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Bought dirt cheap MacBook Pro on eBay. Can this be real?

S

stanleyBE

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2008
34
0
Hi all,

Been hanging around these forums for some time now before actually deciding to go Mac. Now I made the decision and bought a MacBook Pro a couple hours ago on eBay. Wanted to wait for the refreshes, but when I saw this deal I couldn't resist.

Now, a few hours later, I had the time to think it over a bit, and I have doubts whether this is a legitimate offer. I bought the 15 inch model for 480 euro, which is about 700 US dollars. Can this actually be real?? It is being sent from Hong Kong, the seller is registered at eBay Germany since 2003 and has 12 feedback points - all positive, but most of them are long ago. His selling history only shows a cheap TI calculator. He sold about 6 of those MacBook Pro's today, all at about the same price. I just got an e-mail asking to deposit the money to a Chinese bank account. Also, the "full name" linked to that e-mail addres reads "sfdgsdfgdfgdfg" in outlook, which also makes it sound like a fraud...

Here is the item:
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=190253814575

Any advice on this one?

Thanks a lot!
 
Doesn't look legit. As the source seems to be Hong Kong, Germany/Netherlands (I don't know which, likely the former).

Run, Run, Run Away.

TEG
 
Yeah I wouldn't send money to a Chinese bank account with a suspicious email.

Screams fraud at me from a mile away.
 
you bought it but you didn't pay yet. tell me you didn't pay!:eek:

100% scam, hacked account. report it to ebay so that they can close the account.
 
Asking to send money through a wire transfer is asking for trouble...especially if he wants it outside of PayPal...also nobody sells MBPs new for $700. I would report him to eBay.
 
Uhh, like everyone else said, it screams scam. I hope you didn't go through with the bank transfer! Next time don't let your excited demeanor cloud your judgement.:) Hopefully this wasn't an expensive lesson...

Just wait for the new ones anyway, you know you wanna....:D
 
Anything out of Paypal = bad idea.

And..

The listing is titled: "BRAND NEW APPLE MACBOOK PRO SUPER-DRIVE (SEALED IN BOX)", but the information is about the MacBook Pro itself.

...Did you just buy a MBP Superdrive for $700? o_O
 
SIX same deals on one day??

must be scam. no matter it is HK or Germany account, my guess is it has been hijacked or sold to scammer.




However, the fact that the account is registered in Germany and selling stuff from HK is no strange, since eBay exited the Chinese market few years ago due to fierce competition with a local firm, they merged all the EU and Chinese accounts (if you happened to have both, I did) and transfered all seller accounts to HK, what a mess. :mad:
 
Abstract said:
Geez.... :rolleyes:

Use your head next time.
Click to expand...

This.

Really man, it seems like you bought it because you wanted it to be true. I sometimes do this playing poker; I'll call when I know I'm beat, to 'see what he has', or, 'just in case'.

Seller has you beat man. Don't pay.

Pretty much anybody using a bank transfer as payment method is gonna be shady; if it's legit, they'll sign up to Paypal and either take the hit or charge you 4% extra.

Good luck; don't pay. Oh, and as said above, report it to eBay. That way you'll not end up with bad feedback for not paying.

andy.
 
Thanks for the replies/advice. You are great.

For the record, I have NOT paid the guy (he wanted wire transfer btw), luckily :)

I was going to report this, but then I noticed the item was already removed from eBay: the page reads "invalid object". Same thing for the other five + it's removed from my item list. Guess someone beat me to it?

I hope none of the other bidders already paid...

I'll wait for the refreshes to buy, it's gonna be some long weeks...
 
Don't be embarrassed about it, I did the same before I came to my senses and went to the Apple refurb store.

Of course, don't send the money. Contact the seller to say that you've had second thoughts and contact ebay to say that you are concerned that this seller may be acting fraudulently. That's what I did and after a couple of semi-threatening emails from the seller about negative feedback they backed off, didn't even get any negative history.
 
No. Obviously, it's not real. As some other posters have pointed out, if it is too good to be true, it usually is. Glad you have not been burned, but my advice on such purchases is to buy from a legitimate outlet. That way, you are legally protected if anything goes wrong, or if any component needs to be repaired or replaced.

Although this particular offer was withdrawn, I'd still register a complaint with eBay, even though others have already done so.

Cheers and good luck
 
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