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Would you buy a 2013 MacBook Pro under warranty but no box? (but great price)

A

andyACEcandy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
863
14
I'm in touch with a guy who posted his 13.3" MacBook Pro 2013 Retina with i5, 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd for $1,000

It's still under warranty obviously, but he doesn't have the box.

Is this suspicious? Would I need the box should I ever need any coverage on it? $1,000 seems like an incredible price. Almost too good to be true... so I'm being cautious.


Thanks
 
andyACEcandy said:
I'm in touch with a guy who posted his 13.3" MacBook Pro 2013 Retina with i5, 8gb ram, and 256gb ssd for $1,000

It's still under warranty obviously, but he doesn't have the box.

Is this suspicious? Would I need the box should I ever need any coverage on it? $1,000 seems like an incredible price. Almost too good to be true... so I'm being cautious.


Thanks
Click to expand...

I would. Sounds like he bought it, got outside the return window, and either decided he didn't want it any more or hit a financial snag and needs money ASAP. I almost never keep the box for more than a week.
 
SomeGuyDude said:
I would. Sounds like he bought it, got outside the return window, and either decided he didn't want it any more or hit a financial snag and needs money ASAP. I almost never keep the box for more than a week.
Click to expand...

You nailed it on the head. He's just calling them 'personal problems'
I'm just wondering if the warranty is still good if I don't have the box? Or if I could take it into an Apple store and purchase Applecare without a box?

$1,000 seems like too good to be true so I'm just trying to make sure I have all my bases covered. Same laptop with same specs goes for $1500+ I think
 
Looks like the seller is trying to flip that as quickly as possible, may or not be stolen like another poster said. $1000 for that model? Not even Best Buy, or any other retailer, is offering that much of a bargain so the seller may be unaware of the potential value (seems unlikely to me though). The box isn't important so I would say give it a go. If the transaction has to be done in person, make sure to bring someone or two along as a precaution, as the previous poster stated, and meet in a public place.
 
TheEnthusiast said:
Looks like the seller is trying to flip that as quickly as possible, may or not be stolen like another poster said. $1000 for that model? Not even Best Buy, or any other retailer, is offering that much of a bargain so the seller may be unaware of the potential value (seems unlikely to me though). The box isn't important so I would say give it a go. If the transaction has to be done in person, make sure to bring someone or two along as a precaution, as the previous poster stated, and meet in a public place.
Click to expand...


Thanks. Yeah, I've done a lot of Craigslist transactions but definitely nothing to this scale. We'll see if he's legit. I'm waiting for him to text me some pics and possibly a serial number now.

I'm sure he's getting bombed with e-mails/texts now though. That price is too good lol. Expecting a "hey, someone else is offering me $1300 for it..." soon
 
Meet in a public place, wouldn't be terribly concerned about having "backup". Just meet during the day in, say, a McD's parking lot or something.

My guess is he needs to sell this thing ASAP and that's why he's lowballing. Can't afford to wait for a top bidder. Just "I need money, if you have cash in hand let's do this right now." I've sold some things under similar circumstances.
 
I have seen the same spec rMPB sell for 1,034.00 on BB open box so that's about accurate. He's probably wanting the Haswell and it's just outside of the warranty. I personally would stay away from a rMPB out of warranty. If not be prepared to study up on ifixit.com.
 
SomeGuyDude said:
Meet in a public place, wouldn't be terribly concerned about having "backup". Just meet during the day in, say, a McD's parking lot or something.

My guess is he needs to sell this thing ASAP and that's why he's lowballing. Can't afford to wait for a top bidder. Just "I need money, if you have cash in hand let's do this right now." I've sold some things under similar circumstances.
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I'd advise against a parking lot. I've sold probably a dozen MacBook Pros meeting people inside a Starbucks or something like that. It's just safer all the way around.

A couple other comments to the OP:

1) One good protection for you is to ask for a copy of the receipt, for proof of purchase. Some people don't hang on to that legitimately, but if he does have i to give to you, that increases your odds of things being OK dramatically.
2) Asking for the serial number is smart, although not a guarantee of anything.
3) Stolen laptops have been an issue on Craigslist, but this price is not so absurd so as to make me super suspicious either.
 
IIRC, purchases from apple whether in store or online - receipts get emailed. though the deal is still great.
 
Have him show you the serial number and then have him logon to Apple's Support Profile website and show you that the machine is actually registered to him. Also confirm the warranty status.
Then have him unregister it in front of you.
If you buy a machine that is still registed to someone else you will have problems getting service down the road, warranty or not.
 
john123 said:
I'd advise against a parking lot. I've sold probably a dozen MacBook Pros meeting people inside a Starbucks or something like that. It's just safer all the way around.

A couple other comments to the OP:

1) One good protection for you is to ask for a copy of the receipt, for proof of purchase. Some people don't hang on to that legitimately, but if he does have i to give to you, that increases your odds of things being OK dramatically.
2) Asking for the serial number is smart, although not a guarantee of anything.
3) Stolen laptops have been an issue on Craigslist, but this price is not so absurd so as to make me super suspicious either.
Click to expand...

Okay, fair point. I was thinking a parking lot like the few spaces directly next to the Starbucks or whatever, not like a big ol' Wal-Mart one where no one can see ya. I think we were going after the same concept. XD
 
Gjwilly said:
Have him show you the serial number and then have him logon to Apple's Support Profile website and show you that the machine is actually registered to him. Also confirm the warranty status.
Then have him unregister it in front of you.
If you buy a machine that is still registed to someone else you will have problems getting service down the road, warranty or not.
Click to expand...


Okay, now this is just weird. The deal is so good, it has to be stolen lol...

He gave me the serial number via text message and I looked it up and it's a Late 2013 MacBook Pro purchased in October... Wtf? At $1,000 this is sick.

I'm waiting for him to send me more detailed pics now before I drive all the way to meet him. So far he's just sent me pics of the MacBook Pro itself... but I'm requesting pics of the 'About This Mac' section to confirm the serial and hardware specifications.
 
I won't tell you if you should buy it or not..just be careful and check it out thoroughly. As far as the warranty goes some of the post above are completely wrong. A new Mac will have a one year limited hardware warranty. You have within that first year to purchase the apple care protection plan which makes the warranty a full 3 years from the original date of purchase. It does not matter who's name the computer is registered in when you need support. They do not ask questions when it comes to phone support or repairs if names don't match. The one year warranty is with the computer/serial number, not a person. Just make sure it functions perfect and spend a decent amount of time with it to make sure there are no issues.

Source of info: I'm sure you can guess already
 
Just buy it already. Quit playing like you're going to pass this up ;)

Gjwilly said:
Have him show you the serial number and then have him logon to Apple's Support Profile website and show you that the machine is actually registered to him. Also confirm the warranty status.
Then have him unregister it in front of you.
If you buy a machine that is still registed to someone else you will have problems getting service down the road, warranty or not.
Click to expand...

I don't really register my machines when I buy them if at all.
 
alphaod said:
Just buy it already. Quit playing like you're going to pass this up ;)



I don't really register my machines when I buy them if at all.
Click to expand...

I didn't even know that was a thing people did. I don't get AppleCare, I don't even have an iCloud account.
 
why would you need the box to buy apple care?
maybe he just threw out the box?

the box...is...what it is...a box.
 
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