Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Macbook pro less than £500
- Thread starter doug.hall
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I can assure you all thos MBP's for less than £500 are scams proceed with extreme caution!
ShadoW
ShadoW
I have noticed this as well and it is pretty bad actually. If you type MacBook Pro into the UK site lots of these ads come up.
Some people look at their 10 feedback and think that these sellers are ok or maybe they only invest what they are prepared to lose. These sellers feedback is usually very suspect if you look at what they bought /sold and the same number of people who have left them feedback. Also a good majority of the people who have left them feedback are usually not even registered members anymore.
Some people look at their 10 feedback and think that these sellers are ok or maybe they only invest what they are prepared to lose. These sellers feedback is usually very suspect if you look at what they bought /sold and the same number of people who have left them feedback. Also a good majority of the people who have left them feedback are usually not even registered members anymore.
Mmmm, I wonder too. In this case, I tend to think it's a scam, also.
I've noticed a couple of similar situations....
1) Sellers selling video games overseas, often with HK addresses. A lot, but not all, of these games (I purchased once or twice) appear to be counterfit. The prices are less than they're readily available for here, but not ridiculously less.
2) I made a purchase today, which was for a Motorola BT headset. Here again, it cost less than I found it for elsewhere away from eBay, but only by 25% ($33USD / £17 shipped vs. $45USD or so from retailers in the US). Now I'm curious what will come of this. It could be that they're either units that they are grey market units that represent cheaper availability elsewhere (as often happens with camera lenses). It could be that they are units that the manufacturing plant is selling to black market dealers without authorization. And of course it could be that they're knock-offs. But it seems like the technology:volume ratio for a hot pink Bluetooth headset is unfavorable enough that making a knock off would be a waste of effort... I don't know. We'll have to see.
But in the case of a £500 MBP, I wouldn't expect anything good to come of it.
I've noticed a couple of similar situations....
1) Sellers selling video games overseas, often with HK addresses. A lot, but not all, of these games (I purchased once or twice) appear to be counterfit. The prices are less than they're readily available for here, but not ridiculously less.
2) I made a purchase today, which was for a Motorola BT headset. Here again, it cost less than I found it for elsewhere away from eBay, but only by 25% ($33USD / £17 shipped vs. $45USD or so from retailers in the US). Now I'm curious what will come of this. It could be that they're either units that they are grey market units that represent cheaper availability elsewhere (as often happens with camera lenses). It could be that they are units that the manufacturing plant is selling to black market dealers without authorization. And of course it could be that they're knock-offs. But it seems like the technology:volume ratio for a hot pink Bluetooth headset is unfavorable enough that making a knock off would be a waste of effort... I don't know. We'll have to see.
But in the case of a £500 MBP, I wouldn't expect anything good to come of it.
All new Apple computers discounted more than 10% from the USA Apple Store price are scams - count on it.
Huh? What gives you the impression that eBay verifies who the seller is, at all? All you need is an email account and some way to pay the fees (a stolen charge card works well).
(Besides the whole account hijack scenario of course)
Huh? What gives you the impression that eBay verifies who the seller is, at all? All you need is an email account and some way to pay the fees (a stolen charge card works well).
(Besides the whole account hijack scenario of course)
i've noticed quite a few of these myself - and a good number of the "sellers" are not hijacked accounts, but accounts that seem to have a little feedback, usually from other "people" selling "macbook pros" or, more likely "nothing".
if only it were the other way, you could do a P-P-P-PowerBook on them
if only it were the other way, you could do a P-P-P-PowerBook on them
Oh man, The P-P-P-PowerBook STILL makes me laugh every time. I think it's the labels for the ports. "Monitor!!" "Fire wire!" "Who knows!" "Circle!" Also the "blue tooth" mouse.bigandy said:if only it were the other way, you could do a P-P-P-PowerBook on them
Priceless.
I put my MBP on ebay last night under my sisters account and this morning i woke up to see that somebody had already bought it under buy it now.
I then wiped my entire hard drive to get things ready for them and when i log back on i see that they are not even registered anymore with ebay.
I gave them my telephone number, address and basic bank details as well. I don't think that i am going to bother advertising my MBP on ebay again.
I then wiped my entire hard drive to get things ready for them and when i log back on i see that they are not even registered anymore with ebay.
I gave them my telephone number, address and basic bank details as well. I don't think that i am going to bother advertising my MBP on ebay again.
Roba said:
Ugh, that sounds like a bad experience. I'm sorry.
So do you think that the fact that they are no longer registered means that eBay detected a scam account and purged it, or that they fled?
Had they just never arranged to pay for it? How did the transaction indicate they would pay for it? Do you have to pay to list it again?
And when you said you gave them your bank info, what do you mean? Why would you give a buyer your bank information?
Hi I think that ebay may have detected a scam or maybe some of the other sellers may have complained.
They basically bidