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Buying new iMac off Craigslist. Suggestions/To-Do's before?
- Thread starter Blazer5913
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I'm going to be another voice of doom and gloom, but as the saying goes, if it seems to good to be true - it usually is.
First off, if it's a $1730 bit of kit he's willing to accept $1150 for it, that's pretty much a 33% loss he's making. If he's that desperate for money, I don't see how he can afford to pass up so much. If it's a gift (and in your first post you say he bought it, the gift bit came later - was that you or him changing the story?) then clearly he's got a friend or relative with enough spare cash that they're willing to buy him an expensive computer he doesn't even need - if I was in his position I'd say thanks, but could I have the cash and they return it? Or at the very least, could they loan me enough to cover whatever bill is SO urgent that I'm willing to lose out on $500-odd. His story may be that that's why they gave him the receipt, but again, if it's been paid by card then that wouldn't work. The only way he could get the cash was if it had been paid for by cash - in which case he'd just be able to return it.
Anyway, if you are still set on going for it - and I really do hope it's all legit and it works out, by the way - then there's some precautions you really should take.
First, do NOT go alone. Take at least one buddy, preferably two. I assume you'll be paying cash, in which case this person knows you're going to be walking around with over $1200 on you. It's not unknown for someone to rock up to a deal like this, only to find themselves mugged by the "sellers" accomplice(s). So take one pal with you, and another to keep an eye on you from over the road, ready to call the fuzz if needed.
Second, don't get distracted - it might all be going OK, only for the seller to suddenly get an "unexpected" "emergency" phone call, resulting in the sort of rushed, "ok man, I gotta go - do you want it or not? I haven't got time to mess around" situation where you're so caught up in it you're not paying attention.
Third, if at all possible (and this does go back to number 1 really) do all the checking first and THEN go get the cash. That way if you get mugged on the way to the deal then they won't get much.
Lastly, check his ID. Don't tell him you want to see ID beforehand - let it be a surprise. If he doesn't have ID on him, see what his excuse is. If he does, well that's up to you to judge if it's real or not. And make a note of his name and address - if he protests, WALK AWAY.
Oh, and just because he has a receipt and the box DOESN'T mean it isn't stolen. You could still end up out of pocket if it's somehow tracked back to you.
Like I say, I really do hope this all turns out well, but it's just too fishy for my taste.
First off, if it's a $1730 bit of kit he's willing to accept $1150 for it, that's pretty much a 33% loss he's making. If he's that desperate for money, I don't see how he can afford to pass up so much. If it's a gift (and in your first post you say he bought it, the gift bit came later - was that you or him changing the story?) then clearly he's got a friend or relative with enough spare cash that they're willing to buy him an expensive computer he doesn't even need - if I was in his position I'd say thanks, but could I have the cash and they return it? Or at the very least, could they loan me enough to cover whatever bill is SO urgent that I'm willing to lose out on $500-odd. His story may be that that's why they gave him the receipt, but again, if it's been paid by card then that wouldn't work. The only way he could get the cash was if it had been paid for by cash - in which case he'd just be able to return it.
Anyway, if you are still set on going for it - and I really do hope it's all legit and it works out, by the way - then there's some precautions you really should take.
First, do NOT go alone. Take at least one buddy, preferably two. I assume you'll be paying cash, in which case this person knows you're going to be walking around with over $1200 on you. It's not unknown for someone to rock up to a deal like this, only to find themselves mugged by the "sellers" accomplice(s). So take one pal with you, and another to keep an eye on you from over the road, ready to call the fuzz if needed.
Second, don't get distracted - it might all be going OK, only for the seller to suddenly get an "unexpected" "emergency" phone call, resulting in the sort of rushed, "ok man, I gotta go - do you want it or not? I haven't got time to mess around" situation where you're so caught up in it you're not paying attention.
Third, if at all possible (and this does go back to number 1 really) do all the checking first and THEN go get the cash. That way if you get mugged on the way to the deal then they won't get much.
Lastly, check his ID. Don't tell him you want to see ID beforehand - let it be a surprise. If he doesn't have ID on him, see what his excuse is. If he does, well that's up to you to judge if it's real or not. And make a note of his name and address - if he protests, WALK AWAY.
Oh, and just because he has a receipt and the box DOESN'T mean it isn't stolen. You could still end up out of pocket if it's somehow tracked back to you.
Like I say, I really do hope this all turns out well, but it's just too fishy for my taste.
The seller isn't taking a loss. Whether he sells it for $500 or $2000 it's all profit since he got it as a gift. The OP stated the guy needed the money right away. Selling on ebay, shipping and getting paid takes time. getting a refund from Apple takes time. Selling on craiglist takes time. $1200 profit later today, no shipping, not waiting to get the check in a few weeks, may make sense to the seller. The previous poster does have good advice on checking both id and receipt.
