AppleCare protection on ebay? good?

Hello,
I have seen offers on ebay for AppleCare protection for as little as 100$. Can you trust these?
And generally speaking would you buy a 3-year warranty for MacBook Pro?
I know that it's a question of how risk-averse one is: let's say that I am not very risk-averse and I'd be willing to spend another 100$ to make sure my computer is serviced (if needed) for the next 3 years. Also I've heard a different argument which is: you can always send your Mac (i.e. battery) for repair after 2 years and get a new one: in this way this pays off.
Would anyone be able to advice me on this? Have you done this before?
Also, if I decide to buy the AppleCare protection, do I need to do it right away at the time of the purchase of my new Mac? (I am thinking of purchasing it tonight...very very exciting, my first Mac in my life).

 

Yes you want to get AppleCare.
Buying applecare off of Ebay is safe as long as you look for the power sellers not some shady dealer who has maybe 200 sales. You will see the powersellers who have sold over 400+ applecare products for over a year with a 99% feedback rate. These guys are safe to buy from. I myself bought mines from a powerseller and everything worked out smoothly. Some people might tell you that if you do buy it online you should ask for the actual box, but you dont need to worry about that if you buy from a powerseller like I mentioned above. Some Powerseller actually buy in bulk from apple and are only given codes but are perfectly legit

Whoever told you that Apple will replace your laptop after two years if your battery dies is very very wrong. They will first assess the damage and if say something major like the logic board, gpu or cpu dies then they might replace it if the cost of repair is greater or close to a brand new unit or they just dont have the parts in stock since it was an old discontinued model.

You can buy and apply applecare anytime before the 1 year warranty is up.

 

Read the entire message-

So I just bought applecare from an ebayer by the name of electronic-king-inc

The guy has almost 20,000 ratings with 99.3% positive feedback and I saw only + feedbacks for applecare. The code was sent immediately and registration was a breeze and almost instant.

HOWEVER, I randomly decided to google this topic of ebay applecare in general just to read into it more and saw that another person ended up going through the same great initial ebay experience (not from the same seller), only to have Apple revoke their apple care a couple months later, after paypal protection is gone (I forget the reason apple gave). That also means that positive feedback was already given long ago. Now, I googled electronic-king-inc and applecare and although didn't find anything directly regarding negative applecare experiences, I did see that there is occasional negativity about his other products not being exactly true to advertisement. I also sifted through more of his feedback to see that his few negatives regarded other products and some dishonesty/illegitimacy, nothing about applecare though. Regardless, I'm now getting the feeling that 2 months from now, I'm gonna receive an email about my applecare being revoked.

Anyone else have an experience I described? I know there are plenty of happy endings with ebay of course, but I hope I didn't just get scammed by a powerseller.... Any suggestions for what to do now to prepare for some kind of fight in case my applecare does get revoked? I payed with Amex through Paypal fyi.

 

Sorry MKang, I must have worded my question wrong: what the person meant to suggest was that the battery will most likely not last for so long and you will be able to get a new battery in the AppleCare- not the whole unit.

 

hchorio i've also heard similar stories like that...

i also heard that they give out the same keys to multiple people and it registers... but once one person uses the applecare for some warranty purpose, its going to void the other people on the same key.

I don't have much apple care knowledge myself so I do not know if this is accurate in any way.

But I too am tempted to try to buy on ebay... anyone else have some insight? ^^

 

glad I saw this thread. I was planning to either go without or just accept the 1 year warranty extension from my credit card.

I saw one of the mods mention eBay...so I guess it's safe?

I'd trust eBay power sellers. you don't get a strong reputation on eBay by dealing in bogus stuff.

 

I think you should definitely go with the sellers that ship the box as well. Just getting a registration # would smell more fishy imo.

 

I actually bought my Laptop from ElectroncKing (mbp) they are safe to deal with, they are also an AAR.

 

If a powerseller were selling the same applecare keys or bogus keys Ebay + paypal would have received a couple of complaints considering they sell them by the hundreds. And if they are still in business on Ebay after 3+ years of selling this stuff then you can be pretty sure that they are legit.

 

AAR = authorized apple reseller? Where did you find that information?


Thanks,
HCGT

 

Yeah that's what I figured, but you still get that queezy feeling in your stomach regardless of how much you reason yourself through it hehe

 

agreed 100%.

 

Bought my applecare 2.5 years ago from ebay - 249 Australian dollars as opposed to 349 euro (that's like 150~ euro / 200~ dollar less expensive). Find a good reseller and go for it!

 

My detailed recommendations on this topic and Ebay purchases, as discussed previously, can be found here and here.

Follow these suggestions and you will be fine.

 

I got mine off of ebay for around $102 or something like that. I researched a lot before buying and learned a few things:

• Power/Old Seller - Make sure the person selling it has sold quite a few APPs already and check out the feedback for that specific item
• You don't need to insist on a box. They usually just email you the code to save on shipping costs. No box doesn't equal fraudulent product.
• Confirm with Apple - When you get the code, activate it and immediately call up Apple and confirm the APP you have is genuine or not. Don't wait around 2 months or so for Apple to realise that your APP is invalid. If its invalid, you can file a Paypal complaint.

 

But my point of insisting on, or purchasing, a sealed and current box is that the code is inside where no one could have already used it or sold to someone else.

Thus, one wouldn't have to go through the trouble of calling Apple to confirm the APP is valid and/or lodging a Paypal dispute to try and recover your money if you stumble onto a scam .

