Every question, one place.
What Macfax verifies, why the proof holds, why the report is free, and what the macOS app reads from your Mac. Can't find something? Email support@macfax.com.
What Macfax verifies, how the proof holds, and what a buyer can do with a report.
Is Macfax a store?
No. We standardize listings from wherever Macs are sold and link you straight to the seller. The record is ours; the sale is theirs.
What does the badge mean?
A signed Macfax report is attached to that exact Mac. Open it from the listing and read what was checked, when, and by which machine.
I am selling. Where do I start?
Download the app, run the free report, and attach the report URL to your listing wherever you sell. Get verified when you want the badge on the shelf.
What does Macfax actually check?
Identity (serial, Activation Lock, Find My, iCloud, MDM), spec match (chip, memory, storage, GPU), tamper integrity (chassis ↔ logic-board, Secure Boot, FileVault), hardware health read off the drive and battery, and a signed local-AI speed benchmark. All of it is in the free report.
How does Macfax prove the report wasn't faked?
Every report is signed at issuance by a key held inside the Secure Enclave of the Mac that produced it. The signature is server-validated; a report that doesn't verify never gets published. The report URL is hosted by Macfax, so what a buyer reads is the canonical record.
How is this different from Apple's Coverage Check or a PDF report?
Apple's Coverage Check tells you whether a serial is real. Nothing about case-swap fraud, hardware health, or whether the device is locked. A PDF can be edited in 30 seconds. Macfax is hosted at a URL, signed at the device, and impossible to forge after the fact.
Does the report expire?
No. The issue date is shown prominently so buyers can judge freshness themselves, and re-running the diagnostic on the same Mac is free, always.
Can the buyer verify the report on receipt?
Yes, on any report. The buyer downloads the Macfax app and re-derives the device-binding fingerprint on the Mac in front of them; if it matches the report, the machine has not been swapped between the listing and the doorstep. This was a paid feature once, which had it backwards: it is the one check that protects a buyer after the money moves, so gating it meant most buyers could not run it.
What if my Mac fails one of the checks?
The report shows the actual result. Sellers can iterate-to-clean (sign out of iCloud, disable Activation Lock, factory reset) and re-run for free. The money-back guarantee covers the rare case where the diagnostic surfaces an unfixable problem.
What the report costs, what it includes, and why it is free.
What does it cost?
All of it. Browsing is free, the seller app is free to download and run, and everything it measures is in the report it publishes. There is no paid tier, no account and no card.
Are there different tiers of report?
No. There is one report and it is free. Macfax sold a $49 Premium tier alongside a free one until September 2026; the tier is gone and what it offered, including buyer re-verification on receipt, is on every report now.
What is free about the report?
Everything. No card, no account, no trial. The report covers identity, authenticity, spec match, hardware health and local AI speed, and it produces a publicly shareable URL that buyers can rely on. Run it on every Mac you list.
Is anything held back for a paid version?
No. Every check the app can make on a Mac is on the report it publishes, including the device-binding fingerprint a buyer re-verifies on receipt. There is no paid version to hold anything back for.
Why is it free?
A report is only useful to a buyer if the Mac they are looking at has one, and only useful to a seller once buyers expect one. Charging per report worked against both. Verified Macs also make the price and performance data behind the shop better, which is the part we could not buy from anyone else.
I paid for a Premium report before. What happens to it?
It keeps working and its URL has not changed. It now shows as an ordinary Macfax report, because that is what every report is, and nothing on it was removed.
Why no subscription?
Sellers list a Mac maybe twice a year, so a subscription would charge for time nobody is using the product. That reasoning is why pricing was one-time when reports were paid, and it is part of why they are free now.
What the macOS app reads, what versions it runs on, and what permissions it asks for.
Why do I need an app? Can't I just verify on the website?
The check has to run on the Mac itself. A website can only record what someone types in; the app reads the real hardware and signs the result on the device, so the report reflects the actual machine instead of a claim. That on-device read is what lets a buyer trust the badge rather than take the seller's word.
What does Macfax read from my Mac?
Device identifiers (model, serial, chassis serial, logic-board serial), SMART data, battery cycle count, system_profiler output. Nothing is uploaded during the preview; the signed payload only goes out at publish time.
What macOS versions are supported?
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or later) on macOS 14 or newer. Intel Macs are not supported; they lack the Secure Enclave primitives the diagnostic relies on.
Will it ask for sensitive permissions?
It uses standard macOS diagnostic interfaces. No kernel extensions, no full-disk access prompt. The first launch asks macOS to confirm an internet-downloaded app, which is normal.
Is the download really free?
Yes. The app is free, the report is free, and there is nothing to buy afterwards. No card, no account.
Ready when you are.
Find your next Mac on the shelf, or put yours on it with proof.