Mac Pro scammer on Ebay, buyer beware

[maccer99]

Known eBay scammers as of October 2015:

1) scorp_technology
Sells opened and used Mac Pro (supposedly 2012, but likely 2010 or before) claiming to be brand new. After paying for item, seller purposefully ships back to his own city so eBay says "Delivered". Refuses refund or any cooperation, knwoing full well he never shipped to buyer, hoping they will not open a case against him so he keeps the money. Then relists same item as BIN only @ 25% or more markup than what previous buyer (who won't receive item) paid. As of October 2 2015 the duplicate auction is still up.
Nearly unresponsive most times except to give one or two excuses. Questionable other items for sale.

2) maccompusave
Claims to have new 2010 Mac Pro Server units, in addition he has overpriced custom/opened 2012 units. Upon attempting to complete purchase and checkout, seller wants you to call him up via phone and hand over your credit card details because he "doesn't like Paypal". He claims his unknown warranty is good enough excuse for buyers to go with that shady deal.
Hostile and unprofessional in messages when questioned.

More details in the thread. Feel free to add any other scam sellers so we can warn others. I found out the hard way that finding a sealed cMP in 2015 is pretty much virtually impossible.

Original Post:

Someone is going around on Ebay with what he claims to be a brand new, never used 2012 Mac Pro 5,1.

I won the auction against a lot of bidding competition last month for just about $2000 US.

I paid in full via Paypal shortly after winning the item.

After days of waiting and asking the seller what is going on with shipping, he claims to have shipped it via USPS. All looked well, despite free shipping probably making shipping weeks and weeks slower than normal.

2 weeks later, the tracking information says it has been Delivered. But it was delivered to the same city it was originally shipped from! So the seller seems to have purposefully shipped it back to himself or somewhere he could pick it up.

Days later he relisted the EXACT SAME item on Ebay (same description and everything) except it was not Auction, but Buy It Now for $2600 US, 600 more than what I paid.

Red flags:

1. After looking through his feedback, which was almost completely positive, I found Negative feedback "more than a year ago" (1? 2? 3?) from someone else who bought this exact item from him with exact title information saying it was obviously not new and been opened. Not sure if the buyer actually received it or he left that after winning and canceling.
2. The item is claimed to be brand new yet has screenshots of Yosemite being displayed (this never shipped with that obviously) and specs that are not Apple stock or even Apple-upgradable (there was no 3.33 GHz option for 2012 models, only 2010). Main picture is messed up condition of only side of the box.
3. Other items for sale are some used tuxedo tops and jewelry, don't know about anyone else but this screams stolen high-price items and trouble.

Seller replied to claim with "Hi, I am sorry for this issue. I sent the item out a few weeks ago via USPS. I do ship to Paypal's confirmed address." but that is obviously BS, my address is not in California (his state).

I need your advice on how to get a refund. I filed an "item not received" request but I don't even want the item anymore. This may be a hijacked account and want nothing to do with this seller.

Please tell me if I should edit in the auction links, or if I should only give them out via Private Messaging.

 

[LxHunter]

Someone is going around on Ebay with what he claims to be a brand new, never used 2012 Mac Pro 5,1.

I won the auction against a lot of bidding competition last month for just about $2000 US.

I paid in full via Paypal shortly after winning the item.

After days of waiting and asking the seller what is going on with shipping, he claims to have shipped it via USPS. All looked well, despite free shipping probably making shipping weeks and weeks slower than normal.

2 weeks later, the tracking information says it has been Delivered. But it was delivered to the same city it was originally shipped from! So the seller seems to have purposefully shipped it back to himself or somewhere he could pick it up.

Days later he relisted the EXACT SAME item on Ebay (same description and everything) except it was not Auction, but Buy It Now for $2600 US, 600 more than what I paid.

