I strongly agree with the posts encouraging you to purchase directly from apple. Buying directly from a carrier would be a second choice but a distant second. There's always the potential of locking issues if you switch carriers and keep the phone. I've had many apple refurb devices and NEVER a single problem. As stated you can buy AC if desired.
There are just TOO MANY WAYS to get screwed buying 3rd party. I'm a reasonably savvy buyer and I got screwed while buying a 'new' iPhone 5s form amazon several years back. The buyer assured me it was new and had a clean IMEI. When I got it, I opened the package and looked it over thoroughly. I did appear to be new. The case and screen were in pristine condition. In fact, the, plastic wrap surrounding the phone was still there and looked to be in perfectly applied. All plugs, cables and paperwork were present. I set up the phone. No issues with iCloud and absolutely no other glitches whatsoever. It was not reported blacklisted and all was well About 6-9 months later, a problem developed that I figured I would just have Apple repair. I thought no big deal I'll pay for it, right? WRONG!!!
When I took it to the apple store, they looked up the IMEI and found that it was a warranty replacement. This meant that someone had a phone replaced under warranty from their carrier (in this case, at&t) and decided to just sell the replacement and pocket the change. (I was on cricket at the time so I knew there would be no unlock issues with an at&t-locked phone). Well, I learned sadly that day that when a warranty replacement gets issued that it's taken off apples active list and they will no longer service the phone. I had a phone that was in need of a $50-$100 repair that apple wouldn't touch. I never new this and had read nothing about this policy.
From that point, I decided to just order phones directly from apple. It's worth a little more money to me to know that I'm getting a new or like new phone and that I can get it serviced if desired. My point in sharing this sordid tale is just to express my opinion that no matter how much you know, or how many precautions you take, that there can always be a way of getting bitten.
Good luck!!!
