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Nodnarb · Oct 4, 2007, 10:09 PM

Ok, so I bought a macbook with the back to school special promo, where you buy a computer and an iPod at the same time, then get the iPod for free. You have to open the iPod to cut off the UPC to get the rebate though.

I had no need for the iPod (iPod nano, 2nd gen w/o video), just planned to put it on ebay. Well, I procrastinated (school started, forgot to post on ebay) and after the new iPods came out I figured I wouldn't get much at all for the old nano.

Well, I finally put it up last week expecting to get maybe $50, $75 for the thing tops. The new nanos are $149 shipped from Apple.com, yet right now, an hour before the auction closes, someone is already willing to pay $115 + $6 shipping = $121. And I'm sure someone will outbid him within the hour.

I am very excited that it has gotten this high, but honestly, who in their right mind would pay almost as much as a new 4GB for an old model 4GB that has been open to cut out the UPC! I included a picture and reason for the missing UPC, but people are still willing to pay this much. What's the deal here?

peeb · Oct 4, 2007, 10:55 PM

A scammer?

brassplayersrock² · Oct 4, 2007, 10:57 PM

pretty much the same thing applies to anything that isn't made anymore. find the right collector and you get good money. or perhaps, this is just a person who would rather have the nano skinny rather than the fatty.

Alex

CollinG3G4 · Oct 4, 2007, 11:13 PM

The whole point of ebay is to either sell you junk or save a few bucks on something new. What's so strange about this situation?

Nodnarb · Oct 4, 2007, 11:16 PM

Well it just sold for $143.52 total including shipping. The thing thats strange (to me) about this situation is that it's an outdated product, I expected it to go for literally half of this. Why are people willing to pay the same price for an outdated model?

I guess bassplayersrock had a point wherep people may like the old form factor, but even so I'm shocked these are still in such high demand.

Plus the fact that mine is an open package, whereas I'm sure you could buy others brand spankin new for even cheaper than mine.

CharlesS · Oct 4, 2007, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by Nodnarb

Well it just sold for $143.52 total including shipping. The thing thats strange (to me) about this situation is that it's an outdated product, I expected it to go for literally half of this. Why are people willing to pay the same price for an outdated model?

I dunno, the old nano was a lot smaller than the new one in terms of surface area. If what someone wanted was a really tiny iPod, then the old one would be more appealing than the new one.

I admit I am one of those who doesn't really understand the appeal behind the fat nano, but other people seem to like it, so...

brassplayersrock² · Oct 4, 2007, 11:37 PM

i'd go for a full sized video ipod thank you. the look, the feel, of cotton, err, the 1st and 2nd gen nanos i enjoy more. the screen on the fattys is just to small for me to enjoy watching a video on.

Alex

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 01:25 AM

Ok, a weirder thing just happened. I just got an email from paypal, and I was just expecting it to be the winning bidders payment.

Turns out some guy from Nigeria sent me a payment through paypal for $100 more than the auctions closing price...but I have to send the tracking number to paypal before getting the funds? Obviously I'm not going to do this, but is this common? I haven't used ebay in a few years, do people stalk auctions and try to out pay the winner post-auction (for $100 more!?)

Weird experience

Chuckit · Oct 5, 2007, 02:06 AM

Originally Posted by Nodnarb

some guy from Nigeria

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 02:11 AM

Well duh. I like your picture though.

I was saying though, thats weird as **** a verified paypal buyer/address sends the seller $100 extra. Didn't say I was considering, did I?

irunat2am · Oct 5, 2007, 02:30 AM

reportreportreportreportreportOWNED.

Good luck selling it to somebody who really wants to pay real money at the real price. Really.

JonoMarshall · Oct 5, 2007, 03:10 AM

You send them $100 extra back, they pull their funds (using a credit card for initial payment), your account ends up -$100 (I believe).

alligator · Oct 5, 2007, 07:32 AM

I just sold my old iPods on eBay:

4 Gb Nano: $40
2 Gb Nano $96

What happened?

Person Man · Oct 5, 2007, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by irunat2am

reportreportreportreportreportOWNED.

Good luck selling it to somebody who really wants to pay real money at the real price. Really.

Did you read his post?

The Nigerian was not the winner of the auction.

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 10:03 AM

Dammit, now it seems the Nigerian is the "winning bidder" even though the ebay address is in California, he's talking (in broken english) about an address in Nigeria. I'm looking for an option to email ebay to let them know, but I can't find one. I'll just do a second chance offer to someone else, this is ridiculous.

peeb · Oct 5, 2007, 10:18 AM

Erm, sorry to sound smug... Good luck selling this. I have been burned so often on eBay I don't even bother any more.

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 10:21 AM

Well unless all top 5 bidders are scammers, there's no need for you to feel smug. I just sent ebay and email telling them what happened, and also sent a second chance offer for $120 to the 2nd place buyer. Hope they take it. This really sucks, I've heard ebay was $hit lately, but wow, this is kind of getting ridiculous. This guy's emails are crazy.

