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davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 07:00 AM

I recently sold my Rev A. Dual 1.8Ghz powermac on ebay. The winning bidder lives in Moscow, Russia. He's going to pay with paypal and is a verified member, so I don't think he's scamming me. My question is, are there any restrictions on sending a computer to Russia? The cheapest way to ship was via USPS Global Express mail it was $574USD

Has anybody done this before?

sugar_coated · Feb 7, 2005, 07:03 AM

Wow! That's a very expensive shipping charge!

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 07:18 AM

Originally posted by sugar_coated:
Wow! That's a very expensive shipping charge!

Yeah, fedex and UPS were even more expensive ....

ManOfSteal · Feb 7, 2005, 07:21 AM

Did you ask the buyer his thoughts/experiences on this?

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 07:25 AM

Originally posted by ManOfSteal:
Did you ask the buyer his thoughts/experiences on this?

I get the impression that he has experience with this as he was the one who specically suggested the shipping method. He probably has purchased large items from the US before. When I sent him the invoice, I asked him if he anticipated the huge shipping charge. I haven't heard back yet, but I only sent the invoice yesterday. Obviously, I'll need to speak with him again before shipping.... I posted this topic because I remembered that when the G4 Powermacs first came out there were export restrictions on them for a while...

ManOfSteal · Feb 7, 2005, 07:29 AM

How much does DHL/Airborne Express charge to ship?

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 07:38 AM

Originally posted by ManOfSteal:
How much does DHL/Airborne Express charge to ship?

$763USD

ManOfSteal · Feb 7, 2005, 08:12 AM

Originally posted by davidflas:
$763USD

Wow, that is alot of pesos.

mac-at-kearsarge · Feb 7, 2005, 09:41 AM

Originally posted by ManOfSteal:
Wow, that is alot of pesos.

Acutaully, In (Mexican) Peso's it would be $8,621.18 for the current exchage rate as of 2/7/05

turtle777 · Feb 7, 2005, 09:58 AM

Originally posted by davidflas:
He's going to pay with paypal and is a verified member, so I don't think he's scamming me.

ARE. YOU. SURE. ?

-t

OldManMac · Feb 7, 2005, 10:29 AM

To try and answer your original question, as opposed to discussing shipping charges, I would suggest you contact U. S. Customs and ask them. When I sold Macs, I once had one returned because the customer wanted to ship it to Mexico, and Customs wouldn't allow it. I would think they would have the definitive answer.

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 01:29 PM

Originally posted by KarlG:
To try and answer your original question, as opposed to discussing shipping charges, I would suggest you contact U. S. Customs and ask them. When I sold Macs, I once had one returned because the customer wanted to ship it to Mexico, and Customs wouldn't allow it. I would think they would have the definitive answer.

I looked at the restricted shipping list for Russia, it mentioned computer components, but not an entire computer. As for whether I compeletely trust the buyer, I don't. His ebay account was created the day the auction finished, and he has no feedback. I also specified that I would only ship to the US and Canada. Do I have the right to cancel his bid and offer the next highest bidder a chance at buying my powermac? I haven't heard from the buyer in two days... I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I know a lot of fraud comes out of Russia. Plus, I really need the money.... so I'm getting a bit impatient

effgee · Feb 7, 2005, 01:42 PM

Originally posted by davidflas:
I looked at the restricted shipping list for Russia, it mentioned computer components, but not an entire computer. As for whether I compeletely trust the buyer, I don't. His ebay account was created the day the auction finished, and he has no feedback. I also specified that I would only ship to the US and Canada. Do I have the right to cancel his bid and offer the next highest bidder a chance at buying my powermac? I haven't heard from the buyer in two days... I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I know a lot of fraud comes out of Russia. Plus, I really need the money.... so I'm getting a bit impatient [/B]

Exactly how many of the above do you need? I understand being in a bind and needing cash - but c'mon ...

turtle777 · Feb 7, 2005, 01:48 PM

Originally posted by effgee:
Exactly how many of the above do you need? I understand being in a bind and needing cash - but c'mon ...

What he said ^^^^^^^ !

Run and don't look back.
Under no circumstances ship the item. If you are willing to, I'll give you $ 100 for it. This will be $ 100 more than you get from dude in Russia !

-t

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 02:08 PM

You guys are right.. I know I may be risking negative feedback from the buyer, but this deal just doesn't feel right... I sent a second chance offer to the next highest bidder.. A US based member with good feedback, etc.... I appreciate the reinforcement I got.

effgee · Feb 7, 2005, 02:12 PM

Originally posted by davidflas:
You guys are right.. I know I may be risking negative feedback from the buyer, but this deal just doesn't feel right... I sent a second chance offer to the next highest bidder.. A US based member with good feedback, etc.... I appreciate the reinforcement I got.

Screw one negative feedback - I doubt it'll ever come to that, anyway. Even if - better one of those than no G5 and no money!

