Advice: sold a CPU on craigslist

[peonyu]

Like others have said, I bet the guy is scamming you.

It sounds like he had a computer issue, being a newb couldnt figure the problem out so he took it to a tech store and found out HIS cpu was dead. So he hits up craigslist, finds your listing...buys yours, gets yours, and sends his dead one back to you while showing you a comp stores 'verification' of it being bad.

Anyways that does happen ALOT on online sales between people, so dont take it as being far fetched! In your case I would have 'marked' the cpu you sold in some non-damaging way, just incase the buyer would claim a bad chip. A tiny X shaped scratch on the IHS is good enough for a mark to know that was your original cpu.

 

[JAG87]

Before you sell it, mark the numbers at the bottom, the white on black. See picture.

If the cpu he returns is the same, as a good seller you should give him his money back. Any good seller should have a 7 day DOA policy. In those 7 days he could have broken it, that's just a risk that you take when you sell things.

If the returned cpu is broken anyways, you should be able to get a replacement from intel providing proof of purchase, and there is nothing morally wrong with that since you weren't the one who broke it.

 

[JmsAndrsn]

Originally posted by: JAG87
Before you sell it, mark the numbers at the bottom, the white on black. See picture.

Yes, that's a very good idea. Hopefully you know what numbers were on the CPU.

I always note the FPO/BATCH Code and the last line of white letters in the black section along the bottom. For instance, from the picture above I would record the markings as Q740A392-8M0902

 

[Dravic]

1. sell as-is, refund for DOA
2. mail - no pickups - insure for a couple bucks
3. file claim for DOA
4. profit

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
It's just a bad situation. I'd tend to think he did something wrong, because as others have mentioned, CPUs don't really die for no reason, and it sounds like you handled it properly during removal.

Even so, for stuff like this I usually just offer a refund and eat any loss, I'd rather do that then have to deal with all the bullshit associated with a pissed off buyer. Offer him a refund, but inspect the CPU for any signs of physical damage before taking it back. If there's any obvious damage, tell him to piss off. But if there's no damage, just refund him. Find a board to test the CPU on to see if it still works, and if not, just RMA it, then sell the new CPU. At least this way you shouldn't be out for too much money, just a bit for shipping and stuff like that.

Eat the loss? Why should he eat the loss if it's the other guy's fault? If Wal-Mart wants to eat losses, then so be it. An individual shouldn't have to, especially if it's the customer's (not always right) fault. I'm going with the others who say it's a possible scam.

If anyone is going to eat the loss, it should be the idiot who didn't know what he was doing when he bought and tried to install the CPU.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
does he know where you live?

:laugh:

Hmm....hopefully you wrote down the stepping info on the cpu to verify. But I wouldn't be looking to give this guy a refund. If it worked when it left your house then it's on him.

 

[Trevelyan]

I wouldn't take it back... you are not obligated to. You said you'd deliver a working product and you did, simple as that. He can't get it to work for whatever reason, and none if it is your fault.

If you want to do anything more, ask him this: what's his motherboard, did he reset bios, and what kind of thermal paste did he use? If he can't answer those questions, he has no idea what he's doing and you shouldn't waste any more time talking to him.

 

[xj0hnx]

For all you know the guy might have tried to cram it into a AM2 mobo, ran it with no thermal paste, etc...if you pulled it from a working machine, it's not your problem if he screwed it up.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: GlacierFreeze

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
It's just a bad situation. I'd tend to think he did something wrong, because as others have mentioned, CPUs don't really die for no reason, and it sounds like you handled it properly during removal.

Even so, for stuff like this I usually just offer a refund and eat any loss, I'd rather do that then have to deal with all the bullshit associated with a pissed off buyer. Offer him a refund, but inspect the CPU for any signs of physical damage before taking it back. If there's any obvious damage, tell him to piss off. But if there's no damage, just refund him. Find a board to test the CPU on to see if it still works, and if not, just RMA it, then sell the new CPU. At least this way you shouldn't be out for too much money, just a bit for shipping and stuff like that.

Eat the loss? Why should he eat the loss if it's the other guy's fault? If Wal-Mart wants to eat losses, then so be it. An individual shouldn't have to, especially if it's the customer's (not always right) fault. I'm going with the others who say it's a possible scam.

If anyone is going to eat the loss, it should be the idiot who didn't know what he was doing when he bought and tried to install the CPU.

