Guide: How to SUCCESSFULLY sell a Virgin Media TiVo/V6 (or Sky Q) recording box on eBay.

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Guide: How to SUCCESSFULLY sell a Virgin Media TiVo/V6 (or Sky Q) recording box on eBay.

Postby spotify95 » April 21st, 2020, 2:14 pm

Here is a short guide on how to successfully sell a Virgin Media TiVo, V6, or Sky Q recording box on eBay, given the difficulties of selling these boxes.

If you sell them as you normally would do (like, for example, how you would sell a Sky+ HD box) then you will likely see your listing removed.
Whether this has any impact on account standing, I do not know.

So how do you successfully sell one of these boxes?

The best advice is to not list the item as a Virgin Media/Sky related item - by not making any mention of the keywords "Virgin Media" or "TiVo" or "V6" or "Sky Q" - as this will likely get your item flagged. These also happen to be the most popular search phrases for these boxes.

Instead, list them as recording boxes, or digital set top boxes, or PVRs etc - as ultimately these are boxes that receive a satellite or cable input signal, and record onto the in built hard drive.
Use the original manufacturer as a keyword - i.e. Samsung, Cisco etc - as there are various different products from the larger manufacturers, and will not get flagged.
Point out the 2.5 inch (Virgin V6) or 3.5 inch (Sky Q / Virgin TiVo) hard drive - as well as the capacity of the drive (e.g. 500GB/1TB/2TB) - as the hard drive is the main selling point for re-using these boxes.

Other good tips include:
Targeting the PC/desktop/computer user market: these boxes cannot be used as recording boxes (or connecting up to the Virgin/Sky network) once they have been de-activated from the Virgin/Sky network (they are also account specific, so will not work with another Virgin or Sky customer), but the hard drive (and SATA/power cables) can certainly be re-used, either in a desktop or tower PC, or as an external drive (inside a suitable enclosure).
List these items as "buy it now" listings at a suitable price with "best offer" feature enabled. Price the boxes in relation to their salvage value - mostly the hard drive, but also the electronic circuit boards/components/switches etc. You want the boxes to sell quickly - the quicker they sell, the less chance there is of the listing being removed.
Deliberately selecting an incorrect (or slightly incorrect) category: listing the item under "Cable TV Boxes" or "Satellite TV Receivers" will not work very well, and will be picked up on. Maybe list it as a wireless router, or as an all-in-1 PC, or under enterprise networking, where the item is less likely to be picked up on by the eBay bots.
Using auctions may not work well, as the vast majority of 7 (or 10) day auction listings (especially those listed as Virgin or Sky boxes etc) end up being deleted by eBay.

Furthermore: if you have one of these boxes floating around, which would otherwise only be suitable for recycling, then why not take the hard drive out yourself?
All you will need are basic tools, such as screwdrivers - though Virgin Media tend to use T10 or T15 Torx Security screws (the one with the pin in the middle). Make sure to get a relatively long length screwdriver, in case there are any difficult to access screws.
You can then successfully remove the hard drive (as well as any other components that are worth removing), and throw away the outer casing.
There are guides online detailing how to disassemble Virgin TiVo, Virgin V6, and Sky Q boxes. Also see this disassembly guide if you have an older Virgin V+HD box, as these also have a hard drive inside.
The hard drive can then be sold on eBay (there are no problems with selling hard drives), or can be used by yourself in either a desktop/tower PC, or in a suitable external enclosure.
This is the preferred method to take if you are into electronics, computers/ICT, or are generally wanting to get it sold without the listing possibly getting removed by eBay.
A set of compatible screwdrivers can be purchased for less than £10 delivered (also from eBay).

I will update this as and when required - hope this guide comes in useful.

edit: Updated to also include Sky Q boxes - these have the same problems as Virgin TiVo/V6 boxes regarding resale purposes.
Links have also been added to online disassembly tutorials for each of the aforementioned boxes.


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