I purchased a Gaggenau yesterday.

From an authorized dealer that has sold many items to people that post here.

As long as the seller has an established record I think you will be fine.

I would be leary of a seller with very little feedback. They do make and sell fakes.

I purchased a full size bbq and washer off the internet.

Items came on a wood pallet really well packaged.

Follow some normal eBay buying rules:

-Read feedback
-Don't buy from any seller without significant (greater than 25?) feedbacks
- Call the seller and discuss the product and warranty, on the phone

I'd go a few steps further with appliances:

Call the manufacturer and discuss
--warranty
--is it valid if product is sold on eBay (some are not)
--specifically as if the seller is an authorized seller
--or is warranty valid of sold to you by a non-authorized seller
-

This may come too late in the day, so to speak, to help you with your decision. Nonetheless, I thought it appropriate to share what I have learned over the past few days about Wolf products being sold on eBay.

Unless the seller is an authorized Wolf dealer, let the buyer beware. A 'new in the box' unit may simply be a defective unit that has be repackaged in the box from the replacement unit. According to the Wolf representatives I have spoken with over the past several days, defective units are to be scrapped and destroyed, not recycled on eBay. Wolf zealously guards its product and will gladly spend time researching any Wolf product for a prospective purchaser. All one needs to find everything there is to know about a Wolf product is the serial number. If the serial number is missing, the warranty is void ... and the product is likely a scrapped unit that has escaped destruction.

Also, as a caution for those considering saving a few bucks by picking up a Series L oven from an eBay seller, find out whether the interior cavity is chipped or otherwise damaged. It is not economically feasible to replace the oven cavity even if it were otherwise possible to do so.

The bottom line is get the serial number and follow up with a call to Wolf to get the history on the unit. Doing so will take most of the guess work out of the risk vs benefit analysis.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wolf Appliance Web Page

Thank you everyone for your comments! I purchased the oven, but what sold me was the following:
- The seller had good comments about high-end appliance sales. The number of comments were not as many, but all of them were good.
- The seller accepts returns within 14 days and pays return shipping.
- He said that he is an authorized Wolf dealer.

I will check the serial number and call Wolf to verify that the product has warranty, and will examine it very closely. I saved $1,000 because its a floor model. Normally I would not buy through eBay, but I can return it at no extra charge and I hardly ever use the oven, so it made sense to buy it. I hope it works out!