- Jun 6, 2014
- 14
- 0
- 4,520
Long Story:
Just about a year ago I completed my first computer build, and I absolutely love it. However, in building a new computer I gave up using my Dell XPS 8700 computer that I put a lot of money into. It's a few years old but it's still a blazing fast system in great condition; but I stopped using it due to the lure of a custom build, not a lack of functionality. So I decided to try and sell the system on eBay. It has fairly decent specs, a 3.4Ghz i7 quad core processor, a somewhat ok-ish GTX OEM graphics card, 24Gbs of RAM, and I even bought and installed a brand new WD 1TB hard drive with a clean copy of Windows 8.1 Pro so it would be as close to new as it could get.
The listing went for $600, the price of the computer was $800 when I bought it and this seemed to be a fair price considering the like-new condition and the upgrades I had put into it. (An extra 16Gbs of RAM and a new hard drive). Multiple people made offers on the computer, however nobody immediately offered for the full price of the computer right away. Finally somebody made an offer for the full price, and after doing a background check of the guy who made the offer I sold the computer. As soon as I received payment for the computer I shipped it off to the buyer. I did include a return policy and also paid for insured shipping. Almost two weeks went by since the arrival of the package was confirmed, but there was no feedback from the buyer. I was worried as to why the buyer was silent during the return period, and on the last hour of the last day of the two week return period, I received a message from eBay saying that I had shipped a defective product to the guy and his claim was that the computer was non-functional: the mouse didn't work, when he clicked on things they wouldn't open (which contradicts him saying that he couldn't use the mouse), and that the computer was incredibly slow and that I ripped him off.
I was really aggravated. I knew it was total BS. And what was I supposed to do? I knew that there was insured shipping so if something went wrong the computer could be replaced... But I had to refund the guy and pay for the shipping. It was to Texas and I live in Maryland so it definitely wasn't cheap. When I got the computer back, it wouldn't start. But after multiple attempts I got it to turn on, and what I saw made me so angry. The computer wasn't working because the idiot had downloaded bucket loads of torrents, viruses, and pirated software. It was so bad that the computer wouldn't turn on for more than a few minutes before crapping out. I had to get yet ANOTHER hard drive and reinstall windows, as well as I had to short circuit the BIOS switch on the motherboard. It took days of effort just to even get the thing running again!! I made a claim on eBay that the buyer was at fault and not me, but of course eBay took the side of the buyer and I ended up making no money off of the sale. In fact, I lost about $50 due to shipping.
Ok so that's what happened, but I still would like to sell my computer... What do I do? Selling it to a place like Best Buy will only get me a portion of what I was hoping to make from eBay. There's no way I'm going to try to sell it again on eBay. Any ideas or experiences? Thanks. And if you read all that^^^, kudos to you! Even I didn't reread it to proof-read. Oh and Craig's list is definitely not something I'm willing to try. The whole process creeps me out.
Shortened Version:
I got ripped off on eBay trying to sell a computer... What else should I do? Places like Best Buy don't give nearly as much as I would like for my computer, and Craig's List is definitely not something I would want to use.
Just about a year ago I completed my first computer build, and I absolutely love it. However, in building a new computer I gave up using my Dell XPS 8700 computer that I put a lot of money into. It's a few years old but it's still a blazing fast system in great condition; but I stopped using it due to the lure of a custom build, not a lack of functionality. So I decided to try and sell the system on eBay. It has fairly decent specs, a 3.4Ghz i7 quad core processor, a somewhat ok-ish GTX OEM graphics card, 24Gbs of RAM, and I even bought and installed a brand new WD 1TB hard drive with a clean copy of Windows 8.1 Pro so it would be as close to new as it could get.
The listing went for $600, the price of the computer was $800 when I bought it and this seemed to be a fair price considering the like-new condition and the upgrades I had put into it. (An extra 16Gbs of RAM and a new hard drive). Multiple people made offers on the computer, however nobody immediately offered for the full price of the computer right away. Finally somebody made an offer for the full price, and after doing a background check of the guy who made the offer I sold the computer. As soon as I received payment for the computer I shipped it off to the buyer. I did include a return policy and also paid for insured shipping. Almost two weeks went by since the arrival of the package was confirmed, but there was no feedback from the buyer. I was worried as to why the buyer was silent during the return period, and on the last hour of the last day of the two week return period, I received a message from eBay saying that I had shipped a defective product to the guy and his claim was that the computer was non-functional: the mouse didn't work, when he clicked on things they wouldn't open (which contradicts him saying that he couldn't use the mouse), and that the computer was incredibly slow and that I ripped him off.
I was really aggravated. I knew it was total BS. And what was I supposed to do? I knew that there was insured shipping so if something went wrong the computer could be replaced... But I had to refund the guy and pay for the shipping. It was to Texas and I live in Maryland so it definitely wasn't cheap. When I got the computer back, it wouldn't start. But after multiple attempts I got it to turn on, and what I saw made me so angry. The computer wasn't working because the idiot had downloaded bucket loads of torrents, viruses, and pirated software. It was so bad that the computer wouldn't turn on for more than a few minutes before crapping out. I had to get yet ANOTHER hard drive and reinstall windows, as well as I had to short circuit the BIOS switch on the motherboard. It took days of effort just to even get the thing running again!! I made a claim on eBay that the buyer was at fault and not me, but of course eBay took the side of the buyer and I ended up making no money off of the sale. In fact, I lost about $50 due to shipping.
Ok so that's what happened, but I still would like to sell my computer... What do I do? Selling it to a place like Best Buy will only get me a portion of what I was hoping to make from eBay. There's no way I'm going to try to sell it again on eBay. Any ideas or experiences? Thanks. And if you read all that^^^, kudos to you! Even I didn't reread it to proof-read. Oh and Craig's list is definitely not something I'm willing to try. The whole process creeps me out.
Shortened Version:
I got ripped off on eBay trying to sell a computer... What else should I do? Places like Best Buy don't give nearly as much as I would like for my computer, and Craig's List is definitely not something I would want to use.
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