I buy off of eBay all the time, never bought a complete iPad, but lots of replacement parts, screens, batteries, home buttons. I know they're after market parts, but they work and usually about 50% cheaper than Amazon.

However, if there is an issue, first, PayPal will help resolve it, and second, I fund my PayPal with American Express. The are on my side and totally recently. If I dispute a charge, AX will immediately reverse it, and really good at resolving any problems to my satisfaction.

That said, there are a lot of knockoffs and downright scammers on eBay. How long has the seller been in business? How many positive customer reviews do they have? How many negatives? What type of items do they normally sell? What are their return policies?

If they are an individual, new account, and this is the first item they've listed, sorry, but an iPad is a big ticket item to be a first listing, I would not trust. Scammers and thieves will say almost anything, give you any reassurance you want--and then not deliver on their word.

Just be careful.