I'm looking to buy a new cell phone, my carrier is verizon.  can I buy a phone online, say on ebay, and use it with my verizon account even if it is not a verizon phone?
 
i see alot of phones that say UNLOCKED, does that have something to do with what carriers the phone can be used with?
 
any help would be appreciated.  

when a phone is unlocked it means you can use any gsm SIM card with it but since verizon isnt with a SIM card you can only use a verizon phone