• Study Types of Scanners

• Understand Technical Scanner Terms

• Find Scanners on eBay Singapore

• Buy Scanners With Confidence

• Need More Help?

• Legal Disclaimer

Study Types of Scanners

Study Types of Scanners

Various types of scanners work in different ways. It helps to know your scanner options so that you can choose the right model for you.

• Flatbed scanners: Versatile flatbed scanners are able to scan both flat and three-dimensional objects, including magazines and thick books. Flatbed scanners work similarly to a copy machine. Rest the item you want to scan on a glass plate and a scanning head captures the image. If you want to scan legal-size documents then look for a large-format flatbed scanner.

• Slide, film, and transparency scanners: Flatbed scanners with slide or film negative adapters will assist you to get old slides into your PC and help you preserve your old film negatives before they deteriorate. Nikon scanners, Epson scanners, Canon scanners, Sony scanners, and HP scanners can also scan your film negatives.

• Sheetfed scanners: Sheetfed scanners are smaller than flatbed scanners and are only able to scan loose pages.

• Handheld scanners: Small handheld scanners plug into the parallel port on your desktop or laptop, and are able to be used with several computers. They often require you to scan your documents in sections.

• Portable scanners: Although compact portable scanners can easily fit into a briefcase or tote bag, they may not offer the same resolution as larger scanners.

• Drum scanners: Some graphics professionals prefer older, high-end drum scanners. Drum scanners rotate an original source past photomultiplier tube (PMT) sensors repeatedly and at high speeds to achieve a quality scan.

Popular scanner choices on eBay Singapore for home and business users include Canon scanners, Epson scanners, HP scanners, Fujitsu scanners, Sony scanners, UMAX scanners, and Microtek scanners.

Understand Technical Scanner Terms

Understand Technical Scanner Terms

When evaluating scanners, know which technical features to look out for.

Scanner sensors

Scanners have an internal sensor which picks up reflected light off an original image and converts it into digital information that your computer understands.

• Charge-coupled device (CCD): CCD scanners illuminate an original document and use mirrors and lenses to reflect light onto an array of CCD sensors. CCD scanners generally produce better image quality than CIS scanners.

• Contact image sensor (CIS): In CIS scanners, the image sensors lie directly under the document and pick up the reflected light right from the document. CIS scanners are more durable and more compact than CCD scanners.

• Photomultiplier Tubes (PMT): Photomultiplier tubes used in drum scanners are more sophisticated than CCD and CIS sensors

Scanner bit depth

Scanners pick up a certain number of bits from each pixel of an image. This is known as bit depth. Basically, the more bits a scanner remembers, the better the image quality.

• Text: Find a bit depth of at least 24.

• Slides, negatives, and transparencies: Get a minimum bit depth of 30.

• Photos and colour graphics: Select a model with 36-bit colour depth.

Scanner resolution

Optical resolution measures dots per inch (dpi) or pixels per inch (ppi). Image quality improves as the resolution increases, and the amount of image detail you see also increases.

• Text scanning: 300 dpi resolution adequately scans text.

• Photo scanning: Look for a minimum of 600 dpi to scan photos to use on the Internet. Buy a scanner with higher resolution (greater than 600-by-600 dpi) to scan photographs you plan to print.

• Negative and slide scanning: Look for a scanner that offers an optical resolution of 1200 dpi or more.

Scanning at a higher dpi results in higher-quality images, but means you'll have to wait longer for the scan to complete. 

Computer connections

Scanners can connect to your computer's parallel port (printer port), USB 1.1 port, USB 2.0 port, or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port. Make sure your computer supports the technology you want to use.

Parallel ports have a slow connection and work best with low-dpi scans. For the fastest connection, look for a scanner that communicates with your computer via high-speed USB 2.0 or FireWire.

Included scanner software

Several scanners include scanning software and basic image-editing software. Look for optical character recognition (OCR) software if you wish to modify scanned document text. Basically, scanners send documents to computers as images. OCR software examines the images and converts them into an editable text format that your word processor, spreadsheet, or database program can understand.

Find Scanners on eBay Singapore

Find Scanners on eBay Singapore

Once you've figured out what type of scanner you want, go to the Computers & Networking portal, click Printers & Scanners , and start searching for item listings on eBay Singapore.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type.

• Keyword search: Search eBay Singapore listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a Canon scanner, type “canon” (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay Singapore's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, or saving a search on My eBay and eBay Singapore will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Scanners With Confidence

Buy Scanners With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay Singapore and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it posts.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay Singapore (with a bid or Buy It Now). Transactions conducted outside of eBay Singapore are not covered by eBay Singapore protection programmes.

• Never pay for your eBay Singapore item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay Singapore sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay Singapore and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorised payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to US$1,000.

• eBay Singapore Security Centre: Visit the Security Centre to learn how to protect your account and use eBay Singapore's quick and efficient resolution tools.

Need More Help?

Need More Help?

Visit our help pages or start a thread on one of our Community Discussion Boards - If you have a quick question that needs answering, try posting it on our community Answer Centre - there's bound to be a seasoned eBay Singapore veteran with just the information you're looking for!

Legal Disclaimer

Legal Disclaimer

Buying Guides are intended merely as a guide or review for members when considering what products or services they may be interested in bidding on or purchasing. eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the accuracy of the information or content contained in these Buying Guides. Furthermore, eBay does not make, and nothing in these Buying Guides is intended to constitute, any warranties, guarantees, representations or assurances about the nature or performance of the products or services appearing in the Buying Guides. Content, trademarks and brands referred to and contained in the third-party links provided are the property of their respective owners, and eBay has no control over and accepts no responsibility for their content. eBay is not affiliated with nor does it endorse the use of any particular product or service.