Buying a copier online? What to check first

By The Copier Warehouse 17 January, 2023

You can buy a commercial copier online. Marketplaces and liquidators list them every day, and the listed price is often lower than a local provider’s.

The listed price is only part of what you are buying. Delivery, setup, the machine’s history and service after the sale are the rest, and most online listings leave those to you.

What can go wrong when you buy a copier online?

Freight damage

An office copier is heavy and built to stay in one place. Shipped by freight, it can arrive with a cracked panel, a damaged document feeder or a bent paper path. Sending it back means crating it and paying for freight again.

An unknown history

A listing rarely tells you how many pages the machine has run, how it was maintained, or why it was sold. Two machines that look the same in a photo can be years apart in wear.

No one to install it

The machine arrives on a pallet. Someone still has to move it into the office, connect it to the network, install print drivers on every computer and set up scan to email. Until that happens, it is a large box in the hallway.

No local service

Copiers need toner, parts and the occasional service call. A seller in another state cannot send a technician. A local service company may not take on a machine it did not sell, or may only do it on its own terms.

The last owner’s files

Copiers keep scanned and printed documents on an internal drive. A machine bought from a listing may still hold the last office’s files, and yours will leave the same way unless the drive is wiped.

What does a local provider do differently?

One company is responsible for the machine from delivery on.

The machines we stock are off-lease units, returned at the end of a lease, checked and serviced before install.
Every machine is delivered, installed and set up on your network, with print drivers and scan to email or scan to folder.
We haul away your old machine at install.
In Dallas Fort Worth and Houston, the machine is installed 3 to 5 business days after approval.
On the Total Coverage Plan, a technician is onsite within 4 hours.
The people who install and service your machine have 40+ years in the business.

Is buying online cheaper?

The listed price often is. The total is harder to see. Freight, moving the machine into the office, a technician to set it up, and a service plan from a company that did not sell it to you all come after the sale.

Our purchase price is one number, the same for every office, and it includes delivery and setup. Service runs on the Total Coverage Plan: toner, parts, labor and service calls on a per-page rate, with no minimums and no overages.

What should you ask before buying a copier from a listing?

How many pages has it run? Ask for the meter count.
How will it be delivered? Ask who moves it into the office and who pays for freight.
Who will service it? Ask how fast they respond and where toner and parts come from.
Has the drive been wiped? Ask how, and ask for it in writing.
What if it arrives damaged? Ask who pays to send it back.

If the answers are vague, the low price is covering for them.

Does it have to be a purchase?

No. The same machine can be leased on a 12 to 60 month term, and our leases do not renew automatically. If you need a machine without a term, month to month is an option too: keep it as long as you need it, return it when you don’t.

If you are weighing the two, see lease or buy an office printer.

FAQ

Do you sell machines outright?

Yes. The purchase price includes delivery and setup, and it is the same for every office.

How fast is service?

On the Total Coverage Plan, a technician is onsite within 4 hours.

How is service billed?

Per page, month to month, with no minimums and no overages. You can cancel the plan any month.

Can you take my old machine?

Yes. We haul away your old machine at install.

Request a quote for your office. Tell us your pages per month and paper sizes. The quote names the machine and every rate, in writing.