Any experiences of buying MBP on Ebay? Please please help!

[miamoree]

Hi all hopefully helpful people out there!


I'm in Norway, where prices in an Apple store is terribly expensive.


To my problem.



I consider to buy a Macbook pro (the oct 2011 model)... But im a bit conserned.

I made a mistake of one year ago, and brought over 15,000 on the western union account, and never saw the smoke of something. It stung very hard, and I was laughed at my stupidity and gullibility of many ...

I do not want to do the same misstake, while I want to save money: (

Does anyone have good / bad experiences of buying Mac on Ebay? (new, not used ones...)

Then I wonder if anyone knows, how many of the sellers can sell as many Macs, they work on the mac, or whatever it is that makes them have a "stock"?

Those it means its copies, because they can sell so many=? Does anyone know anything about this?

Can you advise on any good salesman? Can you trust them even if they have approximately 99.6% positive feedback, or sometimes even 100%?

What I most worry about, it is to get a "copy ".... So a fake computer.

Please does anyone have any experiences?



Would be sooo incredibly grateful for the help!



These I have, among other things checked on:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290647589098&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123


http://www.ebay.com/itm/220917757444?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649



http://www.ebay.com/itm/170751423468?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649



Hope you can help me. / / Kindly regards from A very worried Swedish girl, who needs a computer soon: (

 

[Badrottie]

3 months ago I bought a late model 2008 MBP off eBay..It works great…I guess I am very lucky one the seller is honest one. This is my first bid on ebay when I got this MBP. I took it to Apple Store for testing it found out the GPU is defective and want to replace logic board anyway for free even though the GPU still working fine.

 

[aaron580]

First MBP I bought I got scammed and it never came but ebay buyer protection got me my money back so I bought another new one. Im on the 2nd one typing right now and its great. Just watch the seller ratings.

 

[snazzyiphoneguy]

yep always buy from APPLE

even refurbs are worth it

 

[ThomasBoss]

It should be alright, but I recommend that-

1- You ALWAYS use Paypal
2- Check their feedback, if it's less than 90% I would say don't risk it
3- Thoroughly read & comprehend the description, make sure everything is included and it is in perfect working order

 

[mgartner0622]

If you can buy refurbished as others have said I would highly recommend it. There is pretty much 0% of a chance something will be wrong with a refurbished unit from Apple, plus it has a one year warranty.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

If you really want to go the ebay route, just check, double check, and triple check the seller. IMHO, eBay has become a haven for scammers in the past two years or so.

 

[thermodynamic]

If you can buy refurbished as others have said I would highly recommend it. There is pretty much 0% of a chance something will be wrong with a refurbished unit from Apple, plus it has a one year warranty.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

If you really want to go the ebay route, just check, double check, and triple check the seller. IMHO, eBay has become a haven for scammers in the past two years or so.

Which is a shame. Selling one with 8GB and AppleCare for the same price as a refurb no longer has drawing power for potential buyers. Even putting up pictures to show the thing and in one's own home environment doesn't cut it.

Even with AppleCare and citing information to precise conditions to help prove upfront I'm not a scammer, it is harder to sell - even with a good (90%+) rating.

----------

It should be alright, but I recommend that-

1- You ALWAYS use Paypal
2- Check their feedback, if it's less than 90% I would say don't risk it
3- Thoroughly read & comprehend the description, make sure everything is included and it is in perfect working order

Absolutely agreed!

As a seller, I've had people say "I live local, can you cut the auction short and can I pick it up too, with cash?" I say "no" and cite why (terminating auctions is not in good taste, especially after a bid is placed), and with PayPal and telling HOW the thing is to be shipped and why (both our protections) and then they respond with a snide attitude. (I sold my 2009 MBP to help pay for my 2011, and with college courses done I've contemplated selling mine, but might keep it. I might actually go outside my house one day, and this particular 2011 model was not plagued by problems others have had (freezing, etc)... )

And I'm not the only seller who endures customers' b.s. as well. (it works both ways, sellers and customers can indeed be scammers...)

Sometimes, people seem to want detail information, but then go buy the model being sold without the detail information as well...

 

[shortcut3d]

Agreed. Its become increasingly difficult to do business on eBay as a buyer or seller. I recently sold a 2011 Mac mini, but the funding from eBay / PayPal is super slow. I incur a high cost of next day shipping, eBay and PayPal fees. Then I have to wait weeks for funds to become available. My previous transaction of iPhone 4's and a lot of Apple parts was horrible. The buyer attempted to shake me down for a 20% discount in the form of a partial refund by threatening to file a fraud complaint. Basically, the buyer felt that since he did a Buy It Now on all my listings he could do this.

With that said, I purchased my first unibody MacBook on eBay. Just make sure to check the seller history, ask questions, use PayPal, and read the description thoroughly.

 

[greenchiliman]

It should be alright, but I recommend that-

1- You ALWAYS use Paypal
2- Check their feedback, if it's less than 90% I would say don't risk it
3- Thoroughly read & comprehend the description, make sure everything is included and it is in perfect working order

This and use a credit card that funds your Paypal account, not directly from your bank account. I'm not sure what Norway/EU consumer protection laws are but this is how we do it in the states.

I think one of the best ways to buy is to get access to the macrumors marketplace. You need to wait 6 months and have 250 posts, but I will know I will never buy a MBP off ebay.