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Whats my tivo worth?

6K views 44 replies 20 participants last post by  lessd 
#1 ·
Hey guys want to sell my Tivo Premiere with 2TB whats it worth, I am hoping to get halfway to an elite is that crazy?
 
#5 ·
No lifetime just the standard 13 a month plan, I wont sell it on ebay too many scammers. I guess 150 is a fair price on Craigslist, I tried at 250 no takers.
More scammers on Craig's List than ebay by a long shot. Ebay is a pretty safe place to sell these days with all of the rules and safeguards they have implemented. Virtually all transactions have to use PayPal so you're covered for any loss.
 
#6 ·
More scammers on Craig's List than ebay by a long shot. Ebay is a pretty safe place to sell these days with all of the rules and safeguards they have implemented. Virtually all transactions have to use PayPal so you're covered for any loss.
While I agree that there are more scammers on Craigslist, it is much easier to protect yourself. Meet in a public place and only accept cash payment. No way to get scammed out of that.
 
#9 ·
At least with eBAy/Paypal you have protections if it doesn't work. I still need to sell two of my boxes. My problem is I can't find the original drives that were in the two boxes I upgraded. I would like to include them in the sale. With my S3/TiVoHD boxes I didn't and now I have eight of those small hard drives lying around gathering dust. Of course I still have the original drives from my DirecTV HDTiVos and the SD TiVos lying around too.
 
#10 ·
At least with eBAy/Paypal you have protections if it doesn't work.
Those protections have failed me in the past... :/ I have a TiVo HD and a TiVo Series 3 to unload (unsubbed) that have been sitting in boxes for months. Thinking about going Elite, but I'd want to partially fund it by selling my Lifetimed Premiere. Too much work - wish Gazelle dealt in TiVo, or WeaKnees in used hardware.
 
#11 ·
Those protections have failed me in the past... :/ I have a TiVo HD and a TiVo Series 3 to unload (unsubbed) that have been sitting in boxes for months. Thinking about going Elite, but I'd want to partially fund it by selling my Lifetimed Premiere. Too much work - wish Gazelle dealt in TiVo, or WeaKnees in used hardware.
I thought they were suppsoed to protect you from an item that was not advertised properly, not working properly, etc. when you received it?
I've only dealt with it three times over the years, but it was also for products under $200 and I got my money back without issue.
 
#12 ·
I thought they were suppsoed to protect you from an item that was not advertised properly, not working properly, etc. when you received it?
I've only dealt with it three times over the years, but it was also for products under $200 and I got my money back without issue.
I've been burned on both sides (as seller and buyer). Fortunately lower ticket items also under $200, probably even under $100 in most cases. I've had a few bad experiences with Amazon too, again on both sides. Worst case in both scenarios, recipients kept the item and PayPal or Amazon refunded them - so I ended up with neither. Maybe I'm just unlucky, or maybe given the number of items I turn around I just hit the small percent of bad apples. Regardless, I usually unload in person or via Gazelle these days. Maybe I'll give it another shot with the Premiere... IF I go Elite.

(One guy did get what was coming to him - he kept my money and I never got my video game. However, Virginia police honed in on he and his girlfriend for a larger laptop scam they had going. He worked out some sort of settlement but hopefully it was scary and time consuming. But I still ended up with nothing.)
 
#13 ·
How recent were your transactions? I've been burned in the past as well, once for a $650 HDTivo, but that was about 6 or 7 years ago. With the current setup, both the buyer and seller have more protections in place. If you have PayPal Buyer Credit (I think it's called something different now), all of your purchases are protected 100%, just like with most credit cards.

As a seller, you get your funds through PayPal up front so there's very little risk involved there. If there's a problem with the sale and the buyer lodges a complaint, it goes to arbitration and ebay decides what to do. If they find in favor of the buyer the item has to be returned to the seller at the buyer's expense. The seller has to refund the full purchase price, including original shipping costs, to the buyer.
 
#14 ·
How recent were your transactions?
Probably 3 years at this point for the more notable issues. Although I had a few minor bad experiences in the interim on ebay - for example the guy sending me a broken piece of network gear because he used no packing materials, but it was more trouble than it was worth to get the few bucks back.

