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Buying a sealed rMBP 13" but seller has an odd request

K

klover

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 7, 2009
804
95
Looking at a sealed rMBP 13" (base) for a decent price but the buyer wants to know if I'd be OK giving him the box back after I open it.

He's willing to knock a bit off the price but I'm kind of suspcious about his request - I'm trying to see the angle but nothing really comes to mind.

Any ideas?

I can confirm the item is factory-sealed.
 
There are people around who collect their Apple product boxes.

I can think of no other reason.

If you're suspicious keep all correspondance from him and all email receipts.
 
The seller may just want the box to ship out his old computer… who knows. Give him back the old box, but cut out the serial number.
 
Perhaps he has another retina MBP that he "found" where he would like to resell it in a box. I don't know.

It is easy to reseal a box these days, but I would not give him back the box. In fact, I would check the serial of the machine against the box. You probably can't do this before paying, which doesn't help I presume.
 
klover said:
Looking at a sealed rMBP 13" (base) for a decent price but the buyer wants to know if I'd be OK giving him the box back after I open it.

He's willing to knock a bit off the price but I'm kind of suspcious about his request - I'm trying to see the angle but nothing really comes to mind.

Any ideas?

I can confirm the item is factory-sealed.
Click to expand...

Sounds like he wants to sell more factory-sealed laptops. When you say you can confirm its factory-sealed, what do you mean exactly? I think anyone can just use transparent tape to mimic how the factory does it
 
maflynn said:
Sounds like he wants to sell more factory-sealed laptops. When you say you can confirm its factory-sealed, what do you mean exactly? I think anyone can just use transparent tape to mimic how the factory does it
Click to expand...

By factory-sealed I mean that the box is completely shrinkwrapped with the shrinkwrap edges (joints) in the same place as the boxes I've seen at Bestbuy, Apple, etc.
 
klover said:
Looking at a sealed rMBP 13" (base) for a decent price but the buyer wants to know if I'd be OK giving him the box back after I open it.

He's willing to knock a bit off the price but I'm kind of suspcious about his request - I'm trying to see the angle but nothing really comes to mind.

Any ideas?

I can confirm the item is factory-sealed.
Click to expand...
Only after you have checked everything works on rmbp, it is your choice you want to give the box back to the seller, did you ask why he wants the box ?
Make sure the label on the box matches with your machine.
 
Unless you're buying from an actual well known retailer or Apple themselves, don't buy it without opening the so called "factory sealed" box and matching the serial number on the laptop to the one printed on the box.

Any reason they give you for not allowing to do that is complete BS.

It's not hard to shrink wrap boxes with used equipment inside and then re-sell them as brand new. It's not illegal where I live (although it should be), but is extremely unethical. Store managers with questionable ethics have been doing that sort of thing for decades.
 
klover said:
Looking at a sealed rMBP 13" (base) for a decent price but the buyer wants to know if I'd be OK giving him the box back after I open it.

He's willing to knock a bit off the price but I'm kind of suspcious about his request - I'm trying to see the angle but nothing really comes to mind.

Any ideas?

I can confirm the item is factory-sealed.
Click to expand...

Sounds too suspicious to me. If you paid for the item, you should keep the box. I would definitely say no.
 
klover said:
Looking at a sealed rMBP 13" (base) for a decent price but the buyer wants to know if I'd be OK giving him the box back after I open it.

He's willing to knock a bit off the price but I'm kind of suspcious about his request - I'm trying to see the angle but nothing really comes to mind.

Any ideas?

I can confirm the item is factory-sealed.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you don't have to give it back.. Just match the serial numbers like others have said and then cut the serial number off the box.
 
klover said:
By factory-sealed I mean that the box is completely shrinkwrapped with the shrinkwrap edges (joints) in the same place as the boxes I've seen at Bestbuy, Apple, etc.
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean anything - what does though is the serial number. Does the MBP's serial number match the box? btw, my MBP wasn't shrink-wrapped, when I bought it new from apple. It had the tape across the seams but the entire box was not shrink wrapped.

I'm not a trusting person and its just really odd that a seller of a BNIB sale is asking for the box back.

Good luck on your purchase though.
 
dont give the box. i dont know maybe the seller can report it as stolen because he/she had the original box or it's just me who think that way.
 
Rossatron said:
I do that :eek:
if the box is not important to you and he is willing to lower the price, than go for it.
Click to expand...

I don't collect them, but when I sell the laptop, I use the original box to ship the computer in, so for that purpose I keep it around :)
 
maflynn said:
btw, my MBP wasn't shrink-wrapped, when I bought it new from apple. It had the tape across the seams but the entire box was not shrink wrapped.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah! Good point. I had forgotten about that. I got mine at an Apple Store, and it wasn't completely shrink wrapped either. It just had a single piece of clear tape about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide on the seam centered beside the carrying handle of the box.

If this seller has a box that's entirely shrink wrapped, something is not right.
 
bcaslis said:
Sounds too suspicious to me. If you paid for the item, you should keep the box. I would definitely say no.
Click to expand...

I would go further than that and say you should steer clear of this seller entirely. Buy an Apple refurb and you'll sleep better.
 
I would say actually wait for the WWDC announcement, then 'old' models will be reduced and the refurb models (may) get cheaper. Patience! Or you could get a 'new' model...
 
I have many boxes from my iPhones, a few Mac one, many iPod/iPad ones... :eek:

I usually sell the phone/whatever sans box. I don't know, I just can't bring myself to throw it away/sell it as the packaging seems so well designed. It also lets me see what I have owned :p

Sounds ridiculous to 90% of people, I'm sure, but then again I think collecting coins/stamps is a bit silly. Just one of those things.

Of course, it could be due to some criminal enterprise, but there are other, perfectly innocuous explanations.
 
buying online or from non-secure sources (ebay, CL, 3rd party Amazon etc) i am always looking for any excuse to walk away. if you're not willing to walk away, you're asking to get scammed.

i'm sure it's probably innocent, but i would walk away. i can think of several reasons why someone would want to do this...reselling another item as "sealed" being the big one...which of course begs the question as to how many times he has done it before you came along.

my attitude is if the price is too good to justify just walking away, then it's a scam. if it's not, then peace of mind is worth the slightly higher price of the same item from another source. Either way, first sign of nonsense and i'm out - always.

these are't rare items we're talking about - there are quite literally millions of them out there. i can understand being a bit riskier with antiques or artwork, for example, but Apple sold 4 million macbooks last quarter alone....
 
I don't recall ever seeing one shrink wrapped. Even at stores like Best Buy the Apple products I have seen in those locked cages are all boxes with tape seals on the seams, not shrink wrapped boxes.
 
when you are buying things in this way the only thing that can help you is feeling. the situation looks suspicious... If i were you I would go away... too risky. maybe the box is not matching what's inside, maybe he wants to claim a stolen laptop and the box is his proof of own....
 
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