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newportnews · Apr 4, 2003, 08:50 PM

Bought this site infooff of eBay:

www.applediscount.com

What do you think?

AssassyN · Apr 4, 2003, 09:03 PM

I'd say nada. I highly doubt it's legit, judging by the registration date and such (www.register.com to see the detail on that site). It's a well designed site, but that could just be a very good plore to get fools sucked in...I mean those prices are like sub-ADC discount prices, no other wholeseller on the net even comes close because it's just impossible.

I'd definitely steer clear of that place until someone else proves them legit, if they even can.

iohead · Apr 4, 2003, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by newportnews:
Bought this site infooff of eBay:

www.applediscount.com

What do you think?

In my opinion that's BS, but that's just my opinion

-A

ae86_16v · Apr 4, 2003, 09:17 PM

Wow...those prices are amazing...I am gonna buy 3 17" and put them on eBay.

I don't know...I really really really want a 17 right now

kbdog · Apr 4, 2003, 09:31 PM

As far as I know, Apple doesn't allow resellers to sell on the Internet. These guys don't accept credit card payments either. Hmmm...

chazmox · Apr 4, 2003, 09:39 PM

Did anyone go so far and find out what type of payments they do accept...

It does seems too good to be true...

icruise · Apr 4, 2003, 09:53 PM

We are able to ship worldwide. All items are dispatched from our warehouse in Sittard, Netherlands via UPS Worldwide.

And they don't take credit cards... Does that answer your question?

greenG4 · Apr 4, 2003, 10:23 PM

Nice prices. Really nice. I want a 12" powerbook w/ superdrive for 1299!! I worked at an Apple reseller, and that has to be at least 400-500 below cost. No credit card, no go, however.

icruise · Apr 4, 2003, 11:20 PM

I'll sell you one for $1000 -- you'll get it about the same time you would get one from that place.

nobitacu · Apr 4, 2003, 11:50 PM

sounds too good to be true... and when something is too good to be true... it is most likely false... I won't trust this site, plus, they don't take credit cards, only cash. That should answer all of your questions. Who would be stupid enough to send them cash anyways?

Ming

scadboy · Apr 5, 2003, 12:07 AM

Absolute fraud!!!

Here's the clincher, the domain www.applediscount.com is registered through "Domains by Proxy," a company that registers domains for other companies, thereby making it rather difficult to determine exactly who is running the website.

Here's the whois from Network Solutions:

http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-...&SearchType=do

Whenever you're looking at buying from a reseller you've never dealt with, find out who the parent company is, which you can do through either a whois of the domain, or just by checking the "contact" section of the site, and then run the name and address through the Better Business Bureau's database at www.bbb.org. This will give you a good idea as to how scrupulous or unscrupulous the company might be. Of course, you should balance what you find on there, since even some of our favorites like Mac Mall have "unsatisfactory" records.

Apple doesn't sell these any of its machines at these prices, so either they're stolen hardware, or it's a total fraud. Look at the payment options, western union, bank wire transfer, or money order.

If they are fraudulent, and they f*ck you over, then you have absoutely no recourse. Now, if they took American Express, then I'd go for it, just because AMEX (and most credit card providers) will bend over backwards to get the suckers if the screw you out of your money. Western Union or a bank will tell you take it up with the police, and if you send them a money order, there's virtually no real record of the transaction.

don't do it!

msuper69 · Apr 5, 2003, 02:56 PM

This is a scam. There is no way anybody could offer new Apple hardware at those discounted prices. They don't have a phone number to contact them, only an email form with which your question undoubtedly goes into the bit bucket never to be seen again. No information about payment methods unless you order something.

Gromet · Apr 5, 2003, 03:13 PM

OK, when you log onto their website, you can choose to chat with one of their reps. So I did, here is how it went.

