Best Place to Sell MBPs - Scam after Scam

[groove-agent]

Hey all,

I have a couple non-unibody MBPs that I'm trying to sell and am not having any luck selling them. I tried Ebay with nothing but listing fees to show for it. I tried craigslist but am getting scam after scam "this is for a newphew in Nigeria". Is there a place online to list one's Mac that is more familiar to Mac enthusiasts and less familiar to the scam artists:

"hi,
thanks for getting back to me.I am a medical doctor Residing in richmond,i just got a call from my nephew at west africa that his birthday is coming up in two weeks and i need to buy a gift for him, pls i need your paypal e mail and your full name so that i will send the money to you through paypal. i would love to pick up local but i left for texas few days ago. i will pay extra $200 for the shipping and handling. pls get back to me asap.you will be shipping to west africa via canada post priority air mail.
Regards,
Dr martins."

"Thanks for the mail, i will like to pay $1,900.00 including the shipping cost
to Poland and i will like to know if this is your paypal id (xxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com) so that i can make the payment immediately and we can close the deal ASAP.
Thanks and hope to read from you soonest..."

"Thank for the quick response ,I'm willing to buy the product for my Co Worker.I also want to know the condition of your product, i am asking you submissively if it can be shipped internationally via Local post Office and i add $300 for the shipping."

"I would be paying you through PayPal and u can register with papal on www.paypal.com cos they are reliable for online transaction,Kindly email me with the email that associate with your paypal account / send me an invoice asap."

"Good , the only problem is that the Boy am willing to buy this item
for ain't here with me in the state, So i will ask you if you can help
me get this this item shipped out to him through the united state
postal service express mail international ems 8 days delivery, And
also i will offer you $1,800 for the item including the shipping fees
down to him and i will prefer to pay you by pay pal cause i wont be
able to pick the item up, All you need to do for me now is to get
back to me with your pay pal account e mail address so that i can pay
you off on time and if you don't seems to have an account i will
advise you to sign up for a pay pal account it is very
useful...........
Thank you for your time...............
Respectfully Submitted,
Stay Bless"

All the scammers have the same in common:
* try to get your paypal id
* want you to ship to someone they know and not themselves
* typically offer you much more than what you are asking
* speak bad english
* come from a hotmail or gmail account
* refuse to give you their phone number when asked

It's pretty sad actually. After listing on Craigslist I've had 6 scammers contact me (two i suspect are the same person) and no real buyers.

 

[Mactagonist]

Craigslist. Put a line in your ad saying that you will not ship it and for scammers not to waste anyones time. Ignore any that contact you along with the inevitable lowballers.

Craigslist is free, fast and easy.

 

[groove-agent]

Craigslist. Put a line in your ad saying that you will not ship it and for scammers not to waste anyones time. Ignore any that contact you along with the inevitable lowballers.

Craigslist is free, fast and easy.

I"m trying to have some fun with the scammers and seeing how long I can string them along. The last guy I told him I would only ship to his cousin if his cousin liked panda bears, it was my policy.

Normally if you ask for a phone number they wont reply again, but where's the fun in that?

 

[srexy]

To echo the above poster. In the post title put "Local/Cash only". Then in the body of the ad at the top put that the following: "NOTE: I AM AN EXPERIENCED CRAIGSLIST SELLER. I DO NOT RESPOND TO PAYPAL/OVERSEAS SCAMS AND WILL REPORT THESE EMAIL ADDRESSES TO THE U.S. AUTHORITIES."

That should scare off the bulk of the scammers. You don't want to sell to anyone that's not paying cash anyway...

 

[Snowbound]

Clearly your price is too high. CL and ebay will both get you legit people, but only at fair prices.

 

[darkdream]

your price is way to high you can buy a brand new 17 inch unibody for $2,000

 

[groove-agent]

your price is way to high you can buy a brand new 17 inch unibody for $2,000

What are you talking about? I haven't mentioned any prices. The prices quoted above are inflated because the scammers offer a "generous" amount to try and entice you. Also, they are in CDN dollars.

 

[HLdan]

What price are trying to sell it for? If you're having trouble selling it on Ebay then the price must be too high for the type of machine your selling, so how much are you asking for it? And please tell us in U.S. dollars, as we are trying to help, we shouldn't have to convert. Also post the specs.

 

[fuzzielitlpanda]

yup it's all about the price. scammers will respond to any ad, but real buyers will only respond if they think it's a good price. i've sold on both craigslist and ebay and never had a problem finding a buyer

 

[HLdan]

Oops, quoted the wrong person. Deleted my post.

 

[applebook]

I almost always sell a major item - such as a computer - in under a week. If I do not, then either the demand is very low (the product is obscure), or the price is too high.

In your case, the commodity is very much in demand, so the price is the factor.

 

[groove-agent]

It's a 15" MBP (non-unibody) 2.5Ghz 2GB, 250GB, 512MB VRAM, mint condition (used twice -seriously), original warranty expires in August. What do you think I should ask in US dollars?

 

[SephirothXR]

Yea just put in your ad that you can tell a paypal scam apart from a real offer and will report it if they email you like the other guy said.