Red flags:

1. After looking through his feedback, which was almost completely positive, I found Negative feedback "more than a year ago" (1? 2? 3?) from someone else who bought this exact item from him with exact title information saying it was obviously not new and been opened. Not sure if the buyer actually received it or he left that after winning and canceling.
2. The item is claimed to be brand new yet has screenshots of Yosemite being displayed (this never shipped with that obviously) and specs that are not Apple stock or even Apple-upgradable (there was no 3.33 GHz option for 2012 models, only 2010). Main picture is messed up condition of only side of the box.
3. Other items for sale are some used tuxedo tops and jewelry, don't know about anyone else but this screams stolen high-price items and trouble.

Seller replied to claim with "Hi, I am sorry for this issue. I sent the item out a few weeks ago via USPS. I do ship to Paypal's confirmed address." but that is obviously BS, my address is not in California (his state).

I need your advice on how to get a refund. I filed an "item not received" request but I don't even want the item anymore. This may be a hijacked account and want nothing to do with this seller.

Please tell me if I should edit in the auction links, or if I should only give them out via Private Messaging.

You filed the INR
With no delivery receipt and signature.
Paypal will eventually refund.
Doesn't sound like there is much risk seller will deliver to you.

 

[chrfr]

specs that are not Apple stock or even Apple-upgradable (there was no 3.33 GHz option for 2012 models, only 2010).

That's not true. I have 20 6-core 3.33GHz 2012 Mac Pros at work. Nonetheless, the transaction is entirely suspicious.

 

[maccer99]

That's not true. I have 20 6-core 3.33GHz 2012 Mac Pros at work. Nonetheless, the transaction is entirely suspicious.

Wikipedia claims 3.33 wasn't one of the options; they probably only list the ones that were available from the Apple Store online or in-store, though. 3.33 could be manually upgraded I am sure through one of the non-stock options.

 

[maccer99]

You filed the INR
With no delivery receipt and signature.
Paypal will eventually refund.
Doesn't sound like there is much risk seller will deliver to you.

Yes, no delivery receipt or signature. And the tracking information on Ebay itself shows blatantly in plain sight that it was purposefully shipped to the same city it came from by the seller.

Another red flag was that the auction was labeled as having Free Shipping. That alone, for such a heavy and expensive to ship item, tells me the seller never intended to ship the item in the first place. In fact, he may not even have the item in the first place, and is hoping to just take people's money, ship a dummy item back to himself so Ebay thinks it was "Delivered", and relist the item a week or two later again and again.

Very confused why he puts it plain sight of the scam shipment/delivery tracking info, obviously he must know I can see that?

Just a little worried as the account is from 2000 with no negatives in the past year, which either tells me the scammer has worked out a way around things and even prevent buyers from getting refunds. Or that it's a hijacked account. I am hoping it is hijacked at this point as everything would make sense and I can get my refund.

Tell me if you all need the current and previous auction links to investigate further. A little weary to do so at the moment though, because I don't want someone complicating things or making the seller angry and try to spite me (no refund), not with those trouble red flags he has. With my description I gave in this thread of the auction and price, you can easily find the current item though if you all want.

Is there any way I can just cancel the "want my item" request, and get my refund processed as soon as possible?

 

[chrfr]

Wikipedia claims 3.33 wasn't one of the options; they probably only list the ones that were available from the Apple Store online or in-store, though. 3.33 could be manually upgraded I am sure through one of the non-stock options.

Apple's official specs are here: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP652
Yes, the 3.33 was a configure to order option.

 

[maccer99]

Apple's official specs are here: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP652
Yes, the 3.33 was a configure to order option.

Had a feeling Wikipedia was incomplete, thanks.

 

[maccer99]

Any tips to cancel the "item needed request" and speed up the refund process?

I expected this to arrive first week of September, but this scammer threw a wrench into that.

 

[adam9c1]

No way to speed it up really. Best way to speak w PayPal rep. They may be able to do something but when I had to deal w disputes it had to run its course. They had to give the other party time to respond...


I so dislike how eBay changed feedback % from lifetime to last year or whatever the term is only. I've been on eBay for well over 10 years and feedback to show for it.

