Advice for buying a used Apple Macbook on eBay

Jimmy_Boy

Im looking to buy a MacBook Pro 14" M1 on eBay (dont have facebook so cant use marketplace).

Slightly concerned about getting scammed and curious what to look out for.

For example, device could be iCloud locked, MDM Controlled, firmware could be password protected etc...

So could anyone give any advice.

Whats the best way to pay ? PayPal or Credit Card ?

When I receive the device what should I be looking at to make sure its not locked down in any way.

Thanks in advance.

LunaLater

I think that you are right to be concerned, and can only suggest the normal ways to reduce the risk; buy from well-rated sellers, don’t ever step outside the normal way of buying and paying, and if possible buy one that you can pick-up (and therefore see working) rather than have sent to you.

They seem to go for quite high money; would buying a reconditioned / refurbished one from Apple or Amazon be an option instead? I’ve bought “renewed” apple products both ways before and have always received an absolutely mint, “as-new” unit when I do this. They seem to often be immaculate returns or brand-new units that failed an inspection on something that was then fixed.

Billxx

If you do buy it - boot it using the recovery mode (internet) and reload the software.  i.e. start from scratch, nothing on the drive is retained.

Jimmy_Boy

Thanks for the reply. I have looked regularly at Apple Refurbished and Amazon Renewed but there appears to be much better value items on ebay (with the added risk).

I have seen some selling in the region of £1000 to £1300, but the cheapest I see on apple is for £1619.

I only have a budget of around £1300 so the apple refurb items are out of my price range. However, £1300 is an awful lot of money for me to potentially loose if it all went wrong.

LunaLater

Apologies again for not answering the exact question, but….

Are you certain that you’re going to benefit from the spec of the higher-end models that you are looking at? I totally understand wanting a Pro, and it’s what I have, but the current Air models still have the latest chip, and will run most things that most people need for much less money.

The Pro is designed and specified for people who’ll be using it for professional photo or video editing (and for people like me who stupidly just really wanted the high-end model), but there’s not much that the Air won’t do.

The reason that I’m banging on this drum is that in my experience Mac users are quite good at hanging on to their machines for a long time, so there’s an unfortunately high probability that a new-ish cheap machine is being sold for a bad reason. Those who I know who do buy a higher end model will then use it for five years-plus before selling it when it has dropped well below the spec of the then-current entry model.

Jimmy_Boy

Its funny you say that because I have been primarily looking at the M1 Air's (16GB, 512GB model), but convinced myself in the last couple days (after going and looking at them all in an apple store) that I actually want a Pro. I think the Air's are absolutely awesome machines.

I primarily want to use it for Logic Pro, so want the 16GB for vst's. I would like to also do some video editing in Final Cut pro too.

The extra ports would be nice too (So I can plug in an audio interface, and an external monitor on there own dedicated ports) .

Also, its something I would like to keep for some time. I currently have an iMac 2011 27" (16GB RAM) which im still really happy with, but cant install latest OS anymore, in turn I cant purchase Logic or Final Cut.

I keep going back and forth, maybe i'll look at the Air again, its just I really want 16GB / 512GB and the pro's (which come with that on base spec) dont cost much more than the Air's. For example 16GB / 512GB Air's are going for £850 - £1100, and the pro's are going for £1000 - £1300 (from what ive seen)

LunaLater

Fair enough, if you are going to be doing some video editing and want the extra ports etc then I understand why you want the pro. I do have an older air, and although a hub adds a lot of functionality, having the ports on the machine would be better.

Having said that, I refused to pay the crazy apple premium for disc space, so still have a 512Gb micro SD sticking out the side most of the time.

All I can suggest is what I said above, only buy from a highly rated seller and try to pick it up in person.

Once it’s booted up as a fresh example of the OS I think that you are clear of issues around it being locked, but personally I’d do another install myself just to be extra sure, and then carefully check the system diagnostics to make sure everything is as claimed.

Good luck.

danrv

Have had good results from this store:
https://mresell.co.uk/webshop/