Selling a laptop on ebay, how to do it safely?

durham05

going to sell our oldest laptop on ebay, how do you list it safely re: postage, chargebacks. etc, never sold anything for this amount before.

Hammyman

Just list it as normal and make sure you put absolutely everything down in the description. Accept Paypal for payment and only send to the registered Paypal address and only when Paypal say its OK to send. Use a tracked service with sufficient insurance. PACK IT WELL WITH PLENTY OF PADDING

I've sold hundreds over the last couple of years between £100 and £700. I've had one with a HDD fault and another is on the way back because it decided to be dead on arrival so I'll find out why on Monday. Apart from that, not had any problems and no chargebacks.

peter_the_piper

Make sure that you security mark the battery and lappy and tell them all removable parts were marked. Note serial numbers.

Crowqueen

durham05 wrote: »

going to sell our oldest laptop on ebay, how do you list it safely re: postage, chargebacks. etc, never sold anything for this amount before.

Give it a good test to make sure it all works and also make sure you wipe the hard-drives of anything personal, and clear caches etc. Label all faults or blemishes. Check the screen for any "dead" pixels (showing up as black spots on the display that aren't removed by a quick wipe).

Also, it might be worth thinking about this as electronic items usually have a lifespan which seems to conveniently end just after they've been posted and arrived with a buyer. Even if you list it as working fine, they are more sensitive to wear and tear than other items and there are far too many moving parts to go wrong. If it is paid for by Paypal, you will be liable for it breaking down for 45 days - a month and a half - after the buyer pays for it. This isn't necessarily a legal provision but it is really better to accept that if it breaks down during that period, the buyer may be onto you for a refund and be fairly upset about having paid a lot of money for a machine that breaks down within short order. From the forums, this is common enough to make me think twice about buying a s/h electronic item on eBay, or even selling one, so you really need to think about what you would do if it came to the worst.

mobile48

Crowqueen wrote: »

Give it a good test to make sure it all works and also make sure you wipe the hard-drives of anything personal, and clear caches etc. Label all faults or blemishes. Check the screen for any "dead" pixels (showing up as black spots on the display that aren't removed by a quick wipe).

Also, it might be worth thinking about this as electronic items usually have a lifespan which seems to conveniently end just after they've been posted and arrived with a buyer. Even if you list it as working fine, they are more sensitive to wear and tear than other items and there are far too many moving parts to go wrong. If it is paid for by Paypal, you will be liable for it breaking down for 45 days - a month and a half - after the buyer pays for it. This isn't necessarily a legal provision but it is really better to accept that if it breaks down during that period, the buyer may be onto you for a refund and be fairly upset about having paid a lot of money for a machine that breaks down within short order. From the forums, this is common enough to make me think twice about buying a s/h electronic item on eBay, or even selling one, so you really need to think about what you would do if it came to the worst.

You post picks links together two thoughts I have:

I would guess Businesses will often remove hard disks on laptops before deposing of them to ensure no data is left behind.

I would also guess some people are replacing hard disks and selling them on ebay. From reports of failures within a few months one question would be is the selection or set up of replacement disks correct.

macfly

Then again, you could just take the advice of two sellers who have sold loads of these on ebay, myself and hammy. List it honestly and post it safely.
Anything can break or develop a fault. What else would you do with a laptop you don't need any more - bin it?

in_the_Cotswolds

I also have my laptop for sale on Ebay. Even though I'm a private seller I have a returns policy that states " Faulty item returns will be in accordance with both PayPal and eBay’s returns policy. This means goods not returned NO refund. Item return postage will be the same as sending".

This way if it is faulty they know they will have to return the item. I also put the postage and delivery down, i.e. Special Delivery and Insured no exceptions.

durham05

Thanks for al the resposes, will have a go at lsiting and see how it goes.

amcluesent

Lock down buyer preferences as covered many times
If you know how to, do a factory re-install of Windows
Put all serials # in the listing
Take loads of hi-rez pics and host on flickr etc to limit the 'it's slightly scratched, send me £50' scammers
Cancel and block zero feedback bidders while auction is running
Block buyers who ask stupid questions
Trust you instincts about buyers who appear 'iffy'

Crowqueen

Flickr will remove any pictures used for commercial purposes, so find a better image host like Photobucket, Imageshack or Uploadit.org to host your pictures.

Since you can't cancel or block snipers, you can't enforce who bids once they've got round your blocks. I would probably block bidders with less than 5 feedback who don't have a credit card attached to their account, but that kind of advice is just asking for trouble. The block on overseas bidders will stop the Nigerians - but you can't realistically stop other scammers.

By trusting people you engender trust in yourself.