I'm not saying he should have to, just saying that's probably what I'd do. I'd rather be out $5 for shipping the defective chip to Intel if it means not have to deal with any BS from the buyer. As long as I was able to RMA the CPU I'd just do that and list the new one again. If OP has the time and desire to argue with the buyer over a relatively small amount of money, though, more power to him. I'd just rather avoid crap like this.

But like I said, if the CPU couldn't be RMA'd (physically damaged or whatever) I'd tell the buyer to pound sand. Big difference between eating $5 and eating the full cost of a CPU.

 

[dbcooper1]

How about just having the buyer RMA it; it's HIS CPU?

 

[PieIsAwesome]

This is why you should not let buyers know where you live. If he didn't know where you lived I would jsut ignore him, but since that isn't the case, this seems to be most reasonable:

Inspect CPU physically. If there is visible damage forget it, run away. If there is no visible damage accept it, return money, and RMA the CPU.

 

[themisfit610]

If you're feeling nice, do a little research for the guy, and make sure his motherboard / BIOS revision, and power supply (among the other usual culprits) are capable of handling a Q6600.

If not, ignore him lol... Craigslist is cool / shitty like that, depending on which end you sit

~MiSfit

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: themisfit610
If not, ignore him lol... Craigslist is cool / shitty like that, depending on which end you sit

~MiSfit

Tell me about it. I bought a Dell that was advertised as having 4GB of RAM, but only had 1GB. Contacted the seller, he said he would send me more RAM. Haven't heard back from him since, nor have I recieved any memory.

 

[TidusZ]

I highly doubt you broke it taking it out of the motherboard as you describe - my processors take a lot of abuse from lapping and general tinkering with the cooling and I've never had one break. I once got thermal paste on two pins and it wouldn't boot, I cleaned the paste off and it worked fine. You could probably drop the thing into a bucket of water and it'd still work after.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: SmArT1

I have decided that it is not worth the time to help this guy out. I know in my heart it was working, and it sucks that he thinks I ripped him off, but it was a $70 risk on his part. Personally, I'd never buy a CPU off criags... this forum is a rare exception, and even then...

.

Stick with Anandtechs for-sale forum. Out of hundreds of deals both ways... I have only had issue with one person selling me a video card that constantly locked up. It eventually got worked out.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: SmArT1
I didn't not mark the ad as "AS IS" but I did tell him on the phone twice -- once when he setup the meeting and again when he came to pick it up. There is not any implied warranty.

Just going to add that I hope you recognize that while this "counts" in terms of you feeling justified that you did right by the customer, you don't actually have proof or evidence to substantiate this claim on your part so should this person pursue it legally (and I have no idea if people do that, have never used craigslist myself) your word to this effect won't carry much weight.

Now you do get to play the "is he crazy enough...?" game. I.e. once he finds out you are basically going to say GTFO, is he crazy enough to (a) track me down and beat the shit out of me, (b) track me down and haul me to small claims court "on the principle of the matter", or (c) convince someone else to track me down and make me a statistic and a headline for yahoo.news to carry that some dude got whacked over a $70 cpu...the list is endless when dealing with spurned buyers in this society. What's $70 worth to you?

Just wanted to say this isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. That computer shop "receipt" is very likely fake as no one is stupid enough to pay a shop the amount he hopes to recover just for them to deem it broken. This guy is obviously out to scam you so this might not be over yet...

This, right there... the only two options I see are:
Extremely likely: He either made up that "computer shot receipt", or he has a friend who works for frys who made one up for him for free (same difference, still made up shit).

extremely unlikely: He is an INCREDIBLY naive person, he paid them, and he has a strong and misguided sense of right... and he ruined the CPU himself because he is clueless...

 

[taltamir]

Anyways that does happen ALOT on online sales between people, so dont take it as being far fetched! In your case I would have 'marked' the cpu you sold in some non-damaging way, just incase the buyer would claim a bad chip. A tiny X shaped scratch on the IHS is good enough for a mark to know that was your original cpu.

easy to duplicate, just write down the serial number... I ALWAYS write down the serial number when selling hardware.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Check to see if there is any heat related damage or bent pins. If there are bent pins he most likely dropped it.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
Check to see if there is any heat related damage or bent pins. If there are bent pins he most likely dropped it.

S775 CPUs don't have pins.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Oh yeah, you're right, those went the way of the Dodo bird. My bad. Considering that I have an E-8500 and a S775 socket mobo it's in, you would think that I would of remembered that.......long day yesterday.....