When buying second hand gear, do you want it serviced before you buy?

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The only gear I buy without expectation of having serviced are tanks. If they have a current hydro, that is a plus and they will get their regularly scheduled visual when they are due.

Don’t mail away for cancer! The problem with spending money on gear right before you sell it is 1) you might find out it needs something like a hose that is going cost more to fix and now that you know it, you either fix it or have to tell the buyer it needs to be replaced. 2) liability. Used gear should always be sold “as is”. If you sell it as ready to dive and the idiot goes and hurts himself because he took your word that it was good to go, he (or his heirs) may find a reason to go after you. Used gear needs to be serviced (or at least inspected) after purchase. Give the buyer the service history, if you have it. That it is in divable condition is entirely up to them.
 
Last year I purchased a used reg via a FB sale group. Seller just happened to be someone who works at my LDS and I know well. He asked if I wanted it serviced before I took possession as it hadn’t been used it a couple of years. I chose to have the reg serviced.

I only did this as I knew the seller and the reg was serviced my LDS. If I didn’t know the seller, I’d have the reg serviced myself.
 
I recently bought a reg off ebay. It shipped from the UK, looked like it was in perfect condition (inside & out), and it has a service sticker that was only 2 months old on it. I hooked it up to a tank and it had a fast IP creep. On disassembly the HP seat had a gash in it. That said, it was not advertised as serviced and is now one of my O2 regs due to its great condition.

All used gear I buy gets serviced before use. I would rather see the condition it was allowed to get to then the cleaned up condition.
 
I have bought used gear in the past and I ALWAYS have it serviced myself....regardless if the seller just had it serviced.

That being said I would (as a seller) not service it and state in the ad that it hasn't been serviced. Let the buyer do that and save yourself some moola.
 
I buy used gear, I expect to get it serviced. I figure I know the dive shop I go to and I trust their opinion. If I buy something that was just serviced, I'll still take it to my shop before I use it. So to me, personally, it doesn't matter and to you (assuming you sold me something) you just spent money you didn't need to.

On the selling side, I'm a real estate broker, have been for a long time. I've worked with a ton of people that want to do a major remodel right before selling. Unless you're dealing with a fixer upper, it's almost always a loss. If the house fits with the neighborhood condition, the 50k you're about to spend might net you a 10k bump in price. That means you just threw away 40k; The gross you receive doesn't matter, only the net.
 
Personally, apart from tanks (which are tested to an approved standard) I would assume all gear to be unserviced at time of sale (even if told otherwise). Doesn't matter if it was serviced the week before and never dived or if it has been dived 100 times since the last service.

Reason is I don't know the person that did the service and his level of competence. I want someone I am happy with to service my gear. There are too many horror stories about servicing to take the chance.
 
I've bought the majority of my used (and new) stuff from the shop and it was always serviced and ready to use. Buying tanks from an individual I want to know they are in good enough shape that they will pass visual and hydro. Which, of course means I want that done first before I buy them.
As a seller I would rather take a little less $ and the buyer deal with any repairs, etc. Then again, I was never good at any of that stuff when it came to real estate.....
 
I agree with many others that since I'm going to service it myself then I'd prefer to get the lower price. If someone is selling a tank and pays $40 for a hydro and VIP then that's more than it would cost me to have it done myself so that can over-price the tank from my point of view. On something like an old, galvanized, steel 72 tank I'll go for the good deal and take my chances. It's rare for them to not pass hydro.
 

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