[fxdwngflyr]

On the 17th of November I purchased a Powerbook 1GHZ superdrive and have not yet received the book. The seller says that the drives were on backorder and it would take a little while longer to get.
My question is "Are the superdrives on backorder, and how long will it take?"
The seller is in West Orange, NJ. I do have a address and a phone number, but after a few calls I could not get anyone to answer the phone.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ron

[seanyepez]

How much did you pay? Did you send payment yet?

This might be a preorder auction. In this case, you might not see your PowerBook for months. I believe JC Morris used this business tactic.

[iDORK]

Originally posted by fxdwngflyr:
On the 17th of November I purchased a Powerbook 1GHZ superdrive and have not yet received the book. The seller says that the drives were on backorder and it would take a little while longer to get.
My question is "Are the superdrives on backorder, and how long will it take?"
The seller is in West Orange, NJ. I do have a address and a phone number, but after a few calls I could not get anyone to answer the phone.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ron

What payment method did you use (Money Order, Cashier's Check, PayPal, Billpoint, etc)?

Secondly, how is his feedback rating and does his feedback indicate sucessfuly transactions on high priced items such other Powerbooks?

[dvd]

the forums are now a police service =]

[dadder]

It may seem small, but I would set in motion ebay buyer protection and notify them and also set in motion leaving negative feedback. These two things can definitely inspire sellers to action. He may not say your PB is going to ship, but at least you'll hear from him.

[hippy]

why would anyone buy a new PB from ebay ????

[dvd]

well i got ripped off on ebay for some stupid plush toy , 17 bucks, the guy is labeled 'not a registered user' and has put his feedback to private. i dont know why does he continute to lie to me saying he shipped it 2 weeks ago. He lives about 600 miles away, shouldnt take that long. grrrrrrrr i hate ebay now =[ . yeah and why do people buy new laptops on ebay, go get it from apple.

[John123]

Originally posted by dvd:
well i got ripped off on ebay for some stupid plush toy , 17 bucks, the guy is labeled 'not a registered user' and has put his feedback to private. i dont know why does he continute to lie to me saying he shipped it 2 weeks ago. He lives about 600 miles away, shouldnt take that long. grrrrrrrr i hate ebay now =[ . yeah and why do people buy new laptops on ebay, go get it from apple.

That's pretty arrogant of you to say. Some people who are not so fortunate as you and I cannot afford to buy a brand new laptop at brand new prices. They may desire the upgrade in features from, say, the iBook to the PowerBook but may not desire the price increase. Hence there is a market for USED computers.

Furthermore, the used computer market gives people the chance to upgrade more frequently while still being able to remove a substantial amount of capital from the initial computer and apply it toward the new one.

In short, eBay provides a useful service limited only by its sparse protection against fraud.

[Robster1958]

i think what we mean is why buy a 1 Ghz Superdrive on eBay? there are plenty of deals from authorized resellers including double RAM, free shipping, or no sales tax.

if it's any cheaper than educational price, then it's probably a fraud. one guy wanted you to use western union to wire the funds first...yeah right!

Apple distribution is very tightly controlled, so don't bother buying a supposedly new unit on eBay. something's wrong.

On the other hand, a nicely-used year old model is a different story.

[TheMosco]

Originally posted by John123:


That's pretty arrogant of you to say. Some people who are not so fortunate as you and I cannot afford to buy a brand new laptop at brand new prices. They may desire the upgrade in features from, say, the iBook to the PowerBook but may not desire the price increase. Hence there is a market for USED computers.

Furthermore, the used computer market gives people the chance to upgrade more frequently while still being able to remove a substantial amount of capital from the initial computer and apply it toward the new one.

That would be true if this was a used computer. it sounds like he bid soon after they came out. It was within the time that the seller could have returned it to apple if he didn't like it. And this was a super drive model which were on backorder. The whole auction sounds fishy, some selling a computer that hasn't even shipped yet for a reduced price?

[John123]

Ahhh......then yes, I'd agree. :-) I got my PowerBook 1Ghz with 1GB of RAM and a Deskjet 5550 for under $3050, shipped. And then I'll get $100 back on the printer rebate, bringing the total package price down even more. Without ADC or educational discounts, that's about as good as it's gonna get.

[Biggerfoot]

Originally posted by fxdwngflyr:
On the 17th of November I purchased a Powerbook 1GHZ superdrive and have not yet received the book. The seller says that the drives were on backorder and it would take a little while longer to get.
My question is "Are the superdrives on backorder, and how long will it take?"
The seller is in West Orange, NJ. I do have a address and a phone number, but after a few calls I could not get anyone to answer the phone.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ron

When I was looking for my new PB, I was shocked at the amount of phony PB sales on eBay. What was worse is, after checking, many of the IDs had been hacked and phony ads listed under legit IDs. These were spotted by a seller that normally sold antiques, shoes, etc., was all of the sudden selling batches of new PBs. One even had a phony escrow service. One I email copied the legit seller's email but used a "0" in place of an "o" with an AOL account.

Basically, if you paid through Western Union, it is more likely a scam. PayPal must be notified within 30 days if you did not receive your PB.

My advice is act now to start the process of recouping your money.

[davcomp]

Wait a second everyone. When the 800Mhz first came out I recieved one from a seller, mrj2002 or something like that. I got it exactly as described. 800Mhz, 512megs, 40gig HD, blah blah blah. Everything was in pristine condition, and still is. I got all of this for $2,500, almost $600 BELOW what I could have gotten it for from Apple! Don't go dissin the pre-sale auction people. Somehow it does work, but yes, it does take more than one month to get your PB, however in my case I got it within two weeks.

