Is there any way to check the provenance of a used Trimble GNSS receiver? Really, I just want to make sure it's not stolen.
TIA,
Doug
You can prove something is stolen but you cannot prove something is NOT stolen.
Most equipment that I buy are 2nd or 3rd hand so purchase receipts are no longer available. You just have to buy from someone you know or a dealer with a physical store.
I agree with what Gerry said, but you can apply a few rules of thumb to help out:
1. If it's a late-model receiver and being offered at a ridiculously low price, steer clear unless you know and trust the seller. Absurdly good deals are very rare.
2. If it's being offered on ebay and appears to be a legitimate auction (as opposed to one that says "email me at flybynight@gmail.com to buy this now for $20"), check the seller's reputation. If he's overseas, new, or has only sold low-cost unrelated items, watch out.
3. If the equipment is EOL, there are some pretty sweet deals to be had on ebay from time to time. Perfectly serviceable GPS (and sometimes GNSS) receivers can sometimes be had from reputable sellers for a few hundred bucks or less. They usually don't come with a full complement of accessories, so you'll often have to come up with antenna, battery, cables, case, etc. from other sources. This stuff will generally be heavy and not very power-efficient, but still capable of producing high-quality data.
4. Probably the most important rule of all: if you can't afford for the deal to go sour and the seller isn't a well-known and trusted entity, walk away. The temptation to go forward with an attractive deal from an unknown seller can be powerful, but you have to carefully weigh the risk/reward ratio before committing to something that might turn out badly.
I would try a call to the local Trimble dealer and ask if they can run a history on it. As tight as they are with the software I would bet they have serial number records available from corporate.
You are correct, Trimble does have records on the dealer that first purchased the unit. From there you can begin to track it through the dealership and ask them if it has been reported stolen. That often turns up "missing" gear.
