[Stinky Britches]

Hi all. I'm confused by listings on see on eBay for used PC's. I understand people removing the HDD from their PC before selling to make certain no one can 'trace their footsteps'. What I don't understand is why many sellers mention the COA (I'm taking that to mean 'Certificate of Authenticity') being on the PC case. Does this mean that you may install & format a new HDD into the PC and then download the Windows OS online because you have the COA the PC came with? I figure the sellers must have a reason for mentioning the COA. Thanks for taking the time to read my query, and thanks in advance for your time and consideration to all who answer.

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Hello, and welcome to Geeks To Go.
Please go here to read about COA.
The license for an Operating system does not live on.
If you buy one of these computers you will have to buy an Operating system as well as a hard drive.
You can replace the hard drive and reinstall the Operating system if you are the original owner, But not if the computer is changing hands.

Don't fall victim to stand-alone COAs
If you receive offers for COAs as stand-alone items, be aware that these offers are highly suspect and can put you at risk. To fall victim to stand-alone COAs offers means that you may have wasted valuable money and you will not have a legal license to run the software. The best way for you to protect yourself is to purchase software from a familiar, reputable reseller. The Anti-Counterfeiting Act of 2003 makes it a criminal offense for dishonest resellers to distribute stand-alone COA labels.

Edited by hfcg, 31 January 2008 - 07:03 AM.

[hfcg]

Hello, and welcome to Geeks To Go.
Please go here to read about COA.
The license for an Operating system does not live on.
If you buy one of these computers you will have to buy an Operating system as well as a hard drive.
You can replace the hard drive and reinstall the Operating system if you are the original owner, But not if the computer is changing hands.

Don't fall victim to stand-alone COAs
If you receive offers for COAs as stand-alone items, be aware that these offers are highly suspect and can put you at risk. To fall victim to stand-alone COAs offers means that you may have wasted valuable money and you will not have a legal license to run the software. The best way for you to protect yourself is to purchase software from a familiar, reputable reseller. The Anti-Counterfeiting Act of 2003 makes it a criminal offense for dishonest resellers to distribute stand-alone COA labels.

Edited by hfcg, 31 January 2008 - 07:03 AM.

[Titan8990]

I always advise against buying any computer parts from Ebay. I had a bad experience my first time doing it so I always try to steer people away. Typically their prices are not even much better than a reputable company such as Newegg or Tigerdirect.

[Stinky Britches]

Thank you for your replies, hcfg and Titan8990. I will follow that link and read on; thanks for posting it. Had no idea their was legalities involved - good to know. Titan8990, the one time I did buy a USB Card from a seller on eBay, I couldn't get it to work. How they 'got' me was buy selling the Card dirt-cheap, then making the Shipping/Handling very dear. So if you want to return the item, sure, they'll refund your 99 cents, but not your $11.95 S/H. On top of that you have to pay whatever it costs to get the part back to them. Again, thank you both for your time and answers. I appreciate it.

[Titan8990]

How they 'got' me was buy selling the Card dirt-cheap, then making the Shipping/Handling very dear.

This is a strategy of many e-bay sellers.

Glad we could help.

Edited by Titan8990, 03 February 2008 - 09:14 PM.