Buying off eBay.

Have any of you heard of, or had, bad experiences buying a Macbook Pro on the bay? I've been seeing brand-new 2.4ghz, sealed, 1 year warranty Macbook Pro's going for as low as 1600ish USD. I've always been afraid of making big purchases of eBay, but this may change that.

Thank you in advance

My friend purchased his iMac off Ebay..He received it in the description that was posted online, which turned out to be excellent. There's a few things I would check:

1. Read the description CAREFULLY. A lot of times sellers like to sneak in damages in between paragraphs so it's hard to read.

2. Look at the pictures CAREFULLY. As explained before, the seller might try to slant any damage on the computer by taking pictures at hiding angles.

3. Check the user's rep. If the user has good rep, most people have found that the items that seller has sold to be in the condition said and was sent promptly.

By checking all these, you will have an excellent shot at getting what you wanted. However, there's always exceptions. If you get "scammed", Ebay and Paypal work together amazingly well to help you get your money back. I would say go for it, as I've never had a problem off Ebay and if you were to have one it would be easy to resolve.

Hmm, if it's actually selling for that price, there must be something up you're not seeing. I see some on ebay around that price, but the auctions aren't even close to being over and they will definitely go up.

Ebay is so big, it's nearly representative prices in the general free market. There are enough buyers on it to drive the price of a new product to nearly the retail price, in some cases, above it when you factor in shipping and payment fees. I see that happen too often and just shake my head in utter disbelief.

Does Apple still honor warranties when purchased from eBay? A lot of the time, sellers on eBay are not Authorized Resellers, which could mean a void in warranty.

fleurya has a point. Don't confuse the asking price with the selling price. Things are frequently listed at a low enough price to get people's attention. When the bidding gets going in earnest (usually in the last two to three minutes of the auction) the price shoots up dramatically.

ask for pictures of serial numbers from the computers case along with the serial number from the purchase receipt...you can then find out if the unit is a refurb or not and see if it has gone through any warantee services or if it has been damaged at any point....

also please read the ad in its entirety....i have seen way too many people purchase a box for an imac thinking it was an imac when the ad clearly states that you are only buying the box

-chris

Don't ever buy a computer on eBay unless the seller includes the original restore/install discs with it.
I don't care what kind of computer it is, who makes it, or what OS it comes with.
DON'T buy anything without original discs included. That goes for any software that people try to tempt buyers with. They may offer a CD-R of the software or some other burned copy. Most of the time these copies are untested and faulty and 99.999999999% of the time that software is illegally pirated anyway. If it doesn't come with any discs then you would be out of luck if you ever need to reinstall any of said included software.
SO.... to recap... don't buy a computer off of ebay unless it comes with ORIGINAL discs for any and all software included in the sale.

if you pay through PayPal you and its under i think 3000 then you should get 100% of the money back if you find a problem with the MBP- that is of course when you send the computer back..

Most "buyer protection" under Paypal is up to $200. For the "top tier" protection, your seller has to meet all of the qualifications in 13.9 of the terms as found here. Even at that, it only protects the first $2000.

And given the criteria for the top tier protection, likely if you get screwed, you'll get screwed out of all but $200 of your purchase. Which would suck.

Most people I buy from have the $2000 buyer protection. I qualify as a seller for that amount so anyone buying from me has that much protection.
Really when dealing with eBay, you HAVE to use Paypal. I will not purchase a single item otherwise.
Bryan

Thanks for the advice guys . I must admit that this kind of set me back on buying expensive stuff on ebay, but at least I know what to look for. I saw a few macbook pro's with auction ending in the 1600-1900 USD range new, but for the most part you guys are right. I've even seen some go for more than you would pay at apple.com.

The macbook's that I let slip by clamed to be new and sealed so it had no pictures of the actual laptop. They also said that the install discs where in the box and it had a factory warranty. Maybe I should call apple about the warranty issue. illusionist made a great point in saying that apple may not honor the warranty if I buy it on ebay.

Once more, thank you all very much for the advice

Most important: Look for seller raiting, for a purchase that High I would make sure he or she has a perfect seller raiting and rep.

macjuicy23 said:

Most important: Look for seller raiting, for a purchase that High I would make sure he or she has a perfect seller raiting and rep.

Click to expand...

Even if the seller rating is perfect, things that are too good to be true probably are, because people can break into your account and use it to put on bogus auctions.

I got an email once from Ebay saying someone had broken into my account and attempted to use it. Luckily they caught it and shut down my account, or who knows what would have happened or I could have been liable for. I hadn't used my account in 6 months and had no plans to, so they would have gotten away with it.

D3v1L80Y said:

Don't ever buy a computer on eBay unless the seller includes the original restore/install discs with it.
I don't care what kind of computer it is, who makes it, or what OS it comes with.
DON'T buy anything without original discs included. That goes for any software that people try to tempt buyers with. They may offer a CD-R of the software or some other burned copy. Most of the time these copies are untested and faulty and 99.999999999% of the time that software is illegally pirated anyway. If it doesn't come with any discs then you would be out of luck if you ever need to reinstall any of said included software.
SO.... to recap... don't buy a computer off of ebay unless it comes with ORIGINAL discs for any and all software included in the sale.

Click to expand...

lol, most windows machines don't come with install discs anymore.

Pay with a credit card (you can dispute the charges if you get scammed) through Paypal.

The scammers want you to Wire transfer, or money order... Which SCREAMS "Scam!!!!!". Don't fall for it.

I've made some large purchases on eBay... the largest being my wife's brand new Z71 Chevy Suburban... no problems whatsoever... and she loves it!

You can see the going rate for whatever you're interested in (or want to sell, for that matter) if you go to Advanced Search and check the Completed Listings Only box.

Bought my macbook pro off ebay with NO problem.

Thank you guys so much. I use pay pal and I have my credit card on there for purchasing because I don't like the idea of taking money directly out of my account lol. The only thing I use my bank account for is for money I get from sales. You guys have been a huge help