New Asus Laptops - Is Ebay Buying Safe?

Hi everyone,

In the next couple weeks I will be purchasing an Asus laptop. The problem I'm having is this:

1. Newegg (in Canada)
has the model/laptop I want but it's 1199.99 CDN
ASUS F50 Series F50SV-A2

2. Ebay (in Canadian Dollars)
has the exact same laptops for 200$ less AND I can avoid the 14% in taxes

Is ebay safe regarding laptops? I've only purchased small things from ebay before.

I was doing some heavy reading last night and I discovered that sellers on ebay sometimes sell refurbished laptops and trick the customer in believing its new, and sometimes sellers even open the box, steal the good parts, replace it with crap, and then reseal it so it's not noticable.

I was planning on targeting power sellers with 98%~ or so positive feedback that have thousands of items sold.

Is it too risky?

I'm a student and it would be great saving 200$ plus another 170$ in taxes.

Thanks