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 10:39 AM

So the owner of the account just emailed me, saying that she was a victim of fraud and never even bidded on the item. Ebay sucks. Now some Nigerian is hasseling me through email, and I don't have a winning bidder for the iPod, and this lady now has to go through a whole bunch of crap with ebay because we both reported her account as fradulant. Jesus.

maxintosh · Oct 5, 2007, 11:26 AM

eBay has gotten almost unusable. I failed to sell a couple things recently on Craigslist so now I have to eBay them off. I cancel people's bids all the time if their profiles look suspect.

How many morons actually fall for the Nigeria scam? Must be enough to keep the freaking thing going.

Cold Warrior · Oct 5, 2007, 11:34 AM

About 4 1/2 years ago I tried to sell a Titanium PB and all I got were Nigerian scammers. It just wasn't worth my time to sort through all that crap ever again, so my first Ebay experience was my last.

Dork. · Oct 5, 2007, 11:57 AM

You'd think they'd come up with a different country to use by now. And I wonder if anyone from Nigeria ever tries to buy anything legitimately, it seems Nigeria is code for Internet Scam these days.

chipchen · Oct 5, 2007, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by Dork.

And I wonder if anyone from Nigeria ever tries to buy anything legitimately

wow... that's a pretty blanket statement. the number of scammers in the U.S. alone is overwhelming... but you probably don't get people saying, "I wonder if any Americans ever try to buy anything legitimately."

Dork. · 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by chipchen

wow... that's a pretty blanket statement. the number of scammers in the U.S. alone is overwhelming... but you probably don't get people saying, "I wonder if any Americans ever try to buy anything legitimately."

Poor wording on my part. What I mean is, I wonder if anyone from Nigeria tries to buy something via someplace like eBay, but then gets refused because people think they're being scammed just because the offer is coming from Nigeria. There must be legitimate business done via Nigeria, but on the Internet anything that mentions "Nigeria" is suspect because of all the scams.

peeb · Oct 5, 2007, 01:19 PM

12% of Nigeria's GDP comes from internet scams at this point - without it, Nigeria's economy would be hugely affected.

CharlesS · Oct 5, 2007, 01:33 PM

YouTube - OMG! All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash!!!

(look at about 2:07 in)

Cold Warrior · Oct 5, 2007, 01:42 PM

Laminar · Oct 5, 2007, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

12% of Nigeria's GDP comes from internet scams at this point - without it, Nigeria's economy would be hugely affected.

And who are we to negatively affect their way of life?

peeb · Oct 5, 2007, 02:02 PM

That's right - government red-tape - always stifling business!

irunat2am · Oct 5, 2007, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by Person Man

Did you read his post?

The Nigerian was not the winner of the auction.

Oopsie Poopsie! I read it as he was expecting the winning bidders payment, as in the correct amount, but the guy offered more.

Meh. Brain no worky.

Railroader · Oct 5, 2007, 04:03 PM

I sold some machinist tools for about 10% over retail last summer. Some even had slight damage.

But I took awesome pictures and documented all flaws and scratches.

Not a single one was a scam.

TailsToo · Oct 5, 2007, 05:12 PM

Jut sold my old 80GB for $230. I was surprised too!

iMOTOR · Oct 5, 2007, 05:47 PM

What color was you nano?

HowEver · Oct 5, 2007, 08:21 PM

Time to sell my iPod minis.

adamfishercox · Oct 5, 2007, 09:20 PM

Never had a problem with eBay. In fact, I have had great profits and success.

Nodnarb · Oct 5, 2007, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

What color was you nano?

silver

Chuckit · Oct 6, 2007, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Dork.

Poor wording on my part. What I mean is, I wonder if anyone from Nigeria tries to buy something via someplace like eBay, but then gets refused because people think they're being scammed just because the offer is coming from Nigeria. There must be legitimate business done via Nigeria, but on the Internet anything that mentions "Nigeria" is suspect because of all the scams.

I doubt there's much if any. The reason Nigerians do this is because our stuff is worth so much relative to their stuff. I imagine only very rich Nigerians would be buying stuff on eBay, and they can just pay some guy in America to do it for them.

Nodnarb · Oct 6, 2007, 12:07 PM

Yeah, I mean I could be just an ignorant A-hole saying this, but I doubt there are just middle-class, honest Nigerians who just happen to want high-quality items off ebay. It just doesn't seem logical to me, as you said, if they had enough money/influence they would surely have other means of getting what they want other than ebay (because I doubt anyone sends stuff there anyways).

Well, I ended up sending a second chance offer to the highest bidder with over 5 feedback, so I ended up selling it for a total of $105. Still pretty good, although not as high as the $143, but no complaints here.

hayesk · Oct 6, 2007, 01:50 PM

There are many reasons why auctions turn out the way they do
- A lot of it depends on the reserve, how many people bid. Participating in an auction is more of a psychological game than just a way to buy something cheap. A
- a lot of people assume something is cheaper because it's on eBay.
- most people have no idea that there are new iPods available. Not everyone follows Apple as closely as we do.

Mrjinglesusa · Oct 6, 2007, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

Never had a problem with eBay. In fact, I have had great profits and success.

Ditto. For every scam story you might read or hear about, there are hundreds of thousands (probably more like millions) of success stories. Scamming on EBay is not as bad as people make it out to be. My account got hijacked once, but EBay was very good about sorting out everything.