You are now chatting with 'Nick'
you: hello?
Nick: Welcome. How may I help?
you: are you from applediscount?
you: ???
you: Nick?
Nick: Yes
you: how are you able to get prices like this, i am interested in purchasing a few 17's and 12" pb but how do i know this is legit?
Nick: All products are legitimately obtained.
you: how are you getting these prices?
Nick: Sorry I cannot discuss our business structure.
you: how can I be sure I;m not getting ripped off, where is my insurance?
Nick: If you are not confident ordering internationally I suggest you contact a local retailer in your home country.
you: what country are you dealing from?
Nick: We are a Netherlands-based company.
you: I am in New York.
you: What payment types do you except?
Nick: We accept bank transfers (recommended) or from the USA we have an agent who accepts bank checks and money orders on our behalf. For small orders we also accept Western Union.

I say SCAM!!!!!!

Gromet.

Camelot · Apr 5, 2003, 03:46 PM

They may be a Dutch company, but their servers are in Canada...?

No credit cards accepted? huh?

Privacy Policy - "will be available shortly"

Conditions of Use - "will be available shortly"

"We are unable to accept returns under any circumstances"

RUN, don't walk away from these people. If you really want to give away your money that badly, I'm accepting donations

Evinyatar · Apr 5, 2003, 04:29 PM

Company in the Netherlands, server in Canada, bank in Estonia?!?

You need to go to your bank and request a WIRE TRANSFER. Provide your bank with
the details below in order to make the bank transfer.

Beneficiary's name : Vitali Nikiforov
Beneficiary's address : 75501, Estonia, Saku, Asula 2-7
Beneficiary's account : 221012456515
Name and address of beneficiary's bank : HANSABANK, ESTONIA, TALLINN,LIIVALAIA 8
SWIFT CODE : HABAEE2X
Notes/Details: webmoney.ee

ae86_16v · Apr 5, 2003, 07:11 PM

Where do you report companies like this? I am is there some authority that could take care of this, people will be scammed.

forcelite · Apr 6, 2003, 03:20 AM

Id contact apple, I am sure they wont be happy with this site

mcs37 · Apr 6, 2003, 01:23 PM

If you look even more into the registry, note that their DOMAIN was only registered on March 29 2003 -- that's a week ago! Kind of sketchy, I'd say. I don't trust it. But their site does look very nice. Perhaps someone will order from them and see what the deal is. I'm sure some yahoo will wander across their site and order. $2,100 for a 17" PB? $1200 for a 12" ? Damn I'd buy a couple and resell on eBay.

Mike

[mikes@titan mikes]$ whois applediscount.com
[whois.crsnic.net]

Registrant:
Domains By Proxy (TRYAIZDOMD)
16771 NE 80th Street, Suite 10
Redmond, WA 98052
US

Domain Name: APPLEDISCOUNT.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
VeriSign, Inc. (HOST-ORG) [email protected]
VeriSign, Inc.
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Dulles, VA 20166
US
1-888-642-9675

Record expires on 29-Mar-2004.
Record created on 29-Mar-2003.
Database last updated on 6-Apr-2003 13:16:39 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.SPEEDY-DNS.NET 69.10.141.77
NS2.SPEEDY-DNS.NET 69.10.141.77

OSXFreak · Apr 6, 2003, 01:32 PM

Don't encourage people! These prices are below cost price! It just has to be a rip off

irus · Apr 6, 2003, 02:38 PM

Typical scam by a group of Russian individuals. Don't be greedy and stay away from this fraudulent business.

Rus

jtbowden · Apr 6, 2003, 03:26 PM

Not to mention, how many legitimate businesses require that you bid in order to get their web address?

Bought this site infooff of eBay:

www.applediscount.com

What do you think?

HunkFam · Apr 6, 2003, 03:59 PM

Hmmm, I only live a few hours south of Holland...maybe I'll go onto this "chat" and suggest that I could drive up this week and pay cash for a few machines....see where that leads to...

hold on...

HunkFam · Apr 6, 2003, 04:07 PM

Gromet...how did you get to chat? I've logged on but find no chat option.

thanks,
Thad

ichibod · Apr 6, 2003, 04:26 PM

If by a nice site, you mean not nice at all. Well laid out maybe, but the redundancy of the cart buttons in the upper right hand corner, no privacy policy, just selling large expensive items, no attempt to make it look less sterile and friendly, bad photos, bad apple logo, and the plain unfriendliness of the shipping page, not to mention no credit cards... this is highly sketchy.

