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Are all eBay sold Mac's refurbished?

H

Hatchet

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 9, 2007
201
0
Baton Rouge
How can people sell mac's that are new, never opened and sealed at such a lower price than Apple's retail stores?

I'd love to snatch one up, but the big part of me thinks I'm just getting a refurbished machine. Regardless of what the sales page claims.

Who has purchased from eBay and what are your experiences?

Any certain sellers that are top notch?
 
Maybe they got a good deal on them? or a gift? I haven't seen any referb iMac's on ebay.... plus they come in different boxes.
 
Maybe they used an education discount and are looking to make a few bucks by undercutting the MSRP for people who aren't eligible for such a discount.

It's what I'd do :D
 
Take the usual eBay shopping precautions.

Research the seller.
Check for real photos, not stock ones lifted from elsewhere.
Ask questions.
Get shipping insurance guarantee by having to sign for the package upon receipt.
**Ask for a serial number, then check the number on the Apple site.**
If it's too good to be true, it's likely a scam.

If in doubt, post a link to the auction here. Others might have a look and spot something that you missed.
 
jnc said:
Maybe they used an education discount and are looking to make a few bucks by undercutting the MSRP for people who aren't eligible for such a discount.

It's what I'd do :D
Click to expand...

wouldn't work. By the time you paid tax, ebay fees, and (likely) paypal fees, that edu discount would be more than eaten up.
 
Also, don't forget that we don't know what the wholesale cost is. The price that these resellers are charging could be anything above that. Apple's authorized resellers agree to sell at one price, and one price only: Apple's. Many a reseller has lost their privileges by trying to blatantly discount the hardware. Nonetheless, caveat emptor...
 
QCassidy352 said:
wouldn't work. By the time you paid tax, ebay fees, and (likely) paypal fees, that edu discount would be more than eaten up.
Click to expand...

Sure it would. Firstly, don't USE Paypal, wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. Offer cash on collection/local delivery on such expensive items.

eBay fees on a technology item above £600 are about £14 plus 1% of the final fee.

A £1599 (inc tax) 2.4GHz 15" MBP you sell new at £1475 (which you bought with an edu discount at £1345) saves the buyer over £120 and makes you about £130.

In this example, about £14 in fees plus 1% of final value (£14.75) = less than £30 of that profit goes to eBay. Do it enough times, that's some good money to be made! Around £100 ($205) a time!
 
Maybe they used an education discount
Click to expand...

I've already thought of that. According to Apple, the education can only be used 1 time per year on ipods, macbooks, imacs, and mBP's.

So that is out of the question. Otherwise, everyone would be doing that.
 
Hatchet said:
I've already thought of that. According to Apple, the education can only be used 1 time per year on ipods, macbooks, imacs, and mBP's.

So that is out of the question. Otherwise, everyone would be doing that.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how strict they are about checking how many you've bought. I'm sure I've bought two notebooks in the space of twelve months before... depends if they go by an academic year or a calendar year.

Maybe everyone just hasn't thought of it :D
 
Hatchet said:
How can people sell mac's that are new, never opened and sealed at such a lower price than Apple's retail stores?[/B]
Click to expand...

be warned that this is often the bait in an ebay scam......buyers are lured in by the prospect of a fabulous deal but end up with no computer after they've sent off their payment
 
Macky-Mac said:
be warned that this is often the bait in an ebay scam......buyers are lured in by the prospect of a fabulous deal but end up with no computer after they've sent off their payment
Click to expand...

I'm not that naive.

I started this thread to see if people had reliable sellers they use on eBay that deliver quality products and their experiences.

Not people warning me of getting scammed. I am very cautious in buying from eBay.
 
Forget eBay for Apple products. They have the highest rate of fraud out there.

You get what you pay for. Either go directly to Apple for refurbs or buy used locally through craigslist where you can see and test the merch before handing over cash.
 
There are good people on ebay to buy from. You can tell them because they have good pictures, their mac is in pristine shape, they have all the original cds, cables and accessories, and most of the time they are selling it with some Applecare left.
 
I rarely see good prices on ebay for items, legitimate item. But I always look at the history -- has the person been selling mittens for 5 years and now is unloading Mac Pros....
 
bmat said:
I rarely see good prices on ebay for items, legitimate item. But I always look at the history -- has the person been selling mittens for 5 years and now is unloading Mac Pros....
Click to expand...

Maybe they had some success with hand knit iPod socks instead. :p
 
Apple requires all sellers to use their minimum msrp. At wholesale maybe apple computers arent very expensive for stores to buy, but they are forced to sell it at Apple's price or $5 below Apple's price. Ebay is probably a way to get around a minimum msrp rule.

Also a lot of "cheap" new ebay items only have a cheap selling price, usually the shipping is a completely unrealistic amount like $40 to ship a video card or $200 to ship a computer.
 
At wholesale maybe apple computers arent very expensive for stores to buy
Click to expand...

I work for an educational reseller. We make less then 6% on all Mac hardware, sometimes we make less the 4%, depending on how Apple is feeling.

There is very little chance anything on ebay that's listing for way way under MSRP is legit. It may be a present, won at an auction, but most likely they were stolen of "lost" on the way to the store.

Our store once had a shipment of 15 laptops "going missing" on a UPS truck. 10 to 1 the ended up on ebay.
 
bmat said:
I rarely see good prices on ebay for items, legitimate item. But I always look at the history -- has the person been selling mittens for 5 years and now is unloading Mac Pros....
Click to expand...

You know me neither. The few times I've bought anything on eBay it seems as though I've ended up overpaying, but I can never can seem to sell anything on there without having to practically give it away. I only buy anything on eBay if I can absolutely not find it elsewhere.
 
Hatchet said:
How can people sell mac's that are new, never opened and sealed at such a lower price than Apple's retail stores?

I'd love to snatch one up, but the big part of me thinks I'm just getting a refurbished machine. Regardless of what the sales page claims.

Who has purchased from eBay and what are your experiences?

Any certain sellers that are top notch?
Click to expand...

Refurbished machines come in brown boxes and not the colorful boxes. I have bought several new iBooks and 1 powerbook, all new from ebay! All came in retail boxes.
 
When I sold Apple Computers retail....

stainlessliquid said:
Apple requires all sellers to use their minimum msrp. At wholesale maybe apple computers arent very expensive for stores to buy, but they are forced to sell it at Apple's price or $5 below Apple's price. Ebay is probably a way to get around a minimum msrp rule.

Also a lot of "cheap" new ebay items only have a cheap selling price, usually the shipping is a completely unrealistic amount like $40 to ship a video card or $200 to ship a computer.
Click to expand...

There was a 10% margin for what we bought the computers for and what we sold them for.
 
GSMiller said:
You know me neither. The few times I've bought anything on eBay it seems as though I've ended up overpaying, but I can never can seem to sell anything on there without having to practically give it away. I only buy anything on eBay if I can absolutely not find it elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. It's beyond me how anyone could make any money from it (after all the fees etc). It just seems like a ton of marketing hype from eBay HQ if you ask me.

In fact, it's beyond me why anyone would actually want to use eBay, but that's another can of worms all together.
 
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