FROM AN AUTHORIZED DEALER like "such and such" company,

To me people should be able to make their own decisions on how they want their receiver. Not having AUTHORIZED DEALERS telling them what they ave to do.  As i have sucessfully bought used directv equipment
from ebay in the past and had them activated. As this is the best way to go, if you don't want to spend $300 bucks on a new dvr r15 r16 and want to own it. If you have the directv protection with directv, and the receiver is owned, Directv will replace it and it will still be owned.

So in a way Directv has some not so good areas, but in other areas, they do their best to take care of their customers.

If you buy from one these authorized dealers, the receiver is still a lease regardless what they say about it. 

You do not have to buy from authorized dealers if you want to own your receiver, there are plenty of HONEST SELLERS on ebay that will go out of their way to tell you the details about the receiver. But still follow the details and facts that i created in this review on my experience dealing with used directv equipment. Most of the time the sellers out there that sell directv recievers will help you the best to their knowledge and tell you the details about the receiver.

To this day using old receivers, (standard receivers) RCA, PHILLIPS, PANASONIC, HUGHES & SAMSUNG as almost almost all these receiver just carry the model and serial number, as they work just as good as the stardard receivers that directv is leasing, if you are looking to activate but prefer to own, I recommend these old receivers, as it is impossible for directv to tell if they are in collections notice or not, becasue they do not have no such thing as the RID (receiver identification number) "this is what directv uses to track the status of new receivers and used receivers" as you will have no problem activating these receivers but you will need to purchase a access card from directv.

Ebay has updated its USER POLICY AGREEMENT and the R-15 are not as plentiful on ebay as they used to be due to EBAY'S change on certain things.

I will continue to update this review time to time to try to keep ahead of changes Directv may come out with, and the new receivers they release every 6 months.