Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

idyll · Mar 31, 2003, 10:48 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3410569383

Should I or should I not? Think it's a scam? He has good feedback..

I just got a 12" AlBook

Patcarla · Mar 31, 2003, 10:53 PM

Originally posted by idyll:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3410569383

Should I or should I not? Think it's a scam? He has good feedback..

I just got a 12" AlBook

Too good to be true... It very cheap for a 800mhz, 1GB..Smells like a scam...

icruise · Mar 31, 2003, 11:23 PM

My answer is always the same. If you have to ask the question, you shouldn't be bidding on it.

Chris Grande · Mar 31, 2003, 11:38 PM

And no 'real' pictures, just Apple PR stuff.

iHanhauser · Mar 31, 2003, 11:39 PM

Yeah .... It is a SCAM. Look at what they sold before. Its all **** that cost under $5.00

I got ripped off 2400.00 buying a PowerBook on EBay. Luckly I used my moms Credit card, so we disputed it and I got my money back.

See they sell things for cheap, so it looks like they are great Ebay Sellers, then Rip people off on one HUGE ticket item like the Powerbook you are about to buy.

iHanhauser
http:/www.netape.com

Arch. · Mar 31, 2003, 11:41 PM

dont buy it. that same guy was the person trying to sell 17"pb's for 4k a few days ago.

Stinkysteve · Apr 1, 2003, 12:49 AM

They will also steal someone's ID who has an excellent rating to rip you off. I was just looking at a PowerBook "that was too good to be true". I clicked to see the seller's rating and it was all for purchases, only two items sold. 1. a cake trivet, and 2. a pair of Birkenstock shoes. F R A U D ! There are some 17" PowerBooks sith the 23" HD cinema display with a buy it now price of less than $2000.00. They say it's in the United States, but the address is Italy or Spain.

forcelite · Apr 1, 2003, 02:23 AM

people do steal IDs
Also people sell multible items so you cant see the bidders id's (unless you havebidded on it)
be safe

ae86_16v · Apr 1, 2003, 02:46 AM

Originally posted by Stinkysteve:
There are some 17" PowerBooks sith the 23" HD cinema display with a buy it now price of less than $2000.00. They say it's in the United States, but the address is Italy or Spain.

Yeah man. I surf Craigslist and recently there has been a bunch of those. Usually 15" Powerbook and a LCD display (23" or 20"). I've email the guy and he said it was all sealed and everything and that he was in European and can't get over 1,000 for it, so he is willing to let it go for 1,500US.

Be careful out there.

coolmacdude · Apr 1, 2003, 02:49 AM

It was obviously a scam since it was terminated prematurely without a bid.

ticketmack · Apr 1, 2003, 02:57 AM

I've seen alot of these "deals" on ebay recently, and I want to believe that they're legit so I can take advantage of one of them myself. I'm pretty scared though, especially after I came extremely close to buying a G4 Powerbook/23" display combo for $1100. The guy selling it was in Italy. He had perfect Buyer feedback, but no seller feedback, and he insisted that I pay through Western Union. Luckily, the Western Union customer service staff is excellent, and they tipped me to scams that have been happening where people in Italy and Spain are setting up bogus auctions and running with the money.

I didn't lose any money that time, but I'm tempted when I see similar deals being offered by people in the US with excellent Seller feedback. How can you know? You know? If it's too good to be true, it probably false, or maybe not, maybe they got ahold of some insane deal from some insane source, and they're really selling the things.

Anyway, I'm an experienced ebayer, and I'm too scared to bid on any of these, but I'll keep watching. If you folks hear anything more on this, Post It!

dewhastme · Apr 1, 2003, 03:17 AM

A common scam is selling the academic version while claiming it's the full version of a program. I know there is basically no difference b/t most versions but people are still using that price difference to make a profit. I hate to admit it, but I was scammed on a academic version of FCP3, so I killed the guys feedback. He probably just stole another name.

I don't think that I will be using ebay to buy software anymore...it was probably a bad idea to begin with.

idyll · Apr 1, 2003, 04:38 PM

Thanks guys.

icruise · Apr 1, 2003, 10:01 PM

Originally posted by ticketmack:
I've seen alot of these "deals" on ebay recently, and I want to believe that they're legit so I can take advantage of one of them myself. I'm pretty scared though, especially after I came extremely close to buying a G4 Powerbook/23" display combo for $1100. The guy selling it was in Italy. He had perfect Buyer feedback, but no seller feedback, and he insisted that I pay through Western Union. Luckily, the Western Union customer service staff is excellent, and they tipped me to scams that have been happening where people in Italy and Spain are setting up bogus auctions and running with the money.

I didn't lose any money that time, but I'm tempted when I see similar deals being offered by people in the US with excellent Seller feedback. How can you know? You know? If it's too good to be true, it probably false, or maybe not, maybe they got ahold of some insane deal from some insane source, and they're really selling the things.

Anyway, I'm an experienced ebayer, and I'm too scared to bid on any of these, but I'll keep watching. If you folks hear anything more on this, Post It!

I don't mean to be harsh, but just use your brain for a minute! Can someone possibly sell something that retails for around $4000 for $1100? Apple products in particular have very slim margins (for retailers, not for Apple itself). This means that even big stores may pay only slightly less for the product than they charge you. Is some guy off the street (much less, some guy in Italy) really going to have some way of getting computers for a fraction of their retail price?

You have to think about the position of the seller. Why is he selling the item, and what is he getting out of the sale? In many cases it will become clear that no one would, in reality, offer that item for that price. They must have some other goal in mind (generally, ripping you off).

If the product in question is new and significantly below the retail price, that should immediately set off alarms in your head. The bottom line is that you really shouldn't use eBay for buying expensive new items at all. It can be good for buying and selling used items, or hard-to-fine collectables, etc. But there is really too much at risk to be buying things worth several thousand dollars on ebay, in my opinion.