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Tips for buying a used macbook pro 2015 15'' from ebay

T

thedude731

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2019
15
0
Hi guys, so i m looking on buying a used macbook pro 2015 15'' from ebay and i am wondering if there is something i should look out for. I'm looking for the best machine because i m thinking to keep it for a few years maybe 3.
Thanks for your advice i appreciate it.
 
If you make your thread title more descriptive, you'll get more answers.
 
There's a 100 different things to look out for when buying a MacBook off of eBay. Look at the sellers feedback and ask questions. Find out how it was used, what it was used for, and what condition the screen is in. If they don't discuss the body of the MacBook Pro, ask how it looks. If the price is too good to be true, then it probably is. There are some good sellers on there and generally the ones in mint or excellent condition command more of a price than ones that have been around the block a few times.

Honestly eBay is hit or miss. I hate when people describe things as "Mint" only for it to show up with scratches and scrapes on it. I swear some people don't know what "Mint" means. To me it means it looks brand new just like when it was opened from the box.

I purchased a 2015 about 6 months ago from a seller who described theirs as "In mint condition." When it arrived, it was dirty, had scratches on it, and had some nicks on the screen. When I questioned the seller over this his definition of "Mint" was far different than mine. He felt it meant that there were no dents in the body and that the screen had no noticeable scratches while it was on. While it didn't have either of those, there were two tiny chips in the screen and the outside of the MacBook had scratches all over it. I paid a little extra because of how he described it, and he was careful not to show any of the scratches in the listing. He refused a refund so I had to file a claim with eBay and easily won my money back. Point being, make sure you ask questions from the seller. I ended up just purchasing directly from Apple.

And from a specs standpoint, I'm partial to the 2.8GHz mid 2015 with External Graphics. Just my opinion though.
 
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Look for an actual person selling the computer (not a storefront or reseller) as they tend to use the same photos or stock photos of the actual computer you'll get. Or as mentioned above, they may send a different computer with the same specs but different condition.

I normally look for someone who describes the computer AND takes pictures of the imperfections (scratches dings dents etc) I would also recommend looking for one that has a battery cycle count below 300. I recently picked up a 2015 2.5 16gb 1tb model for about $1100 that met my criteria. Couldn't be happier with it, but it took me a few weeks to find one that I was confident in purchasing for a reasonable price.
 
I prefer looking on local Craigslist computer pages so that you can see and test systems before you buy. This only works if there is a decent supply locally though.
 
Donnation said:
There's a 100 different things to look out for when buying a MacBook off of eBay. Look at the sellers feedback and ask questions. Find out how it was used, what it was used for, and what condition the screen is in. If they don't discuss the body of the MacBook Pro, ask how it looks. If the price is too good to be true, then it probably is. There are some good sellers on there and generally the ones in mint or excellent condition command more of a price than ones that have been around the block a few times.

Honestly eBay is hit or miss. I hate when people describe things as "Mint" only for it to show up with scratches and scrapes on it. I swear some people don't know what "Mint" means. To me it means it looks brand new just like when it was opened from the box.

I purchased a 2015 about 6 months ago from a seller who described theirs as "In mint condition." When it arrived, it was dirty, had scratches on it, and had some nicks on the screen. When I questioned the seller over this his definition of "Mint" was far different than mine. He felt it meant that there were no dents in the body and that the screen had no noticeable scratches while it was on. While it didn't have either of those, there were two tiny chips in the screen and the outside of the MacBook had scratches all over it. I paid a little extra because of how he described it, and he was careful not to show any of the scratches in the listing. He refused a refund so I had to file a claim with eBay and easily won my money back. Point being, make sure you ask questions from the seller. I ended up just purchasing directly from Apple.

