Thanks for responding, your advice was helpful. We do check the seller reviews and ratings/response time, etc. We have deposited $99 for a Starlink unit and our nearby neighbor (100 yards away) has one set up and working. However, Starlink is probably holding back on sending us our new unit because they do not want to overload the system in our area, which is not a problem in our low-populated rural region. We thought buying a used system might help get us online sooner but alas this is very risky.
Since we have only placed a deposit this means we are not yet customers which can send them email inquiries for help. Should the original owner decide not to help we would be dead in the water and our purchase of a used unit, is a waste of money. There is no way to communicate with Starlink to transfer the account over to us, we have to rely on the original owner to do this. Therefore, it seems buying a used unit is a huge risk as the sellers may decide not to cooperate and not give us the info we need. They could simply refuse to respond to our inquiries after the sale nor help us make the transfer.
Even though Starlink reassures that one can buy a used unit they have made this difficult and risky for one to do. They make sure they state that they are not responsible for whatever problems we may encounter in buying a used unit. This means to us that Starlink will make no effort to help in activating the used system we buy should we run into the above problems.
By the way, most of the offers for used units are priced tags greater than what Starlink is asking for a new unit. This is probably because the sellers want to exploit and profit from the buyer's need for service. Since Starlink controls the ability in activating the units why not require sellers to announce their intention to sell to another and make it possible for the new owners to get the system transferred over to them without the old owner's involvement? Why place the buyers in a position where they have to rely on the seller to do this and take a huge risk? Sooner or later, buying used Starlink units will become known as a very risky enterprise. Maybe that is what Starlink wants to happen.
Hi Daniel,If you are going to make a used purchase online you want to make sure whoever you are buying from is a) a reputable source (has good seller reviews and ratings/response time, etc) b) They keep you updated on the process of transferring services as they will have to be in contact with a Starlink rep. c) Check your service area to make sure you can have a Starlink system at your location.Not sure if this is what you are inquiring about with your post. Let me know if this answers your questions and I will do my best to assist you further.
Here is what others are relaying about their efforts to buy/sell used Starlink systems:
I have already tried what you describe, unfortunately. The person asked me to file a ticket to start the process of transferring the account. I pasted their reply below. it appears they won't start the process until your address is cleared in the queue to be activated. =========== Hi Chris, Thank you for reaching out to Starlink, we appreciate your time. If your friend is currently on a waiting list, the transfer of service would not work as their area is currently pending for service. It would best be recommended they wait, and hold their place in line. =========== I'm getting less and less confident this is going to work (selling this equipment on eBay) but I will do whatever it takes to be a good eBayer and follow through with the commitment here to let the auction run. What it seems like - is that in order for this to work as you are thinking about it, someone will need to bid/win/pay and have the equipment on hand until they are up in the queue with Starlink at some future date, then reach out to me to reach out to Starlink to open a ticket to transfer my equipment to them. This is a lot of trust to place in someone they don't know after they have already paid. I am an honest person and of course will do this for the buyer, but the buyer has to feel they can trust someone they don't know to follow through here potentially weeks or even months from now. Again, I have a 100% feedback score and will do it, but its no surprise the last winner did not pay and the item was relisted. Anyways again you have my full commitment to help if you win and I will provide my contact info to the winner. But of course its up to you if you want to continue.
__________________ Thanks for explaining clearly about how Starlink's works in filling their orders. We can wait for their announcemnt that our order is ready as you suggested. We did some exploring of the Starlink website and it said at https://support.starlink.com/?topic=bbb89fbf-d5b7-4b50-150f-4514d6a54f03
"Can I Transfer my Starlink Service Ownership?
To transfer service ownership, please provide support with the email and intended service address of the person you are looking to transfer service to. The new owner will need to know your account number in order to proceed so please be sure to provide this information to them.
Please do not update any of the current contact information in your account before submitting your request, or while the request is being reviewed. Starlink is not responsible for anything related to the selling of the dish and cannot guarantee all transfer requests can be accommodated."
