My 15" MacBook Pro 5.1 (late 2008) battery is inflating to the point of nearly breaking the unibody battery cover, so I'm really into replacing it as soon as possible. There are loads of these batteries on eBay (mostly UK sellers with high reputation) that cost less than half of the price I'd have to pay for a battery on a local Apple reseller store.
My question is: is it safe to purchase batteries for MacBook Pros on eBay? Are there any known issues or ripoffs that I should know of?
Best Answer
That depends on the product. I have gotten both good and bad batteries on eBay.
If it comes from China, Japan, Korea, or any other Asian country, it may very well be a fake. I have ordered several from those countries, and most of them ended up not even being detected by my MacBook.
Filter the listing so it only shows auctions within your own country. Check the seller's ratings and their reviews from previous sales of the same product. Finally, make sure they have a good return policy in case your battery doesn't work.
As for the name-brand vs. off-brand question, you can get good off-brand batteries, and bad name-brand batteries. It's like gambling, but the chances are closer to 50/50.