Buying used Cricut cartridges

Hi all!!! My kids surprised me with a Cricut for Christmas. Very cool! The cartridges are expensive, so I was looking on E-Bay. There are people selling the used cartridges, saying that they loaded them on a Gypsy, and that they will still work for Cricut. These seem like great deals, from $10.00 and up. Has anyone bought used cartridges? Have you had any problem with them?
Thanks for the feedback.
Shirley

This I don't know about. However, it depends on what cart it is, I know someone who got a new cart for $13.00. And this is one of the newest carts.

As for them being loaded on the G, this might not be smart, as if you get into your bug, you might get a G,a nd then you cannot load them.....which to me would be the pits.

I would also question if they didn't work, which I never heard of this, PC more likely wouldn't honor it. Also you will not get the rewards point, as more likely this person had already redeemed them.

There is a lot of deals on eBay out there. And you can get some of the first carts at M's for $19.99. They are always deals out there.

I looked at the used ones, and with the shipping and handling, but the price they want....I would go for new.

I have a Imagine, and I have bid on some of the carts, and I have gotten them between $16 to $24. I think you can do better with watching sales, or bid on them. But make sure shipping is FREE!

And I like this never been used. If it's been open, it's been used.

I don't like to buy used items from Evilbay as a rule (except for books)

My DH bought a reel on eBay, and what a mess. It was broken. We are in the middle of getting his money back......

I have bought used cart's on ebay. I have never had any problems w/ them. As mentioned, you don't get the reward points w/ them, but that's not a biggie to me. Also, if it's already been registered to a Gypsy, you can't register it to another if you ever get one. This, again, doesn't bother me as I have no plans on owning a Gypsy... I've played around w/ one before & it's just not for me. This is just something you have to decide for yourself, but if the seller has good feedback, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used one.

Good luck!

I looked and the prices are not that great. I would soon get new....as you very know what might be in your future

You can get a lot of the new cartridges cheap on eBay. I would go that route because if the are defective, you will be able to do something about it

My sister buys used cartridges on eBay all the time & gets great deals, especially on the new and hard-to-find cartridges. She hasn't had any problems with them.

I think it's just fine, as long as you don't think you'll want a Gypsy. She doesn't want one, EVER, because she doesn't want to fork over the money and she doesn't want to learn how to use it (she's technically-challenged). She also doesn't scrap much because of limited space, so for her, buying used is just fine.

If I can I go for new carts, a lot of times I can find them new for a few dollars more than a used, which I do for my own peace of mind. But the hard to find carts I buy used and haven't had any issues, just be sure to check the feedback and item descriptions. There are deals out there on used and new, it really comes down to personal preferences.

I said I would NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR get a Gypsy,,,they were 300 bucks and there was NO FREAKING WAY,,,,,,,


now they are 100 bucks and I have one and I love it,,,,,,

I would go for new if the cost isn't too much higher,,,,,it's just WORTH it to have one new in the box for a couple bucks more, IMHO,,,,,,you NEVER KNOW when you will change your mind about a Gypsy,,,,

If I had a nickle for every time I said "I will never" about scrap booking products,,,,,,I'd be filthy rich

I agree with Holly. I also thought I would never get a G. I didn't understand them. But after going to crop, and hauling all the stuff, and did I bring the right cart.... the G has saved me in so many way. It so nice to have it all at your finger tips. I hate have to go out and look for a cart, I need. I have close to 150 of them. And NO I never pay full price. I will with some pay more than I would normally would, as I did with the new Disney one, but I still go it on Eba for under what a on line store would have sold it on sale.

Beside I thought there was something with PC, that once you download them to a G, you could not sale them. As if you open them most companies will not take them back. However, if something is wrong with them I am sure PC will replace it. But I haven't heard of anyone having problems with a cart, machines yes, but not carts.

I just like having the new, knowing PC will back me on it. And I have turned in my rewards point, and received four of the newer carts for just the shipping.

However, we all would love to know what you decided to do.

• MrsAnnieS Said:

I don't care about that. Buying used is buyer beware. My DH is in a middle of a case with a private person, which these carts would be, and he did say that the reel he bought had a broken piece. And to repair it would have cost my DH almost as much as he paid for it. And adding them together, he could have almost had a new real. It was a big mess. And we are to get our money back. But he had great ratings. And was more worried that it was going down because of this, than he sold us something that was broke. And if they only sold a few things, the comments are going to be good. I look at what they have sold in the past, and how much they have sold.