Sine EBay does not allow us to give out email and home address over their method, will it work if we just give you the account number that they gave us when we placed our deposite? Can you share with us your account number as well?
________________________________
whoiscpom:What you're describing won't work. The reason you are in the queue has nothing to do with the availability of hardware -- so the solution is not to get used hardware. It has to do with starlinks' decision to only sign up a set number of customers per "cell" which is a geographic area. This is to maintain what they feel as the capacity for network in that area. I reached out to starlink with this very question for another potential buyer, and provided his/her zip code in the support ticket and it still was a no-go. If you buy this starlink which you are free to do, understand that you will probably only be able to wait until your order is ready and you are set to be activated, and then just tell starlink to cancel the equipment order and to use my account. The issue with this is the unknown amount of time that will take.
Your previous message Hi, We appreicate the effort you made to explain what it in entails to get your account traqnferred over to us. We have made a depoist to reserve a new StarLink disc set up sent to us, but the wait is long. Therefore, we were drawn to your ad. Our problem is we cannot write a ticket but found out that "The most obvious method would be to raise a ticket addressing your query right from the Starlink app or website. But to do so, you have to be a customer." Having placed a deposit does not mean we are a customer yet, one where we can make an inquiry about transferring of your account over to us. Therefore, we would have to rely on you to do that for us. Can you? If so, how is that done? Can you ask StarLink's to send us an email to us?
_______________________
Obviously, Starlink is not going to change it policies on used systems sales as it works out to their advanced to make it diffiuclt to impossible to do. Therefore, one is forced to buy a new unit only, meaning more profits for Starlinks. This will result in people selling used systems, finding out that they cannot put them to use and then reselling, and reselling and reselling until people get it how Starlink has set up the ability of anyone to utilize used systems, that it is impossible. Of course, Starlink will come back with the statments that are reassuring, but try it out yourself and you will see what results.
Thanks for responding, your advice was helpful. We do check the seller reviews and ratings/response time, etc. We have deposited $99 for a Starlink unit and our nearby neighbor (100 yards away) has one set up and working. However, Starlink is probably holding back on sending us our new unit because they do not want to overload the system in our area, which is not a problem in our low-populated rural region. We thought buying a used system might help get us online sooner but alas this is very risky.
Since we have only placed a deposit this means we are not yet customers which can send them email inquiries for help. Should the original owner decide not to help we would be dead in the water and our purchase of a used unit, is a waste of money. There is no way to communicate with Starlink to transfer the account over to us, we have to rely on the original owner to do this. Therefore, it seems buying a used unit is a huge risk as the sellers may decide not to cooperate and not give us the info we need. They could simply refuse to respond to our inquiries after the sale nor help us make the transfer.
Even though Starlink reassures that one can buy a used unit they have made this difficult and risky for one to do. They make sure they state that they are not responsible for whatever problems we may encounter in buying a used unit. This means to us that Starlink will make no effort to help in activating the used system we buy should we run into the above problems.
By the way, most of the offers for used units are priced tags greater than what Starlink is asking for a new unit. This is probably because the sellers want to exploit and profit from the buyer's need for service. Since Starlink controls the ability in activating the units why not require sellers to announce their intention to sell to another and make it possible for the new owners to get the system transferred over to them without the old owner's involvement? Why place the buyers in a position where they have to rely on the seller to do this and take a huge risk? Sooner or later, buying used Starlink units will become known as a very risky enterprise. Maybe that is what Starlink wants to happen.
Hi Daniel, If you are going to make a used purchase online you want to make sure whoever you are buying from is a) a reputable source (has good seller reviews and ratings/response time, etc) b) They keep you updated on the process of transferring services as they will have to be in contact with a Starlink rep. c) Check your service area to make sure you can have a Starlink system at your location. Not sure if this is what you are inquiring about with your post. Let me know if this answers your questions and I will do my best to assist you further.