 

[adam9c1]

File dispute w PayPal now. It drags. Sooner you start sooner it ends.

 

[imaccooper]

File dispute w PayPal now. It drags. Sooner you start sooner it ends.

Same advice I would give. I bought an iPad from a seller claiming something similar. He didn't try to ship it back to himself, he just never shipped it. I waited the allotted amount of time and filled a item not shipped claim with eBay. They investigated and it was resolved and my money was returned, but it takes time. It may take a week or two if you go now and file the dispute, but you will definitely get your money back from PayPal and the user will either get massive discipline from eBay or be removed entirely.

Hate it for you, but thankfully eBay and PayPal always side with the buyer when they have any evidence that you didn't get your item.

 

[Mr. McMac]

My policy is never buy anything expensive off ebay. I limit myself to $100 max. Just a thought...

 

[maccer99]

My policy is never buy anything expensive off ebay. I limit myself to $100 max. Just a thought...

Didn't want to either, but was only place I could find new 2010 or 2012 MPs. Not a fan of using someone's used and abused (in a likely pro enviroment) 5 year old computer, even 3 year. Any alternatives to Ebay for new, I am all ears.

 

[maccer99]

File dispute w PayPal now. It drags. Sooner you start sooner it ends.

Same advice I would give. I bought an iPad from a seller claiming something similar. He didn't try to ship it back to himself, he just never shipped it. I waited the allotted amount of time and filled a item not shipped claim with eBay. They investigated and it was resolved and my money was returned, but it takes time. It may take a week or two if you go now and file the dispute, but you will definitely get your money back from PayPal and the user will either get massive discipline from eBay or be removed entirely.

Hate it for you, but thankfully eBay and PayPal always side with the buyer when they have any evidence that you didn't get your item.

Thanks guys. I hope it doesn't take another few weeks to get the refund, though. I have already waited a week for the item not received claim where Ebay can step in. This is the same as what you refer to with opening a Paypal dispute, or is that separate?

When this is resolved I can link to the seller and current duplicate auction to warn others, but again, should be simple to find as per my description if you are curious.

 

[adam9c1]

So did you file a dispute with eBay for item not arrived?

Based on my experience your wait time to create a case / start the refund process will take maximum time:
IE if it says you need to wait 7 days after auction end to CREATE a dispute it will not let you do it before.
Then it will say to try to work out with seller and if after xx days pass you can escalate. You will need to wait that many days.
Once it's escalated to a case they will say they need abc number of days so they can get a response from seller.
After that time passes they will make their final outcome.
If they are on your side now they will need to transfer money from seller to you. I am not sure how it goes with expensive items. I don't know if PP changed their rules. I think at worst seller can close their account.

Many years ago I was out of luck. PP said they are unable to obtain funds from seller.

All of it drags, takes weeks.
Good luck!

 

[Thunderboltedge]

My policy is never buy anything expensive off ebay. I limit myself to $100 max. Just a thought...

I am writing from a macbook pro 2014 15" from eBay and i am still finding it as one of the best deal ever.
it was a shop on eBay so not just a single vendor but a real store, and in the case of stores on eBay if you pay the right attention on the reliability (feedback and so) I can say it is quite safe.
In addiction I bought a mac mini 2014 fusion from a vendor in an auction and I was happy too.

Going to single auction with vendors indeed could be a lottery and in that case I would not advice to go for very expensive item. But as long as you pay with paypal and you are careful, no much risk

 

[maccer99]

The issue has been resolved by Ebay.

What do you all make of this seller's auctions? He claims all his Mac Pros are new but they all have top of box opened, not sure old flashed firmware MPs were put in there and he jacked up price. EFI item up for sale has me suspicious.
Basically I need to make sure these are genuine brand new, never turned on or opened Apple-configurations.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/maccompusave/m.html

 

[adam9c1]

I also lucked out. Have a 2010 MBP C2D that looks great. two scratches on it.
Bought from original owner.

