A mistake people make is fearing the unlocking process themselves and buying them off eBay already unlocked. Not only is your warranty down the bin, but the baseband was probably perma-raped by ZiPhone. You can buy locked iPhones in the UK for £169 (about $340) and unlock them for FREE. A little program called iLiberty+ is all you need.
as far as im aware £169 for an iphone is for an handset and a 18 month contract so where as i have just bought one for £200 i have no need for contract as i have a sony ericsson k810i buisness phone so no i think my ebay buy was perfect but yer i can see whatr u mean