I just purchased the new Macbook Pro 2.5Ghz off eBay UK so thought I'd share my experience.
The first auction I was interested in had 100% feedback. However I didn't buy from that seller because I was worried about the history. No activity for the previous 90 days, and history info on eBay only goes back 90 days so I didn't even know what the older items were. They could have been selling knitted underwear for all I know. Had all the signs of a hijacked account/phishing exploit. In any case, I turned it down and carried on looking on eBay.
I found another one for £30 extra, and the history looked fine. They had previous sales of Mac hardware including Macbooks and positive feedback for those items. The Macbook Pro was brand new and unopened, and previous feedback suggested this is always the case otherwise he'd have received neg feedback for misleading description. The risks seemed low so I purchased it.
Three days later I received it, brand new, unopened and no issues. I'm happy and saved myself £300 (about $450 US) in the process which I can spend on Mac software, hardware and AppleCare. I used a 5% off eBay/Paypal promo which worked fine by the way. I'd have saved an extra £30 had I gone with the first seller, which it turned out was a legit seller after all (since received positive feedback for the Macbook Pros he sold). But I still think I made the right decision.
So my advice. Only allow 99%+ feedback to get your initial interest. Look at the seller's history to actually determine if everything checks out. Plenty scammers hijack accounts with 100% feedback, especially those that are idle (no recent activity, so the legit owner probably isnt paying attention). If the seller has recent history if selling similar items and has received positive feedback, and they're always BNIB, I say go for it because minimal risk is worth it.
