If you buy used electronics on eBay long enough, you’re going to see one word over and over again:
Untested.
Sometimes the seller doesn’t have the battery.
Sometimes they don’t have the charger, cable, or other equipment needed to test the item.
Sometimes they sell mostly clothing or household items and simply don’t know much about the random camera or iPod they ended up with.
And yes, sometimes I think sellers use untested a little more conveniently than they probably should.
So does untested mean broken?
No.
Untested should mean exactly what it says:
The item was not tested, so the seller does not know whether it works.
But when I’m buying untested electronics to resell, I still price them as though they could be completely broken.
That’s the difference.
Untested Means Unknown
If somebody lists an old camera as untested, I don’t automatically assume it works.
But I also don’t automatically assume it’s dead.
Maybe it works perfectly.
Maybe the flash doesn’t work.
Maybe the lens is stuck.
Maybe the battery is bad.
Maybe it turns on but has another problem.
Or maybe it’s completely dead.
Until somebody actually tests it, we don’t know.
That uncertainty is what I’m buying.
Broken and Untested Are Not the Same Thing
If somebody already knows an item is broken, I don’t think they should simply call it untested.
Let’s say somebody puts batteries into an old CD player.
It turns on.
The radio works.
But the CD mechanism doesn’t spin.
At that point, the seller knows something is wrong.
That’s no longer simply:
Untested.
I would describe what actually happened:
Turns on. Radio works. CD player does not spin.
That gives the buyer useful information.
The same applies to a camera with a stuck lens, an iPod with a dead screen, a game console that won’t read discs, or any other electronic with a known problem.
Once I know the problem exists, I disclose it.
I go through my process for that in How I List Broken Electronics on eBay (For Parts or Repair).
“Turns On” Is Not the Same as “Tested”
This is another distinction that matters.
You might see:
Turns on. Untested otherwise.
That’s completely reasonable if that’s genuinely all the seller knows.
But turning on is only one test.
A camera can power on and still have a broken flash, a bad lens, dead buttons, image problems, or a card-reading issue.
An iPod can power on and still have a bad battery, bad headphone jack, faulty click wheel, screen issue, or storage problem.
So when I say an item is tested, I generally mean I have tested the important functions and believe the item works.
Technically, somebody could say, “I tested it and discovered it was broken.”
But on an eBay listing, if I put TESTED in the title, I want the buyer to understand that I mean tested and working.
I explain that much more in What Does “Tested” Mean on eBay? What Buyers and Sellers Should Know.
I Pay Attention to Who Is Selling It
This is one of the most useful things I’ve learned when buying untested electronics.
Look at the seller.
Not just the listing.
What else do they sell?
A lot of sellers develop a niche.
Some mostly sell clothing.
Some sell cameras.
Some sell phones.
Some sell vintage electronics.
Some use eBay almost like an online garage sale and only sell whatever happens to be sitting around their house.
That context matters.
Imagine somebody mostly sells clothing.
Maybe they bought a storage unit, estate lot, or pile of inventory because it contained a lot of clothes.
Then buried in one box are a few old cameras.
They don’t have the batteries.
They don’t have the chargers.
They don’t know anything about cameras.
So they list them:
Untested.
I find that believable.
They genuinely may have no clue whether those cameras work.
Now imagine I find a seller whose store is full of cameras.
They have hundreds of them listed.
Most of the cameras are tested.
They clearly own chargers and batteries and know how to test cameras.
Then I find several cameras in their store marked:
Untested.
I’m going to be a little more skeptical.
That does not automatically mean the seller is lying.
Maybe they genuinely don’t have the correct battery.
Maybe they didn’t have time.
Maybe something else prevented them from testing it.
But I’m going to ask myself why this particular camera is untested when testing cameras is obviously something that seller knows how to do.
My Own Battery Collection Is a Good Example
I don’t exclusively sell cameras, but after selling electronics for years, I’ve accumulated a ridiculous number of old batteries and chargers.
I have batteries stored in bags and boxes specifically because the next camera I buy might not come with one.
If I get a camera without a battery, there’s a decent chance I can go through what I already have and find something compatible enough to test it.
That’s why I think the seller’s normal inventory matters.
Someone who regularly sells the same type of electronic usually has more ways to test it than somebody who found one random device at the bottom of a storage-unit box.
Casual Sellers Can Be Interesting
Sometimes the sellers I find most interesting are people who barely sell on eBay at all.
You open their profile and maybe they’ve sold 20 things.
They’re not running a full reselling operation.
They might just be cleaning out drawers around the house.
