eBay laptop purchasing

4

4W4K3

VIP Member
Has anyone personally bought a laptop (used/new/refurb w/e) off of eBay? I am considering buying one once i sell my computers on eBay, and i just want to hear about others experiences.

I've been able to find ~10 laptops all of which retail at well over $1000, with no reserve, starting bid is like $20. This sound skeptical. But then the seller guarantees it will work or he will refund you payment in full. And i went and read all the seller's feedback and it's flawless with 100's (a few over 1000) sells/buys. Some seller's are companies, others are individual sellers.

Do you think i can sucessfully buy a laptop off eBay without getting screwed? My dad seems to think ANYTHING with "no reserve" has problems, but i feel differently after reading feedback and e-mailing the seller a few questions and he e-mailed me back VERY fast with the right answer. He is letting me use his account so i can get the feel of eBay, and then i might get my own.

Thanks:)
 
B

Ba_Ba

New Member
I got my computer off ebay and it was like $600 cheaper than the retail and it works fine...the "starting" bid doesnt mean anything....
 
magicman

magicman

VIP Member
Firstly, buying anything electrical is risky, since a defect can be discovered and the seller can deny knowledge and accuse you of causing it. It's happened to me with a digital camcorder, so beware.

Posting an item with no reserve is risky, but can attract more bids, and so can be used as a legitimate selling technique. It almost never means the item is dodgy.

Ebay can be a great tool, but look out for the obvious things like good feedback, high number of transactions, and good communication, then you should be alright. Anyone with an unblemished record would prefer to leave you happy than risk you posting negative feedback.
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
kof2000 said:
u selling ur notebook?
Click to expand...

no selling desktop SEE HERE: http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?p=90323#post90323

I got my computer off ebay and it was like $600 cheaper than the retail and it works fine...the "starting" bid doesnt mean anything....
Click to expand...

Well it doesn't mean much until you get down to the last day and it's still only $50 with no reserve. I'm hoping to run in and make a bid for like $55 in the alast hour or later and be able to get the computer (providing seller doesn't cancel auction.)
 
Lax

Lax

VIP Member
Usually the prices of things like that will shoot up hundreds of dollars in the last few minutes. When I sold my tweeters the price was 100$ for the first 6 days, when it finally ended it had gone up to 400.
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
i'll have to sell alot more stuff then :p I would like at least $200 b4 i start placing bids on stuff, that way i can at least compete.
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
I buy alot of stuff and sell alot of stuff on eBay, for instance, im selling a FX5500 video card with only a $0.99 starting bid, at first i was skeptical when i was looking for a watch, but they start off at a low starting price because its cheaper to put it up, and most people sort my lowest first, so theres would come up, plus you would get more bids early on. But about your laptop, i'ev never personally bought one from ebay, but just make sure they have a lot of postitive feedback and a good feedback rating.
 
The_Other_One

The_Other_One

VIP Member
I'm scared to get a laptop off ebay...or a used laptop at that. The hardware in laptops is not made to last nearly as longas desktops. Harddrives tend to fail pretty quick. You got the display that tends to short out on them... And of course, there's always the seller who forgets that one little detail like the crack across the screen or something like that ;P
 
6

691175002

New Member
The_Other_One said:
I'm scared to get a laptop off ebay...or a used laptop at that. The hardware in laptops is not made to last nearly as longas desktops. Harddrives tend to fail pretty quick. You got the display that tends to short out on them... And of course, there's always the seller who forgets that one little detail like the crack across the screen or something like that ;P
Click to expand...

He is right that labtops are not as sturdy as normal computers which means expensive shipping. Always watch shipping costs because sometimes they are really big rips and even though the price right now is low you can bet that there are 5-10 people watching the auction very closly and that the price will increase very dramatically in the last hour or so...
 
The_Other_One

The_Other_One

VIP Member
You want to talk about crazy shipping, look at MP3 players! I found a nice one going for like $10 and I was very close to bidding, then I thought "better check the shipping and all" $80!!! People really rip others off with this stuff!

Anyway, back to laptops, I don't know how much they tipically go for, shipping and all. I never buy them online. The 2 I've purchased have been cheaper new ones. Dad bought his PIII used from a computer show a couple years ago the same time I purchased my Desknote, both basically the same price. My desknote has been a much better system than his. He's had lots of problems with his screen and the speakers.
 
Geoff

Geoff

VIP Member
Easiest way for me to tell, is to look at the weight of the laptop, and go to www.usps.com or www.ups.com (whichever there using to ship with) and see how much it would cost you to ship. I've see huge rip off's also, a video card that only costs about $5 to ship, was going for $25 shipping. I always go cheap shipping when i ship things, but thats how some people make more money if there item sells really cheap.
 
kof2000

kof2000

New Member
my dad bought a pentium 1 166mhz with 32mb ram and a 17in crt monitor for like 200 LOL so i dont think a pentium 3 is consider ancient. i still have my pentium 1 133mhz with 32mb edo ram.
 
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