Where do all the new Thinkpads on Ebay come from?

[CORTH]

There seems to be an endless supply of new Thinkpads on Ebay. Where do they all come from? How is it that these machines are available for far less than on the IBM web page? Is this legit or are these shady deals?

[Kenn]

Most likely people buy them for the deep educational discounts IBM and other vendors have (up to 30% off) and then resell them online. You're not supposed to resell edu models and it's possible you'll get warranty/service denied if something does happen to the machine.

It's really one of those (very) gray areas you need to make a judgment call on. For $2000+, is it worth the risk?

[zzyss]

IBM also runs their own auctions, but I guess you're not referring to those...
Another likely answer is that resellers and channel partners are trying to get rid of old stock, or aforementioned old stock has changed hands a few times before finding its way onto eBay.

[none]

Some people run entire businesses on eBay, and they buy ThinkPads in bulk (much like a retail store would). Since they buy in bulk, they get huge discounts. Then they resell it to you.

Everyone wins, because IBM has sold a wack of machines at once, your seller has made a few bucks off you, and you have saved a few bucks off IBM.

The key on eBay is to look at a person's feedback, and ask lots of questions.. And use your judgement a lot. If someone asks for a Western Union payment to Indonesia, that's a scammer... If someone has 2000 good feedbacks, but they're all from kids clothes auctions, and suddenly they're listing 5 $3000 laptops, be very cautious.

I got my T41p from eBay, and it's great. In my personal case, the machine was from a company who laid off the ThinkPad's owner. I got a good deal because I think they simply didn't know the ThinkPad's real worth, as they had a lot of feedbacks for selling Apple hardware.

[awolfe63]

Sometimes - nowhere.

Thinkpads are one of the largest sources of fraud on Ebay.