CheesePuff · Apr 6, 2003, 05:16 PM

Hmm, the server is not found anymore when trying to access the site.

icruise · Apr 6, 2003, 06:21 PM

Worked for me just now...

AB^2=BCxAC · Apr 8, 2003, 05:23 PM

Let's suppose they can make transactions... they are at least Grey Market (aka After Market/Demos, not an apple authorized dealer) and most likely Black Market. A pipeline into the Netherlands of missing/stolen macs originating in Eastern Europe would be my amateur FBI wannabe agent guess.

mcs37 · Apr 8, 2003, 06:04 PM

Originally posted by HunkFam:
Hmmm, I only live a few hours south of Holland...maybe I'll go onto this "chat" and suggest that I could drive up this week and pay cash for a few machines....see where that leads to...

I like that idea! Do it and tell us how it goes.

I would stop by if I were in Amsterdam around now. I won't be there until a month from now though.

dialo · Apr 8, 2003, 06:26 PM

Here's a good rule to live by:

If you have to ask, then it's a scam.

Do yourself a favor and go to smalldog

HunkFam · Apr 9, 2003, 02:54 AM

Hi there,

I couldn't find the chat Gromet was talking about, so I sent them an e-mail saying I'd like to come and pick up a powerbook...no answer after 48 hours...

I'm guessing it's one of those "Escrow" scams...the most recent PC World has a good article on them. They offer a product (which they don't have) but you have to pay through an escrow service...your money goes in, the product never shows up, and by the time you catch up, everyone is gone...and so is your money...

I very much dislike crooks...

later,
Thad

janvanes · Apr 11, 2003, 05:00 AM

AppleDiscount is unknown in the Netherlands - Apple (Netherlands) does not know the company, and no such company is registered at the Chambre of Commerce.

In fact, they do not even say they are based in the Netherlands - they only claim they have a warehouse there (which is not the same!).

Interesting that they would ship worldwide via UPS without charging shipping costs!

The name Vitali Nikiforov should give anyone a clue - use Google to search, and find out about previous/other 'ventures' of this fellow. Seems he can be reached via E-mail: [email protected]
Mobile phone: +(372) 5218877
ICQ: 108053695
WM ID: 585822198415

Note also that people (or countries!) that ask tricky questions are quickly blocked from the site. The Applediscount site was discussed on some Dutch sites, and it seems the site now cannot be reached anymore from the Netherlands!

meem · Apr 11, 2003, 12:05 PM

I was looking at the site and on the botton right hand corner there is a review written in spanish. I copied and pasted it into Googles translation page and this is what i got.

False distributor of Apple in Internet That the prices do not dazzle, because applediscount.com is a swindle has appeared a site in called Internet, with truely professional aspect and piles to you of logo of Apple. He even has store online. It offers all the l?ea of m?uinas of Apple, and the low prices are tempting. Nevertheless, this is the reality: The site does not have one direcci? f?ica, nor name of company, etc. The site assures to have "almac" in Sittard (Paises Low), but anybody in Apple of that zone it knows them. They do not have pol?ica of sales ("todav"), it does not say as they are the costs of the transport, the taxes or modes of payment. The dominion registr?hace so s?o days (the 2 of April), contributing s?o direcci? of an intermediary of Internet of London (DCA Hosting, London, London W1R 7PB) S?o when you have made your order, they appear to you the mode of payment: are card of cr?ito, s?o Western Union, check or banking transference (no the payment in advance means that there is no devoluci? of the amount) Despu? to make the order (s?o then) it appears the name of the adressee and the banking account for the transference in Estonia: Vitali Nikiforov 75501, Estonia, Saku, Asula 2-7 Hansabank Estonia Tallin, Liivalaia 8. This person, Vitali Nikiforov, is a well-known ladr? of Internet - you can do one b?queda and find? data of people who never paid to him and returned to know of. Although it is probable that the greater one? of people nonresentment, the so low prices can blind to some. And the taken care of aspect of the site tambi? aid to this enga. The store at this moment seems closed, but it seems that it is a strategy of selecci? of paises to trav? of IPs. As the case widely has been commented in all the Dutch sites of Internet in d?s pasts, it is possible that they have decided to attack other hearings in others paises of Europe.

obviously google didn't translate particularly well but you get the gist. I wonder if there is even anybody keeping there site up as surely any company would delete something like this immediately.

