What's up with: "hasn't been tested"?

[Old school Scott]

Why would someone go through the trouble of taking and posting a picture of a box, and typing up the review, but they're not able to stick batteries in the box to see if it works?
does this just mean it doesn't work and they know it?
"hush yo mouth!"
I'm just talkin bout Ebay.

OSS

 

[Johnny]

Why would someone go through the trouble of taking and posting a picture of a box, and typing up the review, but they're not able to stick batteries in the box to see if it works?
does this just mean it doesn't work and they know it?
"hush yo mouth!"
I'm just talkin bout Ebay.

OSS

They may not wanna make the investment in buying batteries, they'll never use.. dunno for sure as this has puzzled me also!

 

[redbenjoe]

there are so many ebay consignment shops in every town --
the shop owners sell every type of product on an 'as is' basis-

most of their items --may be clothes and dishes , etc
which never have to be 'tested'.

so - they often will sell electronics the same way --
ie - just post a picture and say " good condition"
or some brief description

that all does not mean it wont work -
but -- since shipping is always expensive --and since these
'shoe sellers' may have no clue about packing a big boombox-

you are taking a 100% risk --
no matter how low the winning bid may be

the best move is to just PASS
imho

 

[hemiguy2006]

Hasn't been tested = Broken in my book.

 

[Superduper]

I may be cynical but in my experience, untested generally means it doesn't work but they don't want to say this since it has a negative effect on auction outcome. Therefore, they say untested and hope the optimistic side of the buyer takes over. Sometimes, you get lucky and the item really was untested. However...... given the tremendous upside in stating unequivocably that something works 100%, it's unlikely that someone wouldn't take a small extra step to guarantee a good auction result.

The bad thing... this tactic does work. So while I personally wouldn't rule out buying something that doesn't work (as I do like to take on projects), this seldom works out well because there will always be some other naive but optimistic buyer who will push the price up higher than I'd like given the risk.

 

[vladi123456]

Normally not tested = not working. Bid accordingly

 

[ahardb0dy]

"hasn't been tested" they could just be covering themselves by saying this they don't have to worry if it works or not, if they say it works and someone buys it and something doesn't work and the seller didn't list the one thing that didn't work I guess that could create more problems depending on the buyer

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Normally not tested = not working. Bid accordingly

Simple and to the point.
This is definitely the Caveat Emptor sign blinking in your face.

The box could be fine and truly untested but at what cost are you willing to take a chance.

 

[ahardb0dy]

I think the " I didn't have any batteries,tape, etc" to test it is a bunch of BS, which probably means as has been said already, it doesn't work

 

[Ghettoman]

Why would someone go through the trouble of taking and posting a picture of a box, and typing up the review, but they're not able to stick batteries in the box to see if it works?
does this just mean it doesn't work and they know it?
"hush yo mouth!"
I'm just talkin bout Ebay.

OSS

Yeh i`m with you on this one,i see it all the time and it puzzles me
they say not tested like its the most difficult thing in the world to do..
"cant find/or have`nt got a power cord..have`nt got any tapes.. ect..its all strange to me...

 

[monchito]

well what does it cost just to plug the sucker in and tell everyone to stand back incase of a explosion