I'm very happy you got it all sorted out.

 

[phairphan]

What do you all make of this seller's auctions? He claims all his Mac Pros are new but they all have top of box opened, not sure old flashed firmware MPs were put in there and he jacked up price. EFI item up for sale has me suspicious.
Basically I need to make sure these are genuine brand new, never turned on or opened Apple-configurations.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/maccompusave/m.html

They do not appear to be "new" in the sense that they're straight from Apple and never opened. The specs don't align with the models listed or, were never offered in any model. For example, 3.46GHz chips were never an option from Apple. Neither was the Radeon 7950. Additionally, I don't believe 480GB SSDs existed, at least at a general consumer level, when these models were sold, much less offered by Apple. Finally, the 2010 Server variant of the Mac Pro didn't have a Nvidia GT120 as an option. I'm fairly certain the 2009 Mac Pro was the last model that offered that card (and there was no server variant that year as the Xserve was not discontinued until 2010). The seller specifies a one-year warranty, but doesn't say from where.

These machines were definitely opened and had parts swapped and modified. While they may have been new when the seller purchased them, I doesn't look like you're going to get Applecare and, in fact, some of the mods the seller made will have invalidated the Apple warranty.

I know nothing about the seller, but, personally, would stay away from any seller who advertised machines like these as new.

On a related note, since we're coming up on the two-year anniversary of the nMP, you're going to have a very difficult time finding new, unopened cMPs at this point. If you're set on a cMP, you're probably going to have to settle on a used one. Good luck with your search!

 

[maccer99]

They do not appear to be "new" in the sense that they're straight from Apple and never opened. The specs don't align with the models listed or, were never offered in any model. For example, 3.46GHz chips were never an option from Apple. Neither was the Radeon 7950. Additionally, I don't believe 480GB SSDs existed, at least at a general consumer level, when these models were sold, much less offered by Apple. Finally, the 2010 Server variant of the Mac Pro didn't have a Nvidia GT120 as an option. I'm fairly certain the 2009 Mac Pro was the last model that offered that card (and there was no server variant that year as the Xserve was not discontinued until 2010). The seller specifies a one-year warranty, but doesn't say from where.

These machines were definitely opened and had parts swapped and modified. While they may have been new when the seller purchased them, I doesn't look like you're going to get Applecare and, in fact, some of the mods the seller made will have invalidated the Apple warranty.

I know nothing about the seller, but, personally, would stay away from any seller who advertised machines like these as new.

On a related note, since we're coming up on the two-year anniversary of the nMP, you're going to have a very difficult time finding new, unopened cMPs at this point. If you're set on a cMP, you're probably going to have to settle on a used one. Good luck with your search!

It doesn't seem like factory sealed, but honestly, I am more concerned with if it's ever been used before. But when you start introducing the fact parts were swapped, who knows if it's been used for 1 minute or 1 year. The other trouble introduced is the possibility it they are older hardware cMPs but firmware flashed to 5,1. Any way to verify? I heard about serial number but am not sure that would be foolproof.

Since the cMPs are so hard to find new, what I am looking at is albeit dodgy, this may be my closest oppurtunity.

The seller offers 3 items I'm looking into: the 2012s and the 2010. Think there may be a chance the 2010 is Apple factory parts? The AMD 5770 was offered before...but from what I see, only in retail 2012 configs, not Server 2010. May have been an option though.


It seems like the 2012s offered are admitted by "New Other" condition that they are customized, but the 2010 Server is claiming to be new. I need to know if that's true.

Can Snow Leopard even run with AMD 7950? The 2012s have that installed. Pretty sure the 5770 can run it though, not even sure there, though.

Additionally, now that cMP are older tech, what is a realistic price for these? The 2010 Server should probably be about 2000 instead of 2800, the 2012 3.33 maybe 2800 instead of 3800, 2012 3.45 maybe 3000 instead of 5000. These dont look like they are going to sell anytime soon at those prices, and probably been there awhile, so hoping the seller will agree on a price lower.

