What does consignment mean…
… to the seller?
Voelker Research offers to sell your equipment for you in return for a percentage of the sale price. You, as the consignee, may set the asking price as well as a low limit, which is not visible to customers. This allows our sales people to have some bargaining room. Our sales people can recommend a price at which to set your equipment so that it will sell quickly.
Our technicians will certify any equipment you bring us. If our techs find a major problem, we will let you know what the problem is and how it can be remedied. In some cases the problem will require so much money to fix that it is simply not worth it, in which case you will have the option to pick up the equipment or have us dispose of it. In most cases repair costs can be taken directly from the consignment check when the unit does sell so that no money has to be paid up front.
Voelker Research will not disclose your identity to the buyer in any way.
… to the buyer?
Every and every piece of consignment equipment goes through a rigorous, multi-point diagnostic and testing process. We do this testing so that you, the buyer, can ascertain the condition of an item and have a professional opinion on the state equipment is in before you buy.
Consignments can be a great value but do come with some risk – no warranty. This means that if you buy a piece of consignent equipment from us, take it home and it fails, you may not bring it back for a refund.
Consignment Policy
What does certification mean?
The Voelker Research Service Department certifies all consignments before they are allowed to sell. The certification process acts simply as a quality control guideline to help potential customers gauge the condition of a particular piece of equipment and is not a specific guarantee of fitness. We try to make sure that a unit is completely functional, but it is sometimes not possible to test certain features of a product. Cosmetic defects or defects in material that do not contribute to functionality may be present. Units MAY still pass with a known issue (such as a broken speaker or even a missing speaker). All consignments are sold ‘as-is’ and have no specific warranty or return/refund privileges.
What are grounds for failure of a certification? Broken or nonfunctional units will not sell. If a unit is inoperable or has missing components, it will fail certification. Specifically:
- Laptops: All parts of the machine must work so that the machine will function as a portable computer. This includes a reasonable (but not necessarily original) battery life. Power Adapter required.
- Desktops: All available system interfaces must function properly. This includes FireWire, Thunderbolt, USB, Audio in and out, etc.
- Printers: The printer MUST be able to print a self test as well as a document from a computer. If an ink cartridge is dry or if the printer is too dirty to run well, the printer will fail certification.
- Displays: Scratches on the screen, discoloration, flickering or any image quality defect will cause the certification to fail.
What kinds of equipment does Voelker Research accept?
Some items are very popular. Other items may simply not sell. Voelker Research will help evaluate each item when it comes in to determine if it is desirable to our customer base. If not, we will not accept the consignment. Here are a few guidelines:
- Systems must be a Mac computer with an Intel Core i5 or better processor(must be capable of running OS X 10.12 or better)
- Displays must be 21.5″ LCD Flat panel or larger
- Printers must connect to a Mac through a standard port (USB/Ethernet/Thunderbolt/Wifi/BlueTooth) and use laser printing technology(no ink jet)
- Standalone hard drives must be4TB or larger.
- No software application packages