I've bought computers on eBay, and I've been happy with my
transactions, but when it came to buying a TabletPC, I opted to buy from a PC
manufacturer. There are a couple of reasons for this, but only one
I will share: I wanted not just standard warranty coverage, but I also wanted to be able to
purchase an accidental damage warranty from the maker. Warrantability may
or may not follow a device when it changes hands, and I wasn't going to take
any chances on this, even with licensed resellers/refurbishers.
With that said, I'm not at all against purchasing a TabletPC on eBay, as long
as special warranties are not required. As with any serious bidding on
eBay, one has to follow certain common-sense rules to ensure a pleasant
transaction, but there are a few more for the prospective Tableteer (with some links to drive the points home):
1) Make
sure it really IS a real TPC, and not a touchscreen device. Use the make/model info given by the seller and
research before bidding!
2) Make
sure the seller says all the restore disks are included in the sale. If the
recovery disks are not available, and you still want to buy that tablet, check
with the manufacturer to see if you will be able to obtain these disks from
them on terms you find acceptable.
3) Ascertain
that the Product Key Label on the device is legible. The Product Key not only certifies that you are running the OS legitimately, but also determines which components should be installed, be they for Media Center Edition, TabletPC Edition, or plain, vanilla Windows XP.
Avoid the unpleasantness that has befallen others!
Well, this is a short post for me, anyway!
Another TPC Frequently Asked Question: Can I Run Standard Windows Applications on a TabletPC?