In person · 0 of 13 done

Everything to check before you hand over the money

Five minutes, in the order that matters. The list is ordered by what each fault costs you, so if the seller is in a hurry, the checks you do first are the ones worth doing.

First

Rule out the machine being unsellable

Two minutes. If either of these fails, nothing below matters.

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Then

The parts that cost real money

These are soldered or assembly-level repairs, so a fault here is a big number.

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Finally

The things you notice every day

Cheaper to fix, but they are what make a Mac annoying to live with.

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What to say when you find something

Battery under 80%

Apple charges about $150–200 for the swap. Offer that much less and show them the capacity reading.

No original charger

A genuine adapter and MagSafe cable is $60–100. It is the easiest deduction to agree on.

Any ownership lock set

There is no price at which this is worth buying. Leave, and do not accept a promise to unlock it later.

Record what you found and turn it into a price.

Open the scorecard

Worth buying alongside it

Warranty-backed alternatives and the accessories most Macs arrive missing

Best in Europe · From $579Refurbed — Graded MacBooks with a 12-Month WarrantyEuropean marketplace with transparent A/B/C condition grading, 30-day returns and a 12-month minimum warranty on every Apple Silicon MacBook.View ›Fixes a 256GB Mac · ~$99Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD (1TB / 2TB)Apple Silicon SSDs are soldered to the logic board, so a 256GB Mac can never be upgraded internally. A 1,050 MB/s external drive is the only way to add space.View ›High Performance · ~$50Thunderbolt / USB4 Hub for M-Series MacBooksAdds HDMI 4K@60Hz, an SD card slot, USB-A ports and 100W passthrough charging to a Mac that ships with two ports.View ›

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