When you decide you are going to buy a laptop on ebay you must be very careful you have chosen the right buyer and laptop before you bid.  first you need to decide what exactly you need in a laptop.  you need to educate yourself about every aspect of the laptop in general.  I went through 10 sellers before I found the laptop I wanted and all were sold to me by buyers who misled me into thinking their laptop was what I was looking for.   I ended up with laptops that did not have memory,operating systems,needing to be partitioned,screens that did not work,no power cord or batteries,no hard drives,floppy,cd-rom,all the things I really needed in a laptop.  You need to let your seller know exactly what you want and need and let him know you will be highly ticked if he willingly sell you an item you can not use.   Make sure your laptop is complete and do not fall for the wireless ready trick and find out when you get home it is not wireless,but it can be adapted to be wireless.  I hope my guide helps you in your quest to find a laptop on Ebay.  Please vote positive for my guide.