As a seller, you get your funds through PayPal up front so there's very little risk involved there.
Like I said, in more than one transaction I ended up without the item and without the money as a seller. As a buyer, I've ended up with broken things or the wrong things (and sometime no things). Most recently a month or so back on Amazon (third party seller) with an Xbox 360 headset that was like three generations removed, packaged in a plastic bag, and not like the picture or description indicated. I eventually got a refund, but it required two legnthy calls to Amazon (couldn't be handled online), after not hearing from the seller after 3 days as required, and a trip to the FedEx store. Doesn't seem worth it - I'd rather pay the few extra bucks and swing by the Gamestop (which is what I did).

But, like you say maybe things are better now... and maybe I've just been unlucky.
 
#16 ·
Probably 3 years at this point for the more notable issues. Although I had a few minor bad experiences in the interim on ebay - for example the guy sending me a broken piece of network gear because he used no packing materials, but it was more trouble than it was worth to get the few bucks back.
Been there, although things have improved considerably over the past few years. If you've got a vlild complaint, ebay will back you up and you should get a full refund plus shipping costs. Nothing irks me more than lazy sellers that do a half-assed job at packing.

Like I said, in more than one transaction I ended up without the item and without the money as a seller. As a buyer, I've ended up with broken things or the wrong things (and sometime no things).

But, like you say maybe things are better now... and maybe I've just been unlucky.
I'm not sure how you could end up without an item and no money unless you shipped it before receiving payment. I never ship anything until I've received payment confirmation from PayPal. With the current safeguards in place for both buyer and seller, ebay is a great place to buy and sell items.
 
#17 ·
I'm not sure how you could end up without an item and no money unless you shipped it before receiving payment.
In at least one case with PayPay and Amazon, they refunded the buyer's payment from my account with them claiming I sent something different from what I advertised, something like that. It's been a long while, but I think in one case I could have had the item returned if I paid shipping but the cost was too high (based on weight/distance) that I'd end up losing even more money.

To keep things on topic... I have an unsubbed S3 and an unsubbed THD. Any idea what those should be selling for? Also, if I go Elite, what might a Lifetimed Premiere get me?
 
#18 ·
In at least one case with PayPay and Amazon, they refunded the buyer's payment from my account with them claiming I sent something different from what I advertised, something like that. It's been a long while, but I think in one case I could have had the item returned if I paid shipping but the cost was too high (based on weight/distance) that I'd end up losing even more money.
Ebay requires the buyer to provide tracking info to show that the item has been shipped back to the seller before refunding the purchase price to the buyer. Check out FedEx Ground/Home Delivery for shipping larger parcels and USPS Priority Mail for small items. You'll get the best shipping rates. UPS will charge you an arm and a leg for small parcels. FedEx Home Delivery also delivers on Saturdays with no surcharge.

To keep things on topic... I have an unsubbed S3 and an unsubbed THD. Any idea what those should be selling for? Also, if I go Elite, what might a Lifetimed Premiere get me?
Perform an advanced search on ebay for completed auctions. It will give you a list of everything that was listed within the past 30 days so you can get a good idea of what the average selling price would be.

If you're thinking of getting an Elite, why not see if you can transfer your lifetime sub from the Premiere? Chances are you'll get less than the cost of the lifetime sub if you sell the Premiere. Transferring the lifetime will save you more money and you should still be able to get a few bucks for the unsubbed Premiere. Chances are you'll get less than $100 apiece for the S3 and THD if they have the stock hard drives.

FYI - You can sell items on ebay for a fixed price. I don't even screw around with auctions anymore. Fixed price listings are much cheaper and you can list them for up to 30 days. I typically list items with a picture for about $0.50 vs. several dollars for auctions with a reserve price.
 
#21 ·
I was always under the impression that Tivo allowed you to transfer a lifetime sub to another Tivo on a one-time basis.
Only if you have a (now very old) grandfathered Series 1.

The only other time you can transfer a lifetime sub is if the box is under warranty.

Are you saying that they only allow it at certain times?
Yes. TiVo occasionally runs promotions for existing users to transfer lifetime, but hasn't in some time.
 
#22 ·
DO they still allow transfer of the lifetime if the box is replaced under warranty at BestBuy? That is where I got my Elite warranty and if the policy has changed I need to cancel that warranty and get one from TiVo.
 
#23 ·
DO they still allow transfer of the lifetime if the box is replaced under warranty at BestBuy? That is where I got my Elite warranty and if the policy has changed I need to cancel that warranty and get one from TiVo.
I replaced a dead THD with a Premiere under the BB warranty and TiVo moved the lifetime earlier this year, so I think they do.
 
