MacBook Serial Number invalid

Have you had any major work done on it, particularly if it was not done by Apple?

You might want to take it to an Apple Store and see if they can determine why it is saying that (after first making sure you didn't make a typo ;-) ).

Go to this page to find your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Apple Authorized Distributor (AAD) --> Find Locations

How to make a Genius Bar appointment

1. Go to Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

2. Go to "Get hardware help".

3. Select your hardware and continue selecting options requiring replacing parts until you see "Bring in for Repair"

4. Sign in with your Apple ID

Sujin Song Said:

"MacBook Serial Number invalid: I'm trying to trade in my MacBook Air, but when I entered the serial number, it says it's not valid, which seems strange to me. I purchased it online from Apple. Can you please check and let me know what's going on?" The serial number is 'FV*******6L4.' Thank you for your assistance."

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A Glitch in Apple's Device Database?

I would contact Apple Support, asking them if there is a glitch in their user database. You should not be getting this message, if they have already been repaired. If these are used, then that may be why this is occurring.

Apple Contact Info:

• Contact Us - Choose Locations
• Proceed from there, as necessary
• Why the Wait: Phone calls are taking a bit to go through at the moment, due to lots of calls. With the Coronavirus Pandemic, many are at home at the moment, with much time on their hands to contact Apple. So, just stay on the line, and you will get through :)

How did you enter the serial number?

Manually (in which case there might be a typo)? Or by copying and pasting it from the About This Mac box?

To copy and paste: Select About This Mac in the Apple () menu. Double-click on the serial number (the actual number, not the title) to select it. Use Command-C or the Copy menu item in the Right-Click contextual menu to copy the serial number to the clipboard. (Using the Edit menu in the menu bar won't work for this because of the special way in which the system handles the About window.)

Now that you have it on the Clipboard, you can paste it elsewhere, and you don't need to worry about typing "O" (the letter) instead of "0" (the digit), or about other easy-to-make substitutions like that.

Don't tell us the serial number here, but you might want to report back and tell us if letting the Mac copy the serial number fixes the problem.

If you copied and pasted the serial number, and the Apple Trade-In site still didn't accept the serial number as being valid, then you should follow the suggestion that TheLittles made to contact Apple Support.

I was just trying to see if the problem was with the transcription of the serial number, rather than with how the Apple Web site viewed the actual serial number itself. I have purchased a number of Blu-Ray and DVD movies which come with long alphanumeric codes for redeeming a Digital Copy - and with the printing on some of the inserts, you can tear your hair out trying to find out why the redemption "won't work" until you stumble upon a substitution that could have been avoided if they had used a larger font, or avoided ambiguous characters.

Here, the Mac gives you the ability to completely avoid such transcription errors. So now, when you contact Apple Support, you can tell them that you copied and pasted the serial number - and you will not waste time trying to chase down a possible transcription error that doesn't exist.

And when they ask for the troublesome serial number, you can copy and paste it again to ensure that you're giving them the right serial number and are not accidentally leading them on a wild goose chase.

I'm sorry that this hasn't solved the problem, but at least it has narrowed down the list of possible causes.