And from a specs standpoint, I'm partial to the 2.8GHz mid 2015 with External Graphics. Just my opinion though.
Click to expand...
Good advise. What I'd like to add for OP is to always choose PayPal as a payment method with an expensive machine like this, never bank transfer. eBay has a fairly solid buyer protection, most of the time eBay sides with the buyer when the product doesn't arrive, doesn't match the description or (like in your case) has some flaws that the seller didn't feel like disclosing. But you need to pay via PayPal for this, as eBay has no control over whether or not the seller refunds you a bank transfer. Even when you run into a scammer who never even sends out a product, you're usually safe and will get your money bank as long as you took the safe way via PayPal. You only ever want to use bank transfer with sellers that you 100% trust (i.e. big retail chains who oftentimes also have a presence on eBay).

If a seller looks a bit scummy and only offers bank transfer as a payment option, then I'd never advise to take that chance. But if the seller looks a little bit scummy, has a really great offer and offers PayPal as an option, then it might be worth taking that chance, because at best you took a great deal and at worst you have to deal with the hassle with filing a claim and returning it. Might. It depends a lot on the situation and how scummy the seller seems, but you almost certainly get your money back if paid via PayPal and being scammed.

Also, when I say PayPal, only ever as a buyer/seller transaction, never via the "Friends and Family"-option, as this bears the same risk as bank transfers for you as the buyer. If someone asks you to pay via this method, then it's always almost a scam. Also also, always communicate with the seller via the eBay messaging system so that eBay can read up on your communication in case of a conflict, not via E-Mail or other methods. And don't be afraid to open cases with eBay if something's not right, as there are set time windows during which you have to do this, and some fraudulent sellers play for time and hope they can hold you off with opening a case until eBay won't help you anymore. Give the seller deadlines and don't listen to excuses if something's not alright.
 
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Nbd1790 said:
Look for an actual person selling the computer (not a storefront or reseller) as they tend to use the same photos or stock photos of the actual computer you'll get. Or as mentioned above, they may send a different computer with the same specs but different condition.

I normally look for someone who describes the computer AND takes pictures of the imperfections (scratches dings dents etc) I would also recommend looking for one that has a battery cycle count below 300. I recently picked up a 2015 2.5 16gb 1tb model for about $1100 that met my criteria. Couldn't be happier with it, but it took me a few weeks to find one that I was confident in purchasing for a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough I have the exact opposite advice. I usually buy from storefronts. Many of them have warranties, and they accept refunds. They also have more at stake. The only times I have ever had issues were with private sellers, who were trying to offload lemons or problematic machines.
 
Donnation said:
There's a 100 different things to look out for when buying a MacBook off of eBay. Look at the sellers feedback and ask questions. Find out how it was used, what it was used for, and what condition the screen is in. If they don't discuss the body of the MacBook Pro, ask how it looks. If the price is too good to be true, then it probably is. There are some good sellers on there and generally the ones in mint or excellent condition command more of a price than ones that have been around the block a few times.

Honestly eBay is hit or miss. I hate when people describe things as "Mint" only for it to show up with scratches and scrapes on it. I swear some people don't know what "Mint" means. To me it means it looks brand new just like when it was opened from the box.

I purchased a 2015 about 6 months ago from a seller who described theirs as "In mint condition." When it arrived, it was dirty, had scratches on it, and had some nicks on the screen. When I questioned the seller over this his definition of "Mint" was far different than mine. He felt it meant that there were no dents in the body and that the screen had no noticeable scratches while it was on. While it didn't have either of those, there were two tiny chips in the screen and the outside of the MacBook had scratches all over it. I paid a little extra because of how he described it, and he was careful not to show any of the scratches in the listing. He refused a refund so I had to file a claim with eBay and easily won my money back. Point being, make sure you ask questions from the seller. I ended up just purchasing directly from Apple.

And from a specs standpoint, I'm partial to the 2.8GHz mid 2015 with External Graphics. Just my opinion though.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the information will help me out a lot!
[doublepost=1557898500][/doublepost]
Nbd1790 said:
Look for an actual person selling the computer (not a storefront or reseller) as they tend to use the same photos or stock photos of the actual computer you'll get. Or as mentioned above, they may send a different computer with the same specs but different condition.

