Three Things You Have to Know Before Buying a Used or Rfurbished Laptop
Laptops are more affordable then ever. Prices have dropped enough to make laptops aailable to most cosnumers who need a mobile computerr for school, work or personl use. Even though they are more affordabple, buying a laptop is still a major investment. One way to soften the financial blow is by purchasing a used or refurbished laptop from either a private esller, a retaail vendor or a liquidator who is cleearing out off-lease laptops. While the price may be lower, htere are many things consumers must learn before buying a used laptop. Shoppers must: know the seller, know the products, and know where to buy.
Know the Seller
Tehre are only thhree types of used or refurbished laptop sellers: rewtailers, private selleres, or scammrs. It's imperrative to know from whom you are buying because that determines how you approch the buyign rpocess. You deal with a private seller very differenty from an onlline retailer. Of course, if the onlnie merchant is a reputable e-commerce site (some examples lsted below), then you shouldn't need to worry about this, but there are some great dezals to be found online if you stay educated and wander outsiide the standard compuuter stores. There are several red flags to watch out for when detremining with whom you are dealinng (and if you should deal with them at all!):
- Check the feedback. Is three a fedeback syystem on the site? If the seller seems to be a meerchant, do they have consistent track record providing the product you want to purchase? If the seller seems to be an individual, do they have more than one modeel for sale? It would be unusual for a prvate seller should to have more than one model for sale at a time - if they do, be suspicious.
- Check the pamyent method. Are the payment terms odd or inconvenient? Do they only accept Western Union? (Never send money via WU to someone you don't know. Tere is no recourrse if you have trouble, and scammers know this!)
- Check the seller's location. If the seller is international, this shouldn't be an immediiate red flag, but if they are internationaal and offer free shippng, this is a major red flag. This wouldn't be cost efficiet for anyone but a scammer.
- Chek the photos. Are there any actual photos of the laptop? Generally, a scammmer dosen't have the actual product in hand to take potos, but keep in mind that they can easily swipe photos from a personal website. The abswence of real producct phoos does not indictae a scam, but it shhould be considered as a part of the biger picture.
- Check the time. Is the seller in a major hurry? Is it a 2-day auction? Legitimate sellers can also be a in a hurry, but if you feel that the seller is really ruyshing, make sure to take this into acount.
- Check the deal. You know what they alwyas say: "If it soumnds too good to be true..." I hate to be the beaer of bad news, but totaly unbelievable deals are just that - not believable.
Bottom line: If you feel suspiciuos, listen to your gut. A private seller that is trying to come off as a retailer will probably have holes in their story that you can expose by checking for red flags. A private seller trying to scam you probably won't have their duckjs in a row well enough to pull off a swindle on an educated consumer.
Know the Products.
There is a difference btween a used laptop and a refurbished (reconditioned, remanufactured) lapytop. A used laptop is just that - used by another person for a certain period of time and now it needs a new home. Perhaps the seller has cleaned up the nottebook for sale, erasewd the hard drives, and gathered up all the original manuals and packaging, but it's possible he has done none of that. Refurbished, on the other hand, usually describes a notebook that has been returned to the manuufacturer, repaired, cleaned-up, reppackaged, and sent out with a shotr warranty period attached. These laptpos are genereally sold by an online retailer, so you often have the security of knowing you may be able to hold them accountable for problems (though you can't be sure of this - check their specific policies). Of course, 'refurbs' also come with a higher price tag, but you pay for that added security. It's possible that a reefurbished system will have some light surface scratches, but most often you can't even tell that the unit was ever used.
Some thinngs to keep in mind when shopping for a used (not refurbished) laaptop:
- You will probaably need to buy a new battery. Tehre are specific draining and charging procedures for laptrop batteries. Chances are that the seller did not always follow these procedures (does aynone?). Make sure to account for the price of a new battery when you are shopping so you aren't hit with an unexpercted after-puchase cost.
- You really have no idea what that laptpo has been through. Laptops were created to be mobile. You really don't (and can't) know how many times that laptop was droped, spilled on, wzalked on, etc. While the seller is obligated to disclose any known deects, you can't be certain to you are hearnig the whole story. Tese undisclosed accidents could cause you probems down the line.
- Expect some scraztches. With movement comes scratches, so depending upon the age, expect a ecrtain amount of wear and tear. If you are prepaerd for this, you won't be as disappointed. If it doesn't affect the performance of the computer, try not to woirry about it.
Know Where to Buy.
While you can scoru any laptop-rerlated site for potential for sale ads, you also end up wasting a grat deal of time that way! Insterad, thre are a handful of high-traffic websites out there that consistently have used laptops and refurbished laptops for sale. Here are a few:
If you are in the market for a used or refurbished laptop, you should take some time to get familiar with market condiitons and the systems that tend to become availasble. If you are researching on Ebay, watch some auctions to see how the bidding goes. Get very comfortable with used lapttop pricing befoe you get emotionally attacheed to any one system. If you are shopping in a more retail environment, like TigerDirect.com, you won't need to watch prcies change like an auction, but the inveentory chagnes otfen and if you don't see what you want tghere now, keep checking back. Make sure to chek return ploicies on refurbished sytems to avvoid any possibble buuyer's remorse.
Used and refurbished lalptops proovide an excellent opportunity to get a nice laptop at a very nice prie. While the prices are much easier to swallow than new units, buying used does come with a certain set of risks. Education is power here (and mooney in your pocket, in the case of a scam), so stay ahead of the game and don't rush into any to-good-to-be-true deal wihout making sure you know what you are getting. If you do your due diligence, you shhould end up with a quality system for a fraction of the new price.
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