Whelp, I ended up just doing up. Was going to have my brother meet me at the Apple store, but in the end, performed a solo mission haha. I mean, I took precaution meeting him at the Apple store, texting and calling him before, and then setting up the Genius bar appt to not only take the comp out of the box and turn it on, but to run their diagnostic check on it. Granted, my one mistake looking back was having the money on me (but split up in two discrete places), but once I got the OK from the Genius at the bar, we put the computer back in its packaging, back into the box, and I met the seller at a corner, but STILL in the Apple store. I gave him the money, and he left first. I probably waited in the Apple store about 20 minutes more just to "cool myself" and let him be own his way (I was hoping haha). But then made a bee line to the car, put it in there, and locked doors and drove on my way. And I even felt like in a movie when I kept looking behind me to see if any cars tailing or anything, especially on the backroads to my house. But nothing. Set it up at my desk at home and as of now, I got my 27" i5 2.7ghz iMac for $1200 even. Couldn't be happier. All in all a lucky and not the "smartest" venture, but I am sure glad I did it. Now, selling my MacBook Air and 2007 MacBook pro. Hoping to come out of the "exchange" with the iMac + AppleCare + extra RAM for almost nothing, if not a bit of a profit. Any suggestions for RAM by the way? It's at 4gb now, thinking either 2 more 2gb sticks or might as well splurge on 2 4gb sticks. I did just get a $1750 computer for 1200, brand spankin new haha. Can't thank ALL OF YOU on here so much for the help you gave me yesterday. Huge moral support haha
Ram.
from what I read on these boards (and the prices online), I'd get 2 sticks of 4 gig ram from newegg. Make it 12gig total. Doesn't seem like you'll have a problem and you pay just under $100 including tax.
from what I read on these boards (and the prices online), I'd get 2 sticks of 4 gig ram from newegg. Make it 12gig total. Doesn't seem like you'll have a problem and you pay just under $100 including tax.
That's excellent news - nice to hear one "too good to be true" story that ends well!
I'd go for the 2x 4GB - prices are quite reasonable at the mo.
I'd go for the 2x 4GB - prices are quite reasonable at the mo.
Congratulations! You got an excellent deal. I've done a fair amount of buying and selling on eBay, Kijiji, and Craigslist, and it is always a little scary. It sounds as if you took every reasonable precaution, and people here suggested one or two I've never thought of. I'd go for 16GB, since ram is pretty cheap right now. That's what I did with my own i5.
when I sold my early 2011 2.2 GHZ MBP (AG screen) for $2000, and I never think of these things, he paid me in ALL $20 bills! I couldn't close my wallet, and it was like on a Saturday early evening. So I did what any normal person would do; go straight to the strip ..err Apple store and get a new computer.
Glad it worked out for you. CL isn't all bad.
Glad it worked out for you. CL isn't all bad.
Well you already bought it but it was probably bought with a stolen credit card. Story is suspicious.
Not everyone. Between us we pointed out that this was incredibly dodgy-sounding, but the OP made his choice, and willingly accepted the risk that he'll only have it for a short time.
Well done - what a bargain
I had a similar experience to this, 2 week old i5 27in for sale, I paid US$1,300 for it with an additional 8gig of RAM installed, thus it had 12gig in total.
Did not test before buying though, but had original receipt and everything else from a reseller shop I know very well.
Upshot of this, got home, erased HDD, did custom instal and Time Machine clone - all seemed well.
Last test, yellow tint test - big surprise not, I had one of the problem machines, LCD screen also had marks behind panel.
Moaned to Apple, after several phone calls they agreed to exchange machine for new one, even though it was by then 7 days out of return policy - still actually using it now until my one iMac is repaired and returned to home - I'm now upgrading to i7 chipset and 2G VRAM.
Moral of tale, I have the high end iMac BTO for less than the actual cost of the i5 3.1Ghz model - a saving in total of US$550 if had factory installed RAM included - its Kingston by the way.
So there are good bargains out there, do necessary research, make sure you have original sales receipt and qualify serial number - never buy without seeing though - I had huge trouble with eBay after being ripped off on Macbook Pro - took three months to sort out and they billed me too!!!!
I had a similar experience to this, 2 week old i5 27in for sale, I paid US$1,300 for it with an additional 8gig of RAM installed, thus it had 12gig in total.
Did not test before buying though, but had original receipt and everything else from a reseller shop I know very well.
Upshot of this, got home, erased HDD, did custom instal and Time Machine clone - all seemed well.
Last test, yellow tint test - big surprise not, I had one of the problem machines, LCD screen also had marks behind panel.
Moaned to Apple, after several phone calls they agreed to exchange machine for new one, even though it was by then 7 days out of return policy - still actually using it now until my one iMac is repaired and returned to home - I'm now upgrading to i7 chipset and 2G VRAM.
Moral of tale, I have the high end iMac BTO for less than the actual cost of the i5 3.1Ghz model - a saving in total of US$550 if had factory installed RAM included - its Kingston by the way.
So there are good bargains out there, do necessary research, make sure you have original sales receipt and qualify serial number - never buy without seeing though - I had huge trouble with eBay after being ripped off on Macbook Pro - took three months to sort out and they billed me too!!!!