Know what you're paying for.
Buying a Mac from someone you don't know is a leap of faith. Specs in a listing aren't proof of anything; screenshots can be edited. A Macfax report is the rare exception: hardware-attested, verifiable on the Mac you receive, and impossible to forge.
Free for buyers · always · no account
The three problems with a normal Mac listing.
None of these involve a malicious seller. Most sellers are honest. But the medium itself doesn't carry proof, so even honest listings ask the buyer to take a lot on faith.
Specs aren't verified
The seller says "M3 Ultra, 64 GB." The screenshot they pasted of About-This-Mac could be from a different machine, edited, or stale. You have no way to check before money changes hands.
Activation Lock can come back
Even after a factory reset, Activation Lock can re-trigger if the seller's Apple ID associated with the device wasn't signed out properly. You discover this when you try to set up the Mac.
Cosmetics hide real failures
Photos show the case. They don't show SSD wear, battery cycles, MDM enrollment, or the fact that the logic-board was swapped two years ago.
Three checks. Thirty seconds.
The seller gives you a URL like macfax.com/r/k7m4q9xa. Here's exactly what to look at.
- Use any browser
- Read the seal and the device name
- Check the issue date
- Model, chip, RAM, storage
- Activation Lock, MDM
- Battery and SSD health (Premium)
- Download Macfax
- Run "Verify a report"
- Confirm the hardware matches (Premium)
Steps 1 and 2 happen before you pay. Step 3 happens after the Mac arrives, and is Premium-only: the buyer-side app re-derives the device-key fingerprint locally and confirms it matches the report; if the seller swapped hardware in transit, the fingerprint won't match.
What we don't ask you to take on faith.
Not the seller's word
Every report is signed by the Mac itself via Apple's Secure Enclave. The seller can't fabricate the data, even with full physical access.
Not our word either
The signature on a Macfax report is verifiable without us. Anyone with an Apple device and the open spec can confirm it. We're a service, not a referee.
And not a screenshot
A screenshot is an image. A real report lives at a URL on macfax.com. If a seller shows you an image and not a URL, that's not a Macfax report. It's a picture of one.
Premium is the buyer's defense for high-value purchases.
Basic reports verify identity, authenticity, and spec match. That's enough to filter out fakes and lock-trapped Macs. For high-value transactions, ask the seller for a Premium upgrade. Premium adds hardware-health data (SSD wear, battery, burn-in) and the device-binding fingerprint that lets you re-verify the Mac on receipt.
Same download. Same app. Tier chosen after the preview runs.
Download MacfaxCheck the serial
Run the serial against the Macfax registry. Free. Returns a fact: is this Mac on file as compromised?
Look up a serialVerify on the device
Download Macfax on the Mac you received. Run the buyer-side verification. Thirty seconds; no account.
Download Macfax