 

[MarkC426]

Can Snow Leopard even run with AMD 7950? The 2012s have that installed. Pretty sure the 5770 can run it though, not even sure there, though.

Snow Leopard was in the 2010 model, the 2012 should have Mountain Lion.
The 7950 needs Lion or above to work.

 

[orph]

There will be no real new old school macros now, ask the seller for the SN of the unit for sale. (it's on the box and unit)
there are a few sites (including apple's official site, that will let you type in the SN and it will give you speck and production date etc.. some give more info)

if the unit delivered dose not match the SN provide you can flag it to paypal/ebay as a miss sale

there are a lot of macros 5.1 from 2009 on eBay now, easy way to double the price (there all 4.1's updated).

but I'm a clinic so maybe there are one or two unopened boxes in some rich IT office somewhere just in case.

 

[phairphan]

It doesn't seem like factory sealed, but honestly, I am more concerned with if it's ever been used before. But when you start introducing the fact parts were swapped, who knows if it's been used for 1 minute or 1 year. The other trouble introduced is the possibility it they are older hardware cMPs but firmware flashed to 5,1. Any way to verify? I heard about serial number but am not sure that would be foolproof.

Since the cMPs are so hard to find new, what I am looking at is albeit dodgy, this may be my closest oppurtunity.

The seller offers 3 items I'm looking into: the 2012s and the 2010. Think there may be a chance the 2010 is Apple factory parts? The AMD 5770 was offered before...but from what I see, only in retail 2012 configs, not Server 2010. May have been an option though.


It seems like the 2012s offered are admitted by "New Other" condition that they are customized, but the 2010 Server is claiming to be new. I need to know if that's true.

I missed that bottom MP listing. The 5770 was the base card offered on MPs beginning in 2010 (it was also the base card in the 2012 "refresh,") so, yes, that card can be in the Server 2010 from the factory. Of the four MPs on that seller's page, that server variant with the 5770 appears to be the closest to original specs. The only item that makes me think it may have been opened and modified is the 250GB SSD. After a brief bit of research and contrary to what I posted above, apparently Apple did offer SSDs in the MPs beginning in 2010. The only option for 2010 appears to have been a 512GB SSD, so I'm not sure where the 250GB drive came from.

Everymac is a great site for showing what the original specs of these machines should be. The entries generally include notes on what upgrade options were available. The Apple tech spec pages will also be of use to you. For example, the entry for the MP 2010 shows in detail what upgrade options were available.

 

[adam9c1]

Lets stay focused here.
This seller is selling item(s) he does not want to ship out to buyer.

 

[maccer99]

I missed that bottom MP listing. The 5770 was the base card offered on MPs beginning in 2010 (it was also the base card in the 2012 "refresh,") so, yes, that card can be in the Server 2010 from the factory. Of the four MPs on that seller's page, that server variant with the 5770 appears to be the closest to original specs. The only item that makes me think it may have been opened and modified is the 250GB SSD. After a brief bit of research and contrary to what I posted above, apparently Apple did offer SSDs in the MPs beginning in 2010. The only option for 2010 appears to have been a 512GB SSD, so I'm not sure where the 250GB drive came from.

Everymac is a great site for showing what the original specs of these machines should be. The entries generally include notes on what upgrade options were available. The Apple tech spec pages will also be of use to you. For example, the entry for the MP 2010 shows in detail what upgrade options were available.

I also looked into the 2010 Apple specs and everything looked legit. Did not find info on the SSD drive options, may be swapped out or may be an option that was not written on most sites after Apple stopped offering it.
It gets me weary that the same style of picture (top of box opened showing MP inside with wrapping) is same as the admitted opened 2012s.

How much does the 2010 Mac Pro differ from the 2012, besides parts that can be upgraded? Is it the same computer otherwise? The lifespan on a new 2010 would be longer than a used and opened 2012, I imagine, in that case.