I buy all my cartridges on ebay, However I only buy brand new with free shipping and I never pay over $20.00 for each cart.

I also buy most of my carts on e but I really don't like to buy them used. There are times when carts are going for alot and there are times when no one is really bidding on them so I have a rule I don't bid over 18.00 for carts, and if they are older ones I don't bid over 15.00 new. Be patient right now they are selling for over 20 so I dont even bother looking in there. But 2 weeks ago I got a couple for under 15.00.

I went to the best place I could, the Cricut Circle, to find the answer about the used carts that have been downloaded to a G.
Here is one of the answers:
Apparently this person does not know about the End Users License Agreement (EULA). When a cartridge is plugged into the Gypsy, it shows the EULA and by Clicking AGREE, you are agreeing to NOT sell the cartridge once its been linked to the Gypsy. OR, the person is disregarding the EULA.

It would be like buying software programs for your Computer (Microsoft Word for example) and making copies of it and selling them.

Sorry I hate to be a @#$#@!, but I really don't like to see my fellow scrapper get the bad end of the deal. This person, buy agreeing to the EULA agreement, cannot sale those cartridges. So they are "hot". I don't thing the same rules applies with the sale of a cart, that hasn't been download to a G. The problem happens because of the download. It's like the downloading of music, or recording DVD's and selling them. It's a copy right thing.

Sorry, I just rained on your parade

The subject... buying used (or loaded on a Gypsy) cartridges has come up before. Several threads on the "pros & cons" and the "ethics" of selling & buying used cartridges can be found in the Cricut forum.

Personally... I probably won't buy a used cartridge as I may get a Gypsy someday or PC may figure out a way to shut "used" cartridges down so they can’t be used in different machines. Potentially… alls it could take is hooking your Cricut up once to a computer/internet and PC could send a patch to the software in your Cricut. They can't do it now but it is very likely the will figure something out in the future.

Ebay is the only place I buy my Cricut Carts. and yes I do buy used if they are cheap enough.

• Gelidy Gelato Said:

Possibly,,,but I can't imagine they would do this,,,,,,PC advises that the carts will be usable in ANY cricut,,,,

of course, SELLING them, once downloaded is illegal, but really how do they know they were sold, or lent, or simply used in a different machine because your G is broken?????

It would be pretty rotten of PC to promise the ability to use the carts in any machine after downloading to the Gypsy and then take that away because a few people broke a licensing agreement.

I would always buy new. There are a lot of great sales on the cartridges for even cheaper than what they have on ebay. I have bought some cartridges on ebay but its such a pain to sit there and try and out bid the other bidders and worry if there was going to be a problem with the seller. I only bought from people who had no shipping and very high sale volume. Now I use one company when I do want new one. I order in a few minutes and they ship out right away no problems. Before the holidays most of there carts were $13-$16 with a few of the really new ones for $23-$25.

Hopefully when you get your cartridges you register them with PC, as well as registering your Gypsy. If the unspeakable happens like the Gypsy breaks, is stolen or etc PC knows what cartridges you have registered to your name and can make them restorable to a replacement Gypsy. That is a reason why the downloaded cartridges are to be sold along with the Gypsy.

Check out SCAL II. You will never buy another cart. You can use all your own fonts--and just import images from the internet. Want a flag? Want a flower? Want an apron? Just google it. Then hit image. Look for a basic shape. If you have photoshop, then you are really set. You can import jpgs into SCAL and resize it etc!

See that is the problem with use/new carts. You have to know your prices. What I have seen from the used one, they are almost as high, or will be the same or higher when shipping is added as a new cart. Plus you don't have the backing from PC behind them, not that I have know of to many people having problems with carts, only machines. And if you get a G, your a screwed. you cannot link it.

SCAL or MTC is another road to go. It's slower when you cut. You tie up your computer, and there is a learning curve to both programs. I have both, and I like MTC much better. They both are second party companies, not made my PC. However, they is the problem with your warranty on your machine. I don't know how they know if you use it on your machine. As when I got a replacment for my baby bug last year. I had used both programs. It was never asked, and I knew not to say. Well, I did even think about it, as I was using a cart when it freezed. But they sent me a replacement, even though it was bought when the machines first came out. All I had to do was send them the old machine, at their cost.

• scraperfect Said:

I love my SCAL2! I do not have Photoshop. Is there still any way to do this? If you could give me some basic ideas I would appreciate it! I am still learning and have just cut basic stuff with it so far. I do have Gimp and Inkscape. Would either of those do what I need to cut an image that I Googled?