#24 ·
I have some bad transactions, I am too trusting, on eBay and a couple of the audio video forums but I continue to sell on eBay even though it is far from risk free for seller. Buyer is better protected and gets assistance from eBay and PayPal if the intent is to rip off the seller. I always block any buyer that has ripped me off and even went to an eBay buyer blacklist and found the same buyers I had already blocked then just copied and pasted all of them from that site blocking all of them from bidding. I do suspect some number of those buyers were not bad at all but I don't have anyway to know now since eBay does not allow negative feedback for buyers. The fact the site included buyers I knew to be bad meant I know there is at least some effort to only report truly bad buyers. The old bogus claim of non-receipt or broken is the one I hate. Since I am not a business seller and package all of my items myself and have been doing this since 1999, I know when I have been had. Lost by USPS really does happen and PayPal just automatically refunds if I don't voluntarily refund first so I do that now when it looks like the USPS has lost the package. I do request waiting until we know for sure. I sell about 15 items a month on eBay and the USPS loses one or two packages a year and about 10 are delayed beyond reasonable delivery times but most people understand the USPS can be slow at times.

I lose money selling considering purchase price, costs to sell and ship but excess items around the house need to be moved out or I have to listen to complaints from the female in charge. As far as value of a Premiere with 2TB drive and no service, it is between $150 and $200 and complete with box and all accessories and including the original drive as backup should bring the $200 price or closer to it.
 
#25 ·
I've been buying and selling on ebay since 1996 and I can count the number of bad transactions I've had on one hand, and I've had over 1,000 transactions over that time period. I've never been scammed by a buyer that made false claims against me, but I could just be one of the lucky ones. Ebay tends to side with the buyer if there are any discrepancies in the item. Sellers shouldn't have any issues as long as the item is described accurately and you post enough photos for the buyer to see what he's actually getting.

You should always ship the item via a carrier that provides tracking capabilities or else it's your word against the buyer and you already know who ebay is going to side with. The USPS tracking system is absolutely worthless, but at least delivery confirmation lets you know if and when the buyer received the item. The USPS does give Priority Mail priority handling so it's usually safe for small, inexpensive items. For more expensive items I'd definitely go with either UPS or FedEx. It's also recommended to insure the item whenever possible. I think both UPS and the USPS charge you extra for insurance and FedEx items are automatically insured, but don't hold my feet to the fire on that one. I have a FedEx account and it always prompts me for the item's value when I create the shipping label online.
 
#26 ·
I've been buying and selling on ebay since 1996 and I can count the number of bad transactions I've had on one hand, and I've had over 1,000 transactions over that time period. I've never been scammed by a buyer that made false claims against me, but I could just be one of the lucky ones. Ebay tends to side with the buyer if there are any discrepancies in the item. Sellers shouldn't have any issues as long as the item is described accurately and you post enough photos for the buyer to see what he's actually getting.

You should always ship the item via a carrier that provides tracking capabilities or else it's your word against the buyer and you already know who ebay is going to side with. The USPS tracking system is absolutely worthless, but at least delivery confirmation lets you know if and when the buyer received the item. The USPS does give Priority Mail priority handling so it's usually safe for small, inexpensive items. For more expensive items I'd definitely go with either UPS or FedEx. It's also recommended to insure the item whenever possible. I think both UPS and the USPS charge you extra for insurance and FedEx items are automatically insured, but don't hold my feet to the fire on that one. I have a FedEx account and it always prompts me for the item's value when I create the shipping label online.
Delivery confirmation doesn't amount to protection for seller, buyer can still claim it wasn't received, there is no signature required and PayPal refunds now without fail when that happens. I do hope that eBay/PayPal keeps track of the claims of non-receipt despite delivery confirmation indicating the package was delivered as multiple claims of that type should be evidence of fraud.

As far as insurance, it doesn't work, the cost of insurance is greater than eating cost of lost packages over the long run. FedEx and UPS are usually too expensive to be practical for items I sell although I do give buyer the option of paying extra and using one of those services some of the time. Now that eBay charges final value fees on shipping charges to seller, less expensive shipping is even more important so I prefer not to pay the fees on the higher shipping cost.

I used to sell a items a few times a year that were worth about $15 delivered but cost about $10 to deliver so I sold them for $5 and charged $10 shipping, breaking even on the shipping. Knowing what trouble our postal service is in, I thought throwing $10 to them that didn't really cost me anything was something I could do. No longer, my final value fees went up well over 200% on those items. I do use USPS almost all of the time, lower costs for most packages, financial need to help keep the USPS afloat and I like the local post office employees.
 
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