Here’s what happened to me. I found a pair of Phonak Brio 2’s on Ebay for $400. I had tried them at Costco and they were OK but I want to wait for the newer model and didn’t want to pay full price. I called Costco and told them I had a pair of pre-owned Phonak Brio 2’s and would they program them (only Costco has the software to program the Brio 2). They told me they would as a one time courtesy to a member but would have to check the serial numbers first. I purchased the pair from Ebay and brought them to Costco. As usual the specialist was very nice but when he checked the serial numbers he found out they had been reported missing or stolen and the previous owner had made a claim to get a second pair. They then sold the first pair. I was told this is a common occurrence and there was no way they would program them for me, Phonak would not allow it as Phonak had a legal claim to the HA’s.
As a matter of fact Costco told me they would have to keep the HA’s as they belonged to Phonak and they had to return them. I had to convince them to return them to me so I could get a refund from the Ebay seller. I don’t know if the Ebay seller knew they were stolen or not but he refunded my money.
So if you are going to try and get HA’s from Ebay, before you buy, make sure they aren’t reported stolen/missing and make sure you can get them programmed.