You can't sell Virgin Media TiVo/V6 boxes (or Sky Q boxes) on eBay!
Posted: April 21st, 2020, 12:00 pm
I've always suspected that this has been the case, but now it is confirmed.
I recently created a forum thread on the eBay community, about why eBay tend to always delete Virgin Media listings, but not those of rivals (e.g. Sky+ HD boxes).
This is because of my recent findings, whereby listings of Virgin Media TiVo boxes almost always get deleted within a couple of days of them being listed.
Recently, I tried bidding on a couple of TiVo boxes, whose starting bids made them good value for money, considering the purpose I was going to use them for (e.g. extracting the 500GB hard drives, and using the drives for PC storage). They were fine until today, and I was still the highest bidder.
Fast forward to today, and both listings had mysteriously vanished, with an error page...
So it seems that even bidding on a TiVo box does not make it safe from being deleted.
With that, I contacted eBay Customer Support about the issue. They stated that, whilst they were "not able to share the main reason why the listing has been removed by eBay", there were only "3 reasons why a listing is being deleted".
Out of these reasons, the only one that makes sense is "if they have committed listing violation" - basically, something that breaks the terms and conditions of selling an item on eBay.
This infers that you are not allowed to sell any Virgin Media TiVo boxes, because this happens to almost all TiVo boxes that get listed on eBay - not just the odd one or two - and therefore it cannot be a coincidence, nor can it be "a compromised or suspenders seller account". This tallies up with the discussion that took place on the eBay community, i.e. you are not allowed to sell these boxes.
Which is a shame, because they are a very useful source of cheap hard drives...
Nevertheless, I shall still be on the lookout for TiVo boxes that slip through the net, so to say, as they make for cheap sources of 500GB drives.
An alternative way of getting around this is to disassemble the box yourself, junk the innards, and sell the hard drive itself on eBay - as hard drives are sold all the time and there is nothing to say you cannot sell a standard PC, desktop or laptop hard drive. You'll probably get more money by doing that as well - provided you have the right equipment to do so, i.e. a set of Torx Security screwdrivers (as well as standard Philips).
I recently created a forum thread on the eBay community, about why eBay tend to always delete Virgin Media listings, but not those of rivals (e.g. Sky+ HD boxes).
This is because of my recent findings, whereby listings of Virgin Media TiVo boxes almost always get deleted within a couple of days of them being listed.
Recently, I tried bidding on a couple of TiVo boxes, whose starting bids made them good value for money, considering the purpose I was going to use them for (e.g. extracting the 500GB hard drives, and using the drives for PC storage). They were fine until today, and I was still the highest bidder.
Fast forward to today, and both listings had mysteriously vanished, with an error page...
So it seems that even bidding on a TiVo box does not make it safe from being deleted.
With that, I contacted eBay Customer Support about the issue. They stated that, whilst they were "not able to share the main reason why the listing has been removed by eBay", there were only "3 reasons why a listing is being deleted".
Out of these reasons, the only one that makes sense is "if they have committed listing violation" - basically, something that breaks the terms and conditions of selling an item on eBay.
This infers that you are not allowed to sell any Virgin Media TiVo boxes, because this happens to almost all TiVo boxes that get listed on eBay - not just the odd one or two - and therefore it cannot be a coincidence, nor can it be "a compromised or suspenders seller account". This tallies up with the discussion that took place on the eBay community, i.e. you are not allowed to sell these boxes.
Which is a shame, because they are a very useful source of cheap hard drives...
Nevertheless, I shall still be on the lookout for TiVo boxes that slip through the net, so to say, as they make for cheap sources of 500GB drives.
An alternative way of getting around this is to disassemble the box yourself, junk the innards, and sell the hard drive itself on eBay - as hard drives are sold all the time and there is nothing to say you cannot sell a standard PC, desktop or laptop hard drive. You'll probably get more money by doing that as well - provided you have the right equipment to do so, i.e. a set of Torx Security screwdrivers (as well as standard Philips).