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 02:16 PM

Originally posted by effgee:

Screw one negative feedback - I doubt it'll ever come to that, anyway. Even if - better one of those than no G5 and no money!

Word!

Eriamjh · Feb 7, 2005, 06:23 PM

You are about to be scammed. No legitimate buyer lives in russia.

You can try to collect the money, but empty your paypal account and your savings account it is attched to. Then request payment and remove that. Wait a while for all the money to clear. I guarantee he will not pay you. Probably offer to wire you money or pay you more than the auction some other way. You will never get paid. Your PM will be lost forever.

davidflas · Feb 7, 2005, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
You are about to be scammed. No legitimate buyer lives in russia.

You can try to collect the money, but empty your paypal account and your savings account it is attched to. Then request payment and remove that. Wait a while for all the money to clear. I guarantee he will not pay you. Probably offer to wire you money or pay you more than the auction some other way. You will never get paid. Your PM will be lost forever.

Its a good thing that I'm not planning on going through with that transaction... My PM is safely with me here.. I'm using it to type this message

davidflas · Feb 8, 2005, 07:14 PM

I wanted to revive this topic because the money just showed up in my paypal acount and the buyer contacted me saying that he had been on a business trip. The name he gave me isn't a Russian, maybe he's just living there for business.... Should I tell this guy to **** off and give him back his money, or should I try to get past my mistrust....

deej5871 · Feb 8, 2005, 07:24 PM

Originally posted by davidflas:
Should I tell this guy to **** off and give him back his money, or should I try to get past my mistrust....

Well I certainly wouldn't tell him to "**** off" seeing as how you have no evidence that he plans to scam you. In fact, you have proof of just the opposite if the money is in your paypal account as you say.

I vote that you get past your mistrust.

mitchell_pgh · Feb 8, 2005, 07:25 PM

I think you are opening yourself up to some trouble. Once it's in Russia, it's gone... and paypal isn't the type of company to suck it up to save face if it were a scam... you would end up paying.

Just my 2�

davidflas · Feb 8, 2005, 07:35 PM

I did tell the buyer that I won't ship the powermac until the money clears into my bank account... I would say the risk is more on him once the money is gone from my paypal account... Besides there have to be at least a few trustworthy people in Russia... I could always close the bank account once I have the money and open a new one...

Xeo · Feb 8, 2005, 08:13 PM

Do you have seller protection on the item? Call PayPal and ask if they are on your side before you ship the item. Withdraw the money before you ship the item. Empty your bank account before you ship the item. If you already have the money in your PayPal account, the only way for him to get it back is to start some crap up with PayPal so it sounds legitimate, but just play it safely.

Most scammers are selling items, not buying them. It's hard to get a seller to send his item without sending real money first. So you are in good shape having the money already.

moonmonkey · Feb 8, 2005, 08:49 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I think you are opening yourself up to some trouble. Once it's in Russia, it's gone.

He's right, send it to China instead, if it arrives OK I will fax a check over.

OpenStep · Feb 9, 2005, 01:38 AM

I would personally abort because if it doesn't "show up in Russia as described" he can file a complaint with PayPal and they hold the funds, even if the money isn't there your account will go -$2000 until the issue gets resolved. It may not happen but it is a royal pain in the ass because basically you can't use your PayPal account for anything else until the payment is no longer held. And if the account is negitive for a long period of time then a collection agency comes on your ass... been there done that with a $100 PowerBook I sold on eBay.

edit:: if you said you would only ship usa/canada, forget it and refund his money. go into your ebay prefs and turn on the block that allows only people to bid tha are from the countries you specify you ship to::

effgee · Feb 9, 2005, 03:12 AM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
... No legitimate buyer lives in russia. ...

You're right - scammers, all 143,782,338 of them.

moran™ ...

Seriously though, your auction specifically stated US/Canada only - right? Do yourself (and your bank account) a favor and tell the Russian guy that you won't sell the machine to him, refund his money and get in touch with the guy who came in second.

You said you needed the cash - then go take a look at your account statements and ask yourself what your situation would look like if you were scammed out of two grand on top of that. It's not worth the risk.

While I too sometimes subscribe to the notion of "no risk, no fun" - I certainly never do so when it comes to $$$.

P.S. A quick peek on ebay Germany yields the info that anyone from Russia could have bought a 1.8 DP G5 for about 1800EUR. While that is more expensive than the average price in the US, I would guess that shippping from Germany to Russia would be considerably cheaper than doing so from the US, maybe even bringing the total price down to US levels.

turtle777 · Feb 9, 2005, 11:12 AM

Originally posted by Xeo:
Do you have seller protection on the item? Call PayPal and ask if they are on your side before you ship the item. Withdraw the money before you ship the item. Empty your bank account before you ship the item. If you already have the money in your PayPal account, the only way for him to get it back is to start some crap up with PayPal so it sounds legitimate, but just play it safely.

That's a stupid idea. You never trust eBay and its system.
Always assume they are against you, not for you.

-t