Thinkpads Forum

Most likely wrong forum. Please move it to appropiate forum. Thank you.

I'm shopping for used Thinkpads (T4x or T60) from local newsgroups/advertisement. Yeah I know there are alternative ways e.g. this forum or eBay, but I prefer to see the laptop in person before handing in the cash.

How should I finish a deal buying used Thinkpads from private owners? I don't want to spend my cash on stolen laptop, so I might ask them to show some kind of proof of purchase.

However what happens next? Like how can me and the seller complete the transfer of registration and warranty? Since most likely I'm handing over cash (sellers on Craigslist hates money-order/check scams), there isn't any proof of purchase for me unlike eBay.

Any idea/suggestion? Thank you all.

The warranty belongs to the machine - not the owner. No transfer is necessary.

Hi,

I'd still go with eBay, or this forum. Pay with PayPal, and you can file a claim if the item was misrepresented. Checking seller's feedback before bidding, of course, is a must.

Depending on what you want to spend, and how urgent of a matter this is to you, you may wanna check lenovo outlet section, some great stuff appears there every now and again.

I don't know whether anything has changed, but I've bought ThinkPads on eBay, never transferred the warranty in writing, and was still able to file claims on more than one occasion.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any further assistance.

Thank you all for the fast replies.

I guess I'll ask the buyer if he can provide me some sort of proof of purchase (e.g. let me pay in check or Paypal). If not I probably will stick with eBay or this forum.

Edit:
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Oh wait one more question. To ensure I won't be held by "password ransom", which passwords should I check? BIOS? Hard drive password? Anything else?
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namezero,

Some people will have a proof of purchase, some won't. As long as the laptop is the one you want and it carries the IBM warranty, you should be good. Don't be so paranoid, make the transaction easy for yourself and for the seller.

Make sure the laptop boots to BIOS or Windows, I'll never buy another one I plan on fixing that doesn't do that.

I've bought a few used laptop, all locally except I just bought an $800 r60e off ebay. My advice:
a ) You can get a bill of sale off the 'net that will cover you in case the laptop turns out to be stolen. Basically it just includes a declaration that the seller owns the laptop. So long as you have that signed you are safe legally (it is a crime to knowingly buy stolen goods), but no matter what happens if the laptop is found to be stolen you are not entitled to keep it, no matter how much you paid or what anyone signed. Even if the original owner is not found, you might be required to hand it over to the police. I think the odds of this happening are pretty remote so long as you take reasonable precautions, though. Of course that includes at least asking for the original receipt etc. but it might have been lost. You both sign the thing and it is a totally legal receipt (bill of sale).
Avoid anyone that does not want to give you their home address and tel. #. You can do a reverse telephone lookup to be sure they are not lying. Some people use VOIP though, so their numbers might not give you a match to the right place.


b)I found Ebay a lot of work. If I'd known how much work it'd be I wouldn't have bought off it. I might have saved 350 over buying new (the unit was a display unit) but there is sooo much fraud, the newer the laptops the more fraud there is around too. I got a security alert about a scammer with 111 feedback, so watch out. Sometimes accouns get hacked, too. Nobody accepts escrow either, even legit sellers. I have read some of the fine print, and ebay and paypal's "protection" is pretty shaky. Paypal is a bank too (I think), so I don't think they would return your money if they could not recover it themselves. It doesn't take long to remove money from an account, either....

Bottom line is: relax and go for what you really want and can afford. It seems to me though that you'll never be comfortable enough unless you buy a brand new machine from Lenovo...if that's going to make you sleep better, and stop stressing over something extremely remedial in the big picture of life as any laptop is, take that route.

BTW: PayPal is NOT a bank, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get away with many things that they do. And their buyer protection is way better than their seller protection.

What machine/price range are you looking at anyway?

IBM still sells used ThinkPads with warranty too:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... Id=2576396

[quote="whizkid"]IBM still sells used ThinkPads with warranty too:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... Id=2576396[/quote]

I looked into that, and those things are hardly any cheaper than brand new, if you want a newer laptop. In any case you can do much better elsewhere.

1. ask for the model-type and serial number. You can check warranty status online with that info. They may also be able to tell you some history if any support call if any and what they were.
2. call Lenovo and ask to look for any current registration information to see who is the registered owner if any.
3. At least ask for proof of purchase if the person can provide.
4. If no original proof of purchase, ask for a bill of sale. Make sure you get the person's name, address and driver license number on the bill of sale and have him sign it.

Raise a red flag if any of the above things don't fit together and judge for yourself.

aau007 wrote:1. ask for the model-type and serial number. You can check warranty status online with that info. They may also be able to tell you some history if any support call if any and what they were.
2. call Lenovo and ask to look for any current registration information to see who is the registered owner if any.
3. At least ask for proof of purchase if the person can provide.
4. If no original proof of purchase, ask for a bill of sale. Make sure you get the person's name, address and driver license number on the bill of sale and have him sign it.

Raise a red flag if any of the above things don't fit together and judge for yourself.

don't forget to ask for SSN and mother's maiden name while at it! <just kidding>

If seriously, as I've mentioned in my earlier post, check the warranty on the Lenovo website and make sure laptop boots up. That's pretty much all you need. And as others have said, if you're so paranoid about buying a used laptop, Lenovo sells refurbished units on its website.

I think the seller is concerned about a stolen laptop. I don't blame him as I have personally reported stolen laptop to IBM/Lenovo. The support person assured me that if anyone called in for support on those serial numbers, they will report it to the proper authority.