Any shady online retailer is a poor choice when it comes to refurbished products. It's important to look for products being sold by a large retailer or manufacturer with a good reputation and customer service team. One place that people consistently find bad refurbished products is eBay. The biggest problem is that eBay is mostly made up of third party sellers with no connection to the original product manufacturer. It is possible to buy directly from the manufacturer in some cases, but most listings won't be this. Many of these sellers don't have the diagnostic tools to test or repair the products they sell. They might also not have the time to do so.