7 Tips For Selling Your Laptop on EBay
Are you trying to sell your laptop on eBay? Well, eBay is certainly a good channel to get some extra cash from your old laptop sale, but be warned - there are some scammers out there who might cheat you.
You need to be careful when you’re selling your laptop - this article shows you some tips. In particular, you have to be careful of fraudulent bidders who scour eBay for the unwary and snatch their cash away.
1. Keep All Your Laptop Stuff
One great tip I have for selling laptops - make sure that you keep ALL the stuff found in the shipped laptop package when you first bought. You see, a buyer would certainly pay a bit more if the laptop has its original box, manuals, software, cables, etc. So make an effort to keep the original stuff with you - so when you finally sell your laptop, you have some good original stuff and ‘extras’ to offer the buyer.
2. Monitor The Auction’s Close
One of the most important things to do when selling your laptop is to monitor the auction’s close. In fact, this does not just apply to laptops, it applies to the sale of any kind of item you have.
The great majority of bids come in only within the last few minutes of an auction. What some scammers might do is to hijack an eBay user ID, then bid up the laptop as the auction is ending. You have to monitor your bidders towards the auction’s close. Those with poor feedback scores or who have not been active in eBay for more than a year are very suspicious indeed.
3. PayPal Is Not A Gurantee
Some of you may live and breathe by PayPal when you sell your laptop on eBay. Now, PayPal is owned by eBay - and they offer a Seller Protection Policy (covering the selling for up to US$5000 per year on any transaction PayPal deems fraudulent. However, there is some fine print you need to take note of - PayPal only provides cover is the transaction meets some specific criteria (e.g. must be shipped to an ‘eligible’ address, proof of signature by recipient needed for sale items US$250 and above).
4. Check Out Escrow.com
One website that is very useful in selling your laptop on eBay is Escrow.com. What does it do? Well, Escrow.com is a third party that collects, holds and disburses funds according to buyer and seller instructions. These guys are licensed and regulated, and serve to protect both buyers and sellers. They act like a ‘judge’ in any transaction and ensure that all flows smoothly and fairly.
5. Hold On Before Shipping
One lesson I learnt in my eBay adventures (not just with laptops but other sale items) is to hold on a bit before shipping. Do not - repeat - do not ship your laptop to the buyer until at least one business day after a PayPal payment has been made into your account or a money order has cleared your bank. You don’t want to send off the laptop only to discover the payment was fraudulent.
6. Communicate via eBay
Here’s an important one - do your communication via eBay. eBay has its own built-in communications system and you should fully make use of it. By keeping transactions and communication within eBay, you have a solid and traceable record that will help investigations is you get scammed.
7. Wipe Out Your Hard Drive
Many people forget to do this after selling their laptop. Please, please please - remove all your personal information, credit card numbers, love notes and passwords from that hard drive on your laptop. There’s a good video on ‘How to Completely Erase a Hard Drive’ that you should definitely watch.
Conclusion
I hope this article helped you understand some good tips on selling laptops on eBay. For most people, selling expensive items like laptops on eBay should not pose a problem - however, there have been cases of the unlucky few who got scammed. They often end up without the laptop and without the buyer’s money. So do take note of the above tips the next time you’re selling a laptop (or any other expensive item) on eBay. Good luck and happy selling!
Gary Hendricks runs a website about laptops. Visit his website at Best-Laptop-Guide.com to learn more about selecting the best laptops and accessories to suit your needs.
