Buying eBay laptops ? Are auction websites such as  eBay a good or bad place to purchase ?

If your looking for an ultra cheap top of the line laptop forget it, these are so few with so many people watching all the time for this kind of thing it’s near impossible, plus if a laptop is too cheap, you have to ask why? what’s wrong with it? Does the seller not want to make as much money as possible?

This can mean a number of things such as..

• scams involving eBay laptops
• The laptop has a problem, read the bottom or small print of the auction.
• It’s someone trying a con or scam
• Is the auction for the actual laptop? Make sure it’s not some silly link where you can apparently get a £1000 laptop for nothing.
• Even someone not advising that a laptop has a fault or even scratches could be interpreted as a con, if it’s knowingly not mentioned in the auction.

Sometimes it can be a genuine sale at a low price, but the chances of finding these are very and there are people always looking for these types of auctions.

When Buying  eBay laptops be prepared to pay
a fair price for your chosen laptop.

Always set your maximum bid amount and never go above it, many times laptops get sold for prices more expensive than the equivalent from a shop, never get caught up in the auction fever.

If possible actually collect the laptop rather than having it posted, some people have a rather odd idea of as new condition so it’s better to view it and then hand over your cash.

If the laptop is still reported as being under warranty ask the seller for the serial number, using this we can get the warranty details from manufacturers such as Dell.

Even if the seller advises the laptop is in good condition ask if there are any blemishes, scratches, cracks or other problems.

This way if the laptop turns up with any cosmetic problems you have proof that the seller has mis-sold.

Does the laptop come with an operating system or software?
Make sure the software is licensed and comes with restore disks. Having unlicensed software means you might not be entitled to updates, which is very important for operating systems.

What happens if you ever need to rebuild the laptop, if you received no restore CD, this can be a cost of around £100 depending on the required software, and finally of course any unlicensed software is illegal.

Does the auction mention anything along the lines, sold as seen no returns this is a big warning that the laptop or like may have some kind of issue.

Even before checking out eBay for laptops, it’s better to find the laptop you’d like and checkout some direct sale web prices, once you know the price to pay you’ll be much better armed.

What do you look for in eBay laptops ..

This article was put together to help purchase laptops from auction websites, of course there is much more to purchasing items such as checking sellers feedback, only ever contact sellers through eBay, never send cash or pay using services such as Western Union, always try to collect in person if possible.

Laptops are generally in such high demand, if an auction appears to good to be true, it probably is!!

Search for more on auction and eBay laptops

computer adviser ebay laptops article