Applecare from ebay

[Oliii]

Firstly I would just like to say hi I'm new here

Right, I have been considering buying Applecare for my macbook. And obviously being a bit shocked by the £199 price tag on the apple store, I decided to check ebay.

I have found the same thing, for £68.95, but the motto if its too good to be true it probably is came to mind and I set about doing some research. I found that there is alot of applecare scams on ebay and it can be very shady.

Here's a link for you guys to have a look at it for yourself: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AppleCare-Protection-Plan-MacBook-Air-13-Pro-Apple-care-/110555925262#ht_2455wt_1139

The main thing I read about is that seller's don't give you the box and are just selling off fake generated codes that work at first but then get rejected after a couple of months and you have no way of getting your money back.

This one seemed quite tempting though, the seller has nearly 6500 feedback at 99.9% positive and seems quite legitimate. But the listing says "If you do not understand how you will receive your AppleCare, contact me first!" So I did, and found that "I will send you an email (within 24 hours) including a brand new registration code and very simple instructions how to register with your product on Apple.com." So it doesn't come in the original box and that seems to be the dodgy thing with buying applecare off ebay and getting scammed.

What do you guys think about it, and have you ever bought applecare off ebay and had any experiences yourselves?

Thanks

 

[Macky-Mac]

....So it doesn't come in the original box and that seems to be the dodgy thing with buying applecare off ebay and getting scammed....

so what's your risk tolerance? If you spent your money on this item and it turned out to be counterfeit, would you mind?

 

[7thMac]

I concluded it's risky because these bargain sellers refuse to do the single thing that would inspire confidence - send the box! What a coincidence! The box doesn't weigh much but they won't send it.

 

[Xombie11]

Typically you may request the box if you contact the seller directly. It may cost you an extra £20 for the peace of mind.

 

[ijen0311]

I purchased MobileMe for $55 on eBay and it was a great experience. I hope its the same for your Apple Care.

 

[HBOC]

I would think comparing ME and AC is not a proper comparison. I mean is the mobile me account doesn't work, there are work arounds (I have no experience with mobile me).

With AC, you buy it (much more expensive than $55) and it passes your 1 year and it turns out to be not legit, YOU CANNOT "re-buy" AppleCare. Mobile me is just a code anyways, isn't it? Or is there a box like iWork/iLife/AC?

Search for AppleCare on Ebay on these forums and you will come up with 5463 pages. You can come to your own conclusions

 

[Gator24765]

How are they able to obtain and sell these for so cheap?

 

[Alonzo84]

How are they able to obtain and sell these for so cheap?

They find a pattern in the code and sell just the number. That is why many of them don't come with a box. The feedback is hard to go by because you leave positive feedback after you receive it thinking everything is fine. You wont know if the code is legit or not until you try to use it...months later. That is if you use it at all. You can't go back later and leave negative feedback. If they refuse to send you the box, I would most definitely avoid the purchase. In the end, you're not saving money because you basically bought nothing.