ship ship ship ship

May 1, 2006 1:18 PM

ShippingFilter: Buying a used MacBook Pro from someone a hundred miles away, advice on shipping and payment.

I want a shipping service where I can pay for the item on delivery, similar to the classic "COD" services. Do those still exist? are there any escrow-esque service out there (excluding escrow.com, the seller is phobic of it) that would allow me to do that?

posted by weaponsgradecarp to travel & transportation (9 answers total)

While this isn't an eBay transaction (is it?), Escrow.com is the only escrow service officially endorsed by eBay, which is a pretty good endorsement of them. You'd have to get a third party to vouch for any other service. I used tradenable.com five years ago; they've disappeared since then.
posted by zsazsa at 2:10 PM on May 1, 2006

Escrow.com has been around for several years. They have an AA (extremely high) rating with the Better Business Bureau. If the seller is afraid of a legitimate escrow service, perhaps you should be afraid of the seller.
posted by scottreynen at 2:10 PM on May 1, 2006

Don't do it. The MacBook Pro already has a number of hardware issues. Buying a used example is a great way to get screwed.
posted by b1tr0t at 2:13 PM on May 1, 2006

If they're not going to accept a reputable escrow service then it's best to buy from someone else.

I would be very very wary of buying relatively new Apple hardware from eBay sellers, and if there were any red flags I'd keep looking.
posted by bshort at 2:18 PM on May 1, 2006

I tend to agree with b1trot, this isn't something I'd buy used. Buy it new and get the applecare plan to boot, laptops can be finnicky beasts.

At the very least I'd drive there and make sure it works. If it's not worth driving for, you're not saving enough money to maKe it worth buying.
posted by doctor_negative at 2:42 PM on May 1, 2006

I'm not saying that you should run away, but this is not quite right. Buy the machine in person, after booting it up and using it for a few minutes. 100 miles is not that far. Or have the guy split the difference and come halfway to town. $2 says he doesn't even show.
posted by zpousman at 6:22 PM on May 1, 2006

There is plenty of good, reliable apple hardware out there. Most of the snow G3 ibooks are great. Some of the ibooks have issues. Many of the tibooks were and still are GREAT. Many of the Aluminum powerbooks are fine.

The intel MacBooks are probably really good, but they just don't have the aura of quality that apple portables had two years ago. Proceed with caution.

The only thing worse than paying too much money for an apple is paying too much money for a broken apple.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:30 PM on May 1, 2006

I would drive. I sold a mac to someone on mefi, but we trusted each other and there was more of a trail than you have. Too risky.

The intel MacBooks are probably really good, but they just don't have the aura of quality that apple portables had two years ago.

Ha. The "aura"? Are you kidding me? That basically means "I have nothing to back up this claim, just a feeling...".

The macbooks are new, and being new are going to have a few problems soon ironed out. That said, even now they're so far ahead of macs from a couple of years ago you can pretty much throw that 'aura' out the window.
posted by justgary at 7:32 PM on May 2, 2006

The macbooks are new, and being new are going to have a few problems soon ironed out. That said, even now they're so far ahead of macs from a couple of years ago you can pretty much throw that 'aura' out the window.

Nothing but message boards full of people complaining about their macbook pros. Not to mention a lack of software recompiled for x86.

If you want to save a buck on a macbook pro, get a refurb from apple.
posted by b1tr0t at 8:52 PM on May 2, 2006