This is how it works... They buy a list of wholesalers (like you can find off of eBay). However with wholesalers you have to buy a minimum amount, between 25-50 usually. So, they put up a bunch of auctions over the course of a month, gather all the money put in in a bank account where it gains interest. Then once they have enough auction winners to get wholesale prices they buy them. This leaves the seller with all of the money they made from the interest, plus any that was above and beyond the wholesale cost of the powerbooks. This is also why it takes so long. They have to have 25-50 auction winners BEFORE they can buy or ship anything.

It isn't really a bad deal at all in my opinion. I got it and it all worked just fine for me! I have even called Apple and they confirmed the specs of my machine, so I know it hasn't been modified in any way. It was totally new in a sealed box. I think most of the sellers on eBay are trying to start this system, but it is hard to do if you don't have established feedback, as mjr2002 did in my case. The antique sales like you were saying earlier could easily be a case of this, don't jump to conclusions and assume the ID was stolen. It is a good deal for everyone, as long as you are smart.

[Biggerfoot]

Here is an example of what I would call a possible ID that was hacked and a phony ad was listed. This example is from today.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=14909

When I was looking for my PB, I was seeing these everyday. I started researching the sellers more and that is when I found out the sellers' IDs were often hacked after I received replies back from the legit people.

[FlashGordon]

ebay is great if you are smart about it. Anything over a grand must be done through escrow. If you offer to pay escrow (its not expensive) on a high price item, and the seller refuses then forget it; take your money to another seller or store. And make sure you set up escrow through a well known agent and not the shady or fake one many fraudulent sellers recommend.

You are also begging to get done wrong if you buy from a seller with private or poor feedback, that is just not intelligent, unless you REALLY want the item and are willing to gamble your money on getting it.

A lot of people are too trusting or too exited by a good deal, and make silly mistakes they normally wouldn't. I bet you could make a fortune as an ebay investigator...hunting down all the fraudlent sellers. It seems like the real police do not think its worth their time. I may have a new career on my hands...FlashGordon ebay Bounty Hunter.

Send the item or else bitch!

[dvd]

wow for 1400 you're begging to be scamed. I dont know man. A lot of the seller's feedback was from being a buyer.

[seanyepez]

I would imagine that buyer feedback is just as good.

For $1,400, I would be extremely suspicious.

[gator]

That was just a strange auction description... heh misspelling "brand" as brabd, saying there's a firewall port instead of firewire port.

[rambo47]

First, there have been sproadic delays of 3 to 4 weeks for the superdrive models. Sometimes they are plentiful and ship quickly, other times it seems folks are waiting for another load to get shipped.

Second, I live about 20 minutes from West Orange, NJ. I could perhaps be of some service in reconnoissance and as liason with local law enforcement, should it become necessary.

[fxdwngflyr]

I purchased the book for 2805 shipped. It is cheaper than I can get it from apple. Even using the military discount I cannot get it that cheap. Another problem is that I am stationed in Puerto Rico and apple does not ship here.
I have the guys phone number and address. I called and confirmed it was his place, but he was not there. I also called the tax office to confirm he lived there. It is an apartment building. I will be calling the manager to confirm residence. I know that some say that the superdrive is on backorder, but I just want to stay on top of things.
To all those negative replies, "if you are not helping you are hindering". I just needed advice, not negative replies. I trusted people, just like you trust me to do my job. I will not fail you, but I guess everyone today has forgotten what someones word means.

[mousehouse]

for the last few months i have been scouting to purchase a recent G4 machine... because of my geographical location a new purchase is out of the question as we pay a 30% premium over here!

looking over ebay for a while you notice that it is filled with phoney sellers. i had one guy from italy mail me that when i wired him $1800 he would send me a new superbook too good to be true. some auctions got pulled for no reason... i found out (before a purchase!) that a lot of the hacked accounts were indeed just people selling jeans etc. and now suddenly have a pile of superbooks available... yeah right.

me and a friend bought a powerbook 800dvi from kiosco-especial... i'm still waiting for delivery and cannot get a hold of them but all details seem legit, as well as their feedback -> let's hope all goes well in 2003 and i receive my book to watch steve in streaming quicktime

(ehhhhh, guess technically that makes me a switcher as well)

[Troll]

Originally posted by fxdwngflyr:
I purchased the book for 2805 shipped. It is cheaper than I can get it from apple. Even using the military discount I cannot get it that cheap. Another problem is that I am stationed in Puerto Rico and apple does not ship here.
I have the guys phone number and address. I called and confirmed it was his place, but he was not there. I also called the tax office to confirm he lived there. It is an apartment building. I will be calling the manager to confirm residence. I know that some say that the superdrive is on backorder, but I just want to stay on top of things.
To all those negative replies, "if you are not helping you are hindering". I just needed advice, not negative replies. I trusted people, just like you trust me to do my job. I will not fail you, but I guess everyone today has forgotten what someones word means.

Hey Ron

There isn't a back log of Superdrive books anymore. I think you need to use whatever powers of persuasion you have (including sending some army buddies around) to get your money back. No one who wants you to send money to him ahead of your receiving the computer (or at least accepting payment on delivery) is worth doing business with. At that price, your best hope is that the computer is stolen, worst is that the guy is a fraudster. I'd say chances are pretty big that the latter is the case.

I'd also point out that this is an international website. A lot of us aren't American citizens so we don't trust you to do your job. In fact, your job is a bit offensive to many and just by doing your job you actually fail a lot of people who read these boards. I don't want to get in a political debate, especially with a soldier/pilot, but I just thought you should be aware of the fact that you're dealing with a broader audience than you maybe think.

That aside, I do wish the world was a more trusting place. Unfortunately it isn't and I'd suggest you do whatever you can to get out of this deal. In future, do C.O.D., use escrow, but whatever you do, don't pay before you get the goods! Good luck.