Mohammed Al-Sabah · Apr 12, 2003, 04:22 PM

got this out of thier site

first email

Dear Mr. Al-Sabah,

We welcome you to AppleDiscount.com.

You can now take part in the various services we have to offer you. Some of these services
include:

Permanent Cart - Any products added to your online cart remain there until you remove them, or
check them out.
Address Book - We can now deliver your products to another address other than yours! This is
perfect to send birthday gifts direct to the birthday-person themselves.
Order History - View your history of purchases that you have made with us.
Products Reviews - Share your opinions on products with our other customers.

For help with any of our online services, please email the store-owner: [email protected].

Note: This email address was given to us by one of our customers. If you did not signup to be a
member, please send a email to [email protected].

2nd email

AppleDiscount.com
------------------------------------------------------
Date Ordered: Saturday 12 April, 2003

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x PowerBook 1GHz, 17" TFT, 512MB, 60GB ATA SuperDrive () = $2,144.35
------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: $2,144.35
Tax: $0.00
Per Item (Best Way): $20.65
Total: $2,165.00

Delivery Address
------------------------------------------------------
Mohammed Al-Sabah
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx 22001
Kuwait, Kuwait

Billing Address
------------------------------------------------------
Mohammed Al-Sabah
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
Kuwait, Kuwait

Payment Method
------------------------------------------------------
Western Union Order

Once your order has been checked and reserved you will receive instructions and an order number
to make your Western Union transfer. Your order will not ship until we receive MCTN payment
number.

still waiting on 3rd email LOL its a scam site 200000000%

nobitacu · Apr 12, 2003, 05:16 PM

Originally posted by Mohammed Al-Sabah:
got this out of thier site

first email

Dear Mr. Al-Sabah,

We welcome you to AppleDiscount.com.

You can now take part in the various services we have to offer you. Some of these services
include:

Permanent Cart - Any products added to your online cart remain there until you remove them, or
check them out.
Address Book - We can now deliver your products to another address other than yours! This is
perfect to send birthday gifts direct to the birthday-person themselves.
Order History - View your history of purchases that you have made with us.
Products Reviews - Share your opinions on products with our other customers.

For help with any of our online services, please email the store-owner: [email protected].

Note: This email address was given to us by one of our customers. If you did not signup to be a
member, please send a email to [email protected].

2nd email

AppleDiscount.com
------------------------------------------------------
Date Ordered: Saturday 12 April, 2003

Products
------------------------------------------------------
1 x PowerBook 1GHz, 17" TFT, 512MB, 60GB ATA SuperDrive () = $2,144.35
------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: $2,144.35
Tax: $0.00
Per Item (Best Way): $20.65
Total: $2,165.00

Delivery Address
------------------------------------------------------
Mohammed Al-Sabah
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx 22001
Kuwait, Kuwait

Billing Address
------------------------------------------------------
Mohammed Al-Sabah
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
Kuwait, Kuwait

Payment Method
------------------------------------------------------
Western Union Order

Once your order has been checked and reserved you will receive instructions and an order number
to make your Western Union transfer. Your order will not ship until we receive MCTN payment
number.

still waiting on 3rd email LOL its a scam site 200000000%

Lol, let us know how this goes.

Ming

Peter · Apr 12, 2003, 07:02 PM

wow this guy is infamous for fraud -
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...tali+Nikiforov

Mohammed Al-Sabah · Apr 13, 2003, 10:08 AM

never got the 3rd email nor the WU #

heheheheh

Eug · Apr 13, 2003, 10:28 AM

The ironic part is that the majority of small but legit stores don't have a website anywhere as slickly implemented as this one.

Mohammed Al-Sabah · Apr 13, 2003, 11:15 AM

Originally posted by Eug:
The ironic part is that the majority of small but legit stores don't have a website anywhere as slickly implemented as this one.

lol very very true! 2 bad i really liked the way the site is