 

Yep it works. Talked to an Apple employee the other day and he said it works fine.

 

True. Although a sealed box greatly minimises the chances of you getting scammed, I was just mentioning that many sellers don't ship you the box to save on the shipping costs and that does not mean that its a scam.

 

And the fact that some resellers get these codes by the bulk from apple and do not receive boxes at all.

 

I ran across this and thought I'd add it to the discourse:


====================================

WARNING!!!!

There have been incidents of people buying Applecare for less than 1/2 the retail price on eBay only to find 3 months down the road after the paypal dispute resolution deadline had passed that their keys had been illegally obtained through key generators or some other sketchy means. In the cases Apple decided to Most AC buyers on eBay have gotten by fine. If you wish to buy an Applecare key without the box for under $100, do so at your own risk. See links below for more info:

Don't Buy Applecare on eBay [macrumors.com]

eBay Guides - Fake Applecare - A Warning to Buyers [ebay.com] [ebay.com]

Here's how it goes. If you register the ebay-obtained code right away, it usually registers fine on Apple's Applecare section barring any strange circumstances after which the seller will 99%+ of the time happily give you another key that works--and it will register as these keys are easily generated! If it doesn't, it will remain in "pending" status, leaving the buyer to assume that it's just bureaucracy and redtape Apple's using for Applecare approval.

After that, 3 months down the road, you may find that your Applecare status regardless whether it was accepted or pending is revoked. If it was still pending after the first month, that should have raised a red flag anyway. Upon making a phone call to Apple, you may find that one of few things happened:

1. Seller of Applecare asked Apple for a pro-rated refund. This is the part that confuses me too. How can a seller ask for a pro-rated refund if he generates a key without a proper box code? My assumption is the box code isn't required to obtain one. If you try to tell your side of the story, Apple will ask you for the box code. No serial box code=seller wins and walks away with your money.

2. The key you bought on eBay was by some cruel coincidence a key that would later on be one of same keys generated by Applecare's department. When a customer buys Applecare and happens to have his serial box key AND a registration key that's identical to yours, he will find himself unable to register it. He will contact Apple and Apple will put two and two together and cancel your Applecare coverage after finding that you don't have a serial box code.

That's the gist of it.


So moral of story: Make sure if you're buying Applecare from fleabay that you're also receiving the Applecare box with the serial # shown on the outside sticker or better yet, just buy from an authorized reseller like B&H. A truly legitimate seller on eBay will ship the box and not just PM/e-mail you the code as the box itself is no more than a couple of ounces and thus a few pennies just to ship first class.


My example: Take an eBay seller named cbosswong. The guy is a genuine fraudster. He only e-mails you the key and (surprise! surprise!) refuses to send the original box that should come with the registration key and serial key. I just got my refund from him right after filing a dispute against him for selling an item that was "Significantly not as advertised, counterfeit/bootleg, etc."

If you want peace of mind, buy Applecare from B&H Photo for $189.95.

B&H's score on resellerratings [resellerratings.com] is excellent. 9.59/10 lifetime ratings and 9.73/10 6-month ratings.


I bought Applecare on Ebay from thinkingmac (100% positive feedback) and it worked fine... just if you want a recomendation... His recent feedback :

"DONT BUY if your MBP expires in 3 months. Took 1 week before refunding to me. =("

====================================

buyer beware. take aigoya and ClearSkies advice: buy with a box or don't buy at all.

 

I picked up an Applecare for my 2010 13" Macbook Pro last week from Ebay. Cost was $105 from a power seller name deals4mac with over 3000 positive ratings (no negatives) I registered it and it seemed to work.

 

hope that works out for you. there seem to be a few people who definitely got burned. but a lot who are also pretty happy. I actually contacted several people from different sellers who bought 6 months or more ago...all said all was well.

ymmv.

I've been in contact with a seller who expects to be able to give me a boxed copy of apple care. we'll see. I don't think I'll buy without a box.

 

An advice to all those considering ebay. Make sure you will receive a brand new sealed AppleCare box when you buy it. Do not buy the code only. Request a brand new sealed box.

 

Bought Applecare from Electronic King on Ebay. My applecare on the apple site says it's now invalid a year on. Tried to contact Electronic King numerous times and they have not replied to any of my emails. Not too happy about this and can't contact Ebay because my listing is too old.

 

sorry to hear, dude. I never bought the one I was talking about last year (post #22) because the guy never got a boxed copy. I didn't feel comfortable with it. Glad I didn't.

 

Yeah, my 1-year warranty is up in about a month, and I think I'm going to have to suck it up and just go to an Apple store. They've been really stringent lately about buying from AARs and having the box, receipt, etc.

$239 from Apple with a student discount, that's the cheapest I can find.

 

I'm guessing buying it directly from Apple at the normal price would be the best peace of mind one could get.

 

No, just buy it from an authorized reseller. B&H has Apple Care for great prices.

 

Didn't B&H have some issues recently with not being considered an "authorized seller"? I remember reading something on a forum about it - maybe macrumors?

Anyway. Bought my Apple Care yesterday from the Apple Store. $239 with student discount, no tax (thank you, New Hampshire).

 

oh I'm not sure. I suppose if they're not truly an "authorized retailer"...but B&H is a reputable company that's been around for some time. idk.

 

Apple lists B&H as a "Pro Video Value Added Reseller".