I’m selling my steam deck and a potential buyer wants my serial number to look it up. Is there any inherent danger with giving him that information or am I good to give it to him to ease his mind. I’m guessing it’s about making sure it’s not stolen lol
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As long as the device is registered to you, I don’t think there would be a problem. He probably just wants to be sure he isn’t buying a stolen Deck. Or maybe he is somebody who had one stolen, and he is hoping he can find it.
I sold a switch on eBay a few years ago and ran into this. For the switch it made sense because he wanted to make sure it was hackable. Can’t think of a single non malicious reason someone needs your SD serial number
What malicious reason can you think of?
You can ask what part of it does he want to know.
If he wants to know the start or the end it may design some Decks that are produced somewhere or have a particular spec (like the Switch), and it may end like that.
If he wants to see the whole serial, it’s a no. People can register and report things as stolen or “the usual” scam stuff.
What would a potential buyer even do with the serial number?
Verify the property is not reported stolen .
“Dear Steam Support, im buying xy used Steam Deck please confirm It Is a genuine device serial Number for xy device also would Like to know when it was bought. Thanks” Depending on how forthcoming the support is he may even get confirmation if the steam deck was linked to the account Information probably provided by the seller depending on data privacy regulations.
No need to be paranoid. I would do it like this to confirm seller ain’t ripping you off before even considering paying in advance.
I’d ask why. The maybe not send it to them, and just walk through whatever process they want to do with them, on your device.
Geez no there’s no threat. You have messages from him wanting to see it. Not to mention if you bought it off steam then that model deck will be associated with your account. If he claims it stolen he will be charged will falsifying a police report
If they want it to confirm the model version, just leave the last coiple digits off as X’s, so they don’t have the one specific to yours, but close enough to get anything else they need from it.
I know for older Switches this helps if you’re trying to get one of the original models for modding purposes.
It’s a steamdeck not a car Why’s he asking for the sn#?
I say walk and find another buyer
Noooo, I wouldn’t give that out. There are other buyers, move on.
There is no risk what so ever. I sell tons of stuff. iPhones are a commonly asked serial number. There are various electronics brands with websites to check warranty via serial number. There isn’t much you can do with a serial number by itself.
I would like to ask serial to know the version of hardware (lcd etc.) is used on product. In case of Nintendo, I would definitely ask for serial to know if it’s “hackable”.
pretty sure its about checking for stolen item. giving a serial number is no risk.
Sometimes scammers will try to get you to send a picture from your phone to their phone so they can access the metadata (like location) to get your zip code. I recommend never having direct text messaging contact with a buyer.
I just asked steam to repay the difference of the steam deck price drop. One of the things they asked for to confirm it was the serial number.
While it might not apply in your case, it sure feels as though you can attempt to pull off shenanigans in one way or another using the serial number.
I remember when the switch came out people did this a lot. Not sure if the deck had a software or hardware change at some point in its production but the old Switch models were easy to hack.