Experiences with Refurbished Latitude/Precision from ebay?

I recently noticed that there are some pretty nice deals for refurbished Latitudes and Precisions on ebay. Many of these are "certified" refurbished. I'm not entirely sure if that indicates if they are scratch/dent models or not.

The only quirk seems to be that the warranties have already begun (e.g. start date is November, ending November 2014). Otherwise everything seems legitimate.

Does anybody have experiences buying these machines? Any stories to share? Would you recommend buying these machines?

 

Chances are, you'll be better off buying directly from the source - Dell Outlet. With those eBay systems, you'll also have to transfer the warranty.

Remember...the sellers need to make a profit and cover shipping costs. Does it really seem plausible that they will have a better deal? I don't think so...besides, there are often coupons ranging from 15-20% off for the Outlet, so I would just skip the eBay stuff.

 

This is just my take.

Advantage of buying from a reputable ebay seller

1. Convenience. You don't have to try your luck at the outlet roulette, hoping you can find a machine that you want before someone else snatches it. My current system took me a couple of weeks to get, close to a month (from 2nd half of Sep to Oct 2X, when I finally snagged my system) because those systems keep on disappearing as I was adding them to my shopping cart This is the first time I have purchased from the outlet, I can't believe how fast some of those good priced systems can go, now you see, it, oops, now you don't I can't afford to sit in front of my computer and refresh every few minutes to see if I can find what I want. There are too many professional ebay seller browsing the inventory, perhaps they are script robot, I don't know I can't believe the speed of disappearance of those really good deal systems (I got my quad core cpu precision, around 50% off from a brand new, same configured system, including warranty)

Disadvantages

1. They need a make a profit, so I doubt they can beat outlet price (their price can beat "current" outlet price if they purchased their system with heavy discount while current outlet offers no discount). Remember the saying, if it's too good to be true, it probably is? A fellow forum poster posted recently about his ebay "good dea" purchase. We thought the price was really great, he bought it, only turned out it was a stolen precision laptop

2. seller may not be willing to remedy situation. The stolen laptop situation above, seller was willing to take the system back. You cannot say the same to all ebay sellers, hence my condition of purchase only from reputable ebay seller to lessen this risk.

 

I just bought a Precision M4600 from the outlet during the last 25% off coupon. Unlike the poster above, it took me a day and a half of 'occasionally' checking the outlet until I found what I wanted, at a great price!

No warranty transfer issues, best prices, no issues with returning in the event there is an issue. Honestly, I have not run into a warranty transfer or return issue with an eBay seller, but it has happened from time to time, along with the previously mentioned 'stolen' laptop purchased from a seller (that handled it well).

To me, the outlet is the safest, cheapest bet - but probably requires a bit more patience and amounts of your time to get exactly what you want. All I know is that I paid less than 50% of retail for a new machine that I could not have afforded otherwise, and you could not tell the difference from new. I've purchased 4 or 5 Dell Outlet laptops over the years (never scratch & dent), and every one has been in brand new shape.

 

I bought my dell latitude e6400 and precisionm90 from ebay,they were exactly as described when they arrived.Just make sure the seller is reputable and you can always ask them to take more pictures or a video of the laptop for you.

 

Since I spent about a month going over m4600 inventory, I can offer my observation.

My criteria was simple, quad core CPU, if possible, 2820QM as it cost slightly more than 2720QM but gives me more power. minimum memory + HDD as I can upgrade those myself.

The outlet has a lot of dual core m4600 inventory. If you are not picky and willing to settle for 2720QM, it's not that hard to find a configuration you want. The problem comes when you are going after 2820QM or 2920XM based system. The selections are few and often none When you add in other consideration such as budget (as some of those systems come with 32GB of ram and very expensive price tag), it could take you a long time before you find one. In such situation, ebay might be worth it.

If you're not picky on higher end quad core CPU, low budget (minimum memory + HDD spec), it should not be as hard to find a system. I notice the ebay price of those m4600 with 2920XM is quite high, compare with what I have seen at the outlet with 25% off coupon, when I can see one in the inventory. At least the last time I checked ebay, some of those 2920XM M4600 has 'offer' price but hasn't had much success in actually finding a buyer. There were more 2820QM m4600 purchases on ebay.

My system was scratch and dent. When the system arrived, it had some paint damage and my lid latch doesn't seem to "close completely". The latch will snatch onto the screen, but I am not sure if both screen latches are secured well as I can see the little spring hook not in the same position (essentially one should snatch the lid hook, the other might be too far into the case to snatch it securely all the time).

The system works fine, no issues and since I carry my laptop in a padded and strapped in backpack, I don't need to worry about the screen open up by itself during transportation. However, this is something for people who are very picky to keep in mind. For scratch & dent, I think Dell promises, warrants that the computer will function properly, but they don't cover "cosmetics" and my screen latch/hook might be considered one of those. I also notice the top center of my screen has a wider gap between versus the top left & top right edge of my screen (gap is wider at the center, narrower on the right and left edges, essentially it's not a nice even, straight gap across the top of my screen)

 

These are just machines from the Dell Outlet that the bots snapped up. It does take some patience buying from the Outlet. I usually get on early in the morning or late at night to find systems. You can also call them and try to find the system you want and then order it online with a coupon.

 

Hmm, I guess I can also chime in because I have both experiences.

1. M6600 was bought directly from Dell Outlet, drop by every 40 minutes past the hour to see what Dell adds to their stock. I was able to beat the bots by looking around for laptops late at night, at around 4:00AM EST. Of course, with the outlet purchase, you don't really have to worry about anything, as it is directly from Dell.

2. M4600 was bought from eBay. The seller was incredibly helpful, sent me data about how to get the warranty transferred, and the warranty was transferred within 2 days of receipt. To be honest, I think that all refurbished laptop resellers on eBay have sold enough to be efficient with the warranty transfer process, and it was pain-free and I got the config I wanted without having to sit in front of the outlet.

And also, there are some sellers on eBay that sell these with a reasonable markup, I assume with the 25% coupon they make about $100~$150 per laptop. (This still brings it under the outlet price with tax when buying from Dell.) As a reference, I bought the M4600 in my sig for $1595 - 2% eBay Bucks - 1% Rebate from ebates.

Some sellers are not too greedy, and you want to find those types of laptops if you want to buy from eBay.

 

Just camp Outlet when the coupons come out, that's what I did with my E6410 (459 for i3, 3 year warranty after 25% off coupon) and my Latitude 13 (550 shipped after 20% off coupon).

Ebay you have to deal with sometimes less than scrumptious sellers misrepresenting stuff then waiting 6 weeks to get your money back (I had to deal with a seller that never shipped a phone, waited nearly 6 weeks to get my 110 dollars back).

 

I guess its a hit or miss with eBay sellers on refurbished Dell's. I recently ordered a refurbished Dell Vostro 3750 from an eBay seller and I couldn't be any more pleased with the transaction. I ordered the system on the Saturday, the seller gave me a response on the Monday to say it had been shipped and on the following day it arrived on my doorstep. The system was immaculate and the added bonus is that it came with 3 years NBD warranty which is normally a costly optional extra for brand new Vostro's. Overall I saved a significant sum over a brand new equivalent from Dell directly.

It's generally best to shop around and see if the eBay seller is reputable, if you're unsure just ask some questions. The good ones always tend to respond your concerns.