Advice on how to buy a used iPad

lonestarfan

Can anyone explain the series of iPads to me please. I have an ipad2. I bought it in April 2012 for £399 (32gb wifi) as it dropped in price a bit as a new ipad had just been launched possibly the retina - is that an iPad 3?
I know there's an iPad air launched in November 2013. Is that an ipad4?
I want to buy a used iPad for my sister as I can't afford brand new. So I've seen prices for ipad2 but don't know if there's an iPad 3 and 4 etc. I only want wifi. I don't want to pay more than half price. I've seen ipad2 on eBay and preloved but around £250. I don't want to pay that much for used as there's no guarantee. What should I be looking to pay, which iPad should I look for, what do I need to be careful of, and what do I need to assess to see if its a good one which will work and a good price? Would be really glad to hear from people who know how to buy used items. TIA.

redcard

How much do you have to spend?

lonestarfan

redcard wrote: »

How much do you have to spend?

It depends on what model it is. I don't want to pay more than half of the price of brand new. Eg an ipad air is £399 new so I wouldn't want to pay more this £200 as I'm a bit risk averse and how do you know its ok as used don't come with a guarantee from Apple.

chrisw

There's a useful summary of the models on wiki:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

If you scroll down there is a comparison table.

d123

lonestarfan wrote: »

Can anyone explain the series of iPads to me please. I have an ipad2. I bought it in April 2012 for £399 (32gb wifi) as it dropped in price a bit as a new ipad had just been launched possibly the retina - is that an iPad 3?
I know there's an iPad air launched in November 2013. Is that an ipad4?

The sequence is iPad - iPad 2 - iPad with Retina (3rd generation) - iPad 4th generation - iPad Air (5th generation).

The iPad 3 had a few minor issues (like running much warmer than the others), if you can afford to, try and get an iPad 4 at the least. It's probably the best current value for money model there is.

lonestarfan

Thnx. I'll look out for ipad4 then. What kind of things should I ask as I'm buying secondhand.

lonestarfan

What price do people think I should be paying for a used item of this nature? I've haven't really got much experience of buying used items so need a bit of advice and then will stick to it rather than get carried away. TIA.

coolagarry

A thing to bear in mind with any used tablet or phone is that the battery may have had a lot of use and may need replacing. That can be very expensive with an ipad?

lonestarfan

coolagarry wrote: »

A thing to bear in mind with any used tablet or phone is that the battery may have had a lot of use and may need replacing. That can be very expensive with an ipad?

On the Apple website it's £79 plus £7 shipping for a new battery. It's difficult to know how to consider this aspect of buying second hand eg someone could have had it for a year but used it a lot whereas another could be 2 yrs old with little use. Not sure what to do now!

Quiet_Spark

lonestarfan wrote: »

Not sure what to do now!

I'd take my £200 and buy a brand new Nexus 7 rather than join a crowd that seems happy to pay way over the odds for a name and then be told what I can and can't do with it.

googler

lonestarfan wrote: »

Thnx. I'll look out for ipad4 then. What kind of things should I ask as I'm buying secondhand.

It has no moving parts, so in my view all you can really ask is, apart from general cosmetic condition, is;

"Has it been used with a screen protector?"
"Has it been used in a case?"
"How long does it tend to last on one battery charge?"
"What accessories (if any) are included?"