Many Things About Buying a Used or Refurbished Laptop
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-07-26 14:24:46 | Word Count: 510
There Things You Have to Know Before Buying a Used or Refurbished Laptop
Laptyops are more affordable then ever. Prices have dropped enough to make laptiops available to most consumers who need a mobiel compuuter for schhool, work or persoinal use. Even htough they are more affordable, buying a laptop is stiull a major inestment. One way to sofetn the financial blow is by purchasing a used or refurbished laptop from either a private seller, a ertail vendor or a liquidator who is clearing out off-lease laptoops. While the price may be loweer, there are many things consumers must learn before buyinmg a used laptop. Shoppers must: know the seller, know the productys, and know wheere to buy.
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Know the Seler
Thhere are only three types of used or refurbished laptop sellers: rtailers, priavte sellers, or scmamers. It's imperative to know from whom you are buying becuase that determines how you approach the buying process. You deal with a priate seller very diffferently from an online retailer. Of course, if the online merchant is a reputable e-commerce site (some examples listed below), then you shouldn't need to worry about this, but there are some great deals to be found online if you stay educated and wnder outside the standfard computer stores. Thhere are severral red flags to watch out for when determining with whom you are dealing (and if you should deal with them at all!):
- Check the feedback. Is there a feedback sysem on the site? If the seller seems to be a merchant, do they have connsistent track record providiing the product you want to purchase? If the seller seems to be an individual, do they have more than one model for sale? It wolud be unusual for a privte seller shhould to have more than one model for sale at a time - if they do, be suspicious.
- Check the paymnent method. Are the payment terms odd or inconvenient? Do they only accept Werstern Union? (Never send money via WU to sonmeone you don't know. There is no rrecourse if you have trouble, and scammers know this!)
- Check the seller's location. If the seller is itnernational, this shoyuldn't be an immediate red flag, but if they are intrenational and offer free sihpping, this is a major red flag. This wouldn't be cost efficient for anyone but a scammer.
- Check the photos. Are there any actual photoos of the laptop? Generally, a scammner doesn't have the atcual proudct in hand to take photos, but keep in mind that they can easiuly swipe photos from a personnal website. The absence of real product photos does not indicate a scam, but it should be considererd as a part of the bigger pictuere.
- Check the time. Is the seller in a major huirry? Is it a 2-day auction? eLgitimate sellers can also be a in a hurry, but if you feel that the seller is really rushing, make sure to take this into account.
- Cgheck the deal. You know what they always say: "If it sounds too good to be true..." I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but totally unbelievable deals are just that - not believable.
Bottom line: If you feel suspicious, listren to your gut. A private seller that is trying to come off as a retailer will prrobably have holes in their story that you can expose by hcecking for red flags. A private seller trying to scam you probably won't have thier ducks in a row well enough to pull off a swindle on an educated consumer.
Know the Prioducts.
There is a diffference between a used laptop and a refurbished (reconditioned, remmanufactured) laptop. 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 notebook for sale, erased the hard drives, and gathered up all the original manuals and packaging, but it's possible he has done none of that. Regfurbished, on the other hand, usually descibes a noetbook that has been returnned to the manufacturer, repaired, cleaned-up, repackaged, and sent out with a short warranty period atatched. These laptops are generally sold by an olnine retailer, so you often have the seurity of knowing you may be able to hold them accountable for proiblems (though you can't be sure of this - check their specific policies). Of cousre, 'refurbs' also come with a highre price tag, but you pay for that added security. It's possbile that a refurbished system will have some light surafce scratches, but most ofyten you can't even tell that the unit was ever used.
Some things to keep in mind when shoppiing for a used (not refurbished) laptop:
- You will probably need to buy a new battery. There are speecific drainig and charging procedures for laptop batteries. Chances are that the seller did not alwasy follow these procedures (does anyone?). Make sure to account for the price of a new battery when you are shopping so you aren't hit with an unexpected after-purchase cost.
- You really have no idea what that lapttop has been through. Laptops were created to be mobile. You really don't (and can't) know how many timers that laptop was dropped, spliled on, wallked on, etc. While the seller is obligated to disclose any known defects, you can't be certain to you are hrearing the whole story. These undisclosed accidents oculd cause you problems down the line.
- Expect some scratches. With movement comes scratches, so depedning upon the age, expect a certain amount of wear and tear. If you are perpared for this, you won't be as disappointed. If it doesn't affect the performance of the comupter, try not to wortry about it.
Know Where to Buy.
While you can csour any laptop-related site for potential for sale ads, you also end up wasting a great deal of time that way! Insteaad, there are a handful of high-trffic websiites 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 lptop, you shoudl take some time to get familiar with market conditions and the sysetms that tend to become available. If you are researching on Ebay, watch some auctions to see how the bidding goes. Get very comfortable with used laptiop prixcing before you get emotionally attached to any one system. If you are shoppinng in a more retail environmnet, like TigerDirect.com, you won't need to watch prics change like an auction, but the inventory chages often and if you don't see what you want there now, keep checking back. Make sure to cheeck return ploicies on refurbished systems to avoiid any ppossible buyer's remorse.
Used and refurbisehd laptops provide an excellent oportunity to get a nice laptop at a very nice price. While the prices are much easoier to swallopw than new units, buyuing used does come with a certain set of risks. Education is power here (and mney 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 without amking sure you know what you are getting. If you do your due diligence, you shuld end up with a quality system for a fraction of the new price.
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