Serial Numbers

[scoghill]

I am selling two of my units on eBay. A potential buyer wants me to send him both my serial numbers of these units so he can check out with Segway their service history.

This sounds reasonable...... but......

Am I missing something here? Should one share his serial number with a potential purchaser or am I just being paranoid in this scam filled world we live?

Skip Coghill

[Sal]

Skip,

Geez, I don't know about that; thought I woudln't call it a scam outright.

The only way someone is going to get the serial number of my machine(s) is when the machine arrives at their door.

Besides... would INC share that sort of information anyway, with a random caller?

I mean, the owner could request the service information and send a copy to the potential buyer.

Personally, I wouldn't send the serial number, but that's me... I wouldn't want you to do that and lose a legitimate sale.

-Sal

[sholloway]

i wouldn't buy one if the seller wouldn't give me the serial number. I'm not sure what Segway would/wouldn't share with him as a potential buyer on Ebay. Maybe they want it so they can then have a valid serial num to give out on future scam sells? I dunno. Maybe he/she just wants to call Segway to see if there is still warranty left, or when it was purchased? Good luck.

[Agent]

I'd do a conference call.

[ElectraGlide]

I am selling two of my units on eBay. A potential buyer wants me to send him both my serial numbers of these units so he can check out with Segway their service history.


Skip Coghill
Skip,
You can sell with an ESCROW service...the buyer will send the money , when the escrow service receives payment you ship the unit...when the buyer receives the unit ( and serial number ) then the escrow service sends you the check. Tell him to check the service history when received, and if there is anything unsatisfactory he can return the units and get his payment back.

Personally I would never give away my serial number anymore than I would give my SSN.

[dale@thecoys.net]

Skip,
You can sell with an ESCROW service...the buyer will send the money , when the escrow service receives payment you ship the unit...when the buyer receives the unit ( and serial number ) then the escrow service sends you the check. Tell him to check the service history when received, and if there is anything unsatisfactory he can return the units and get his payment back.

Personally I would never give away my serial number anymore than I would give my SSN.

The format of the serial number is not a secret. Anybody can make one up.

If you're concerned - just transpose two or three numbers at the "low" end of the number, and send that to the prospective buyer. Oops, I made a typing mistake. If a buyer gets what they paid for, they won't complain about a simple mistake in the serial number.

[ebotee]

But then if they call segway with the phoney serial number, then somebody gets angry. I would contact Segway and have them confirm that it is a legitimate machine to the potential customer.

[ElectraGlide]

Ebotee......I like your HAL9000 !
"Open the pod bay doors please HAL"

Move each letter up one spot in the alphabet and you get IBM !

[bystander]

Skip,
You can sell with an ESCROW service...the buyer will send the money , when the escrow service receives payment you ship the unit...when the buyer receives the unit ( and serial number ) then the escrow service sends you the check. Tell him to check the service history when received, and if there is anything unsatisfactory he can return the units and get his payment back.

Personally I would never give away my serial number anymore than I would give my SSN.
Not suggesting you change your habits regarding your handling of your serial number, I'd just like to point out that Segway, Inc. advises buyers to ask the sellers for the serial numbers on this page:

About purchasing a pre-owned Segway HT (http://www.segway.com/support/preowned.html)

You can help protect yourself by asking detailed questions of the seller (e.g., why are they selling the item, how did they obtain the item, the item's serial number), checking to ensure the seller has a positive feedback history with at least a dozen or more feedbacks, and by using an escrow service (http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/buytrust-escrow.html). Please bid responsibly.


If the seller is hesitant to give the serial number (SN) to the prospective buyer, perhaps a compromise can be reached.

This sounds a little complicated, but perhaps the prospective buyer could contact both Segway, Inc. & the seller, and ask the seller to send his/her SN to Segway for verification, requesting that the verification (without the entire SN included) be passed along to the prospective buyer. The buyer would have to be sure that the verification came from a trusted Segway, Inc. contact, and not spoofed by the seller.

Obviously not a substitute for escrow, but escrow will close faster if the buyer doesn't have to wait for a SN check to clear (might take a couple of days) before appoving close of escrow.

[william collins]

Isn't this what we been telling potential buyers to do on Ebay sales .
Two things ask for the serial number and if it could be picked up in person and pay on the spot..in order to see if the sale is on the legit ...Now all of a sudden its the opposite ...Go Figure...I bought four segs on ebay and not a deal that went bad ...But I did buy a bad seg(On purpose) thinking I could repair it myself ...I'm taking it & going to INC Weds for a "Repair while I wait" as they put it//

[inewman]

When I bought my used I167 I asked for the serial number to confirm that I was buying the unit from a registered owner. INC confirmed the unit was not stolen but the person I was buying from was not the registered owner. I knew that because the current owner told me that he had not registered the maching.

INC checked with the owner of record who confirmed that he had sold the unit to the my seller. The company then registered the unit in my sellers name and were then able to register it in my name.

I would not have purchased the unit without checking the units history. INC would not give me any information about the current registered owner.

Ira

[joe]

@inewman
That sounds reasonable. But I wonder if this is also practicable for us overseas? Especially with 'grey' imported machines... is Segway willing to register them to their current owners? Anybody tried this already?

--
Johannes