I normally look for someone who describes the computer AND takes pictures of the imperfections (scratches dings dents etc) I would also recommend looking for one that has a battery cycle count below 300. I recently picked up a 2015 2.5 16gb 1tb model for about $1100 that met my criteria. Couldn't be happier with it, but it took me a few weeks to find one that I was confident in purchasing for a reasonable price.
Click to expand...
Thanks on the advices I will do that
 
2015 15" MacBook Pros are still available from Apple's refurbished page from time to time.

They're not there at the moment I post this, but may be back again -- you have to recheck once, twice, or three times a day.

I would buy from Apple first (even if it costs a little more) before I'd trust second-hand from ebay.
 
Fishrrman said:
2015 15" MacBook Pros are still available from Apple's refurbished page from time to time.

They're not there at the moment I post this, but may be back again -- you have to recheck once, twice, or three times a day.

I would buy from Apple first (even if it costs a little more) before I'd trust second-hand from ebay.
Click to expand...
First time hearing about this refurbished page, where can I find on their we site
 
Use Refurb Tracker... I selected Macbook Pro and typed in 2015 as the query. Enter your email address and the next time something comes up you'll know within seconds. That said, the pricing is INSANE. They currently have what amounts to the same computer I've been using for four years up there (2.8 i7 instead of my 2.5, 1TB SSD, Radeon) for $2459. That configuration was only $3300 new, which means as far as they are concerned it's only lost $800 in value over 4 years! Other configs aren't much better... the average price of a 2015 refurb from Apple is a hair over $2000. Apple knows the 2015 has a following and people will pay through the nose to get these. I had been thinking about upgrading (solely for eGPU reasons), but I dunno now.

Here's a link to the RSS feed for the 2015s... https://refurb-tracker.com/feeds/us_in_macbookpro.xml/2015
 
Larvas said:
The refurb pricing is STUPID, I wanted to upgrade my 2014 model with an integrated GPU to a 2015 model with the Radeon GPU and they were asking for $2500 for it, here's an example: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...b76476d9403e2c6b5988ce2373a84ddf1ce05a35b270c

Such stupid pricing, these machines are worth $1400 MAX.
Click to expand...

While I agree that $2500 is a little steep, they are worth more than $1400. You are getting a brand new MacBook Pro from Apple that comes with a 1 year warranty with the option to buy 2 additional years. These are different than refurbs from other companies in that when it comes from Apple its literally a brand new computer. Again, $2500 is steep, but they are worth more than a refurb from just anywhere in my opinion.
 
The problem I see is that the 2015 is woefully overpowered by the 8th Gen processors. A new Macbook Pro 13" can walk all over my machine in virtually every performance category. The new 15s are monsters with the 6 core processors... a 4th gen quad core with graphics that even at the time were milquetoast doesn't cut it at those prices. The only reason to go with the 2015 now is if you really, REALLY hate the new keyboards enough to pay that premium.
 
venom600 said:
The problem I see is that the 2015 is woefully overpowered by the 8th Gen processors. A new Macbook Pro 13" can walk all over my machine in virtually every performance category. The new 15s are monsters with the 6 core processors... a 4th gen quad core with graphics that even at the time were milquetoast doesn't cut it at those prices. The only reason to go with the 2015 now is if you really, REALLY hate the new keyboards enough to pay that premium.
Click to expand...

I bought a 2015 for $1,123 recently. 2.5 Ghz and AMD graphics. You don't have to spend $2,000.
 
pshufd said:
I bought a 2015 for $1,123 recently. 2.5 Ghz and AMD graphics. You don't have to spend $2,000.
Click to expand...

Never said you did. I'm not talking about what you can find on the used market. I'm talking about the fact that Apple is still charging that much even today and getting it. People are buying these at Apple's refurb prices. Incredible.
 
venom600 said:
Never said you did. I'm not talking about what you can find on the used market. I'm talking about the fact that Apple is still charging that much even today and getting it. People are buying these at Apple's refurb prices. Incredible.
Click to expand...

I don't think that it's incredible. Did you see what people were willing to pay for BYND this week?
 
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