They find an old iPod and think:
I haven’t used this thing in 15 years. Maybe somebody will give me $20 for it.
They may have no idea that a particular model is collectible or worth considerably more.
That doesn’t mean every casual seller has a hidden treasure.
Some people wildly overprice things too.
But a seller who does not specialize in a category may genuinely know less about the item than the buyer does.
That’s one of the opportunities in reselling.
Untested Is a Gamble — But It Isn’t a Blind Gamble
I sometimes compare buying untested electronics to gambling.
You don’t know exactly what you’re going to get.
But unlike buying a lottery ticket, you can peek behind the curtain first.
You have information.
You can look at the photos.
You can inspect the battery compartment.
You can look for corrosion.
You can look at the screen.
You can check whether pieces are missing.
You can read the description.
You can look through the seller’s other listings.
You can check their feedback.
You can research what the item is worth working.
You can research what it’s worth broken.
That gives you an advantage.
I Assume the Worst Financially
Untested does not mean broken.
But when I’m buying an untested electronic, I usually price it as though it could be completely broken.
That’s a buying strategy, not a definition.
If it works, that’s the upside. If it doesn’t, I want to have paid little enough that I can still sell it for parts or otherwise recover most of my money.
Photos Matter a Lot
When I’m evaluating an untested electronic, I want good photos.
Lighting matters.
I want to actually see the thing.
Show me the front.
Show me the back.
Show me the screen.
Show me the battery compartment.
Show me the ports.
Show me obvious damage.
If there’s corrosion, I want to see it.
If a battery compartment looks completely clean, that’s useful information too.
Poor photos don’t automatically mean an item is bad.
Sometimes they just mean the seller is bad at taking pictures.
But clear photos give me more information to make a decision.
When I sell, I try to do the same thing for my buyers. My setup is simple, but I use good lighting and try to clearly show the condition.
Visible Damage Still Counts
The word untested does not erase what I can see.
If the screen is smashed, it’s smashed.
If the battery compartment is green with corrosion, that matters.
If the charging port is broken, that matters.
If a piece of the housing is missing, that matters.
I don’t get so excited about the possibility of an untested item secretly working that I ignore obvious physical problems.
The photos are part of the test.
I Research the Market Before Buying
Before I buy an untested electronic, I still check what the exact model sells for in both working and parts/not-working condition.
That helps me judge whether the price makes sense if the item turns out to be dead.
I go deeper into that buying decision in Should You Buy Untested Electronics to Resell?
I Don’t Specifically Hunt Only for “Untested”
I don’t necessarily sit down and search eBay only for the word untested.
I just run into it constantly because I buy older electronics.
Phones.
iPods.
Cameras.
Portable audio players.
Game systems.
Lots of electronics.
Untested items naturally show up in those searches.
If the price makes sense, I’m interested.
If the seller wants nearly the same price as a fully tested working example, I’m usually not.
The uncertainty needs to be reflected in what I pay.
How I Handle Untested Items When I’m the Seller
I rarely use untested because most of the time I can do at least some kind of test.
I usually have a battery.
Or a cable.
Or a charger.
Or some other way to at least see whether the device turns on.
But there have been situations where I genuinely could not test something.
In that situation, I say so.
For electronics, eBay’s current Used condition generally means the item is fully operational and functions as intended. If I cannot establish that, I don’t want to claim the item is Used and working. I take the conservative route, use the appropriate parts/not-working condition, and explain exactly what I did or did not test. eBay
That might mean:
Untested. I do not have the battery or charger required to test this item. Please review all photos for condition.
That is honest.
The buyer knows exactly what I know.
For the official condition definitions, eBay has a current item-condition guide here. eBay item condition definitions
Should You Assume Untested Means Broken?
I would not say:
Untested means broken.
It doesn’t.
I would say:
Untested means unknown.
But if I’m spending my own money, I value that unknown item as though it could be broken.
That protects me on the downside.
If it turns out to work?
Great.
That’s the upside.
If it turns out to be dead?
Hopefully I already paid a price where I can still sell it for parts, combine it into a lot, or otherwise recover my money.
Final Thoughts
Untested electronics are not automatically good deals.
They’re not automatically bad deals either.
The word simply means there is uncertainty.
Before I buy, I look at who the seller is, what they normally sell, why this particular item might be untested, what the photos show, what working examples sell for, what broken examples sell for, and whether the numbers still make sense if the device is completely dead.
That’s really the whole strategy.
I don’t buy an untested item because I assume it works.
I buy it when the price makes sense even if it doesn’t.
And if it works perfectly when I get it?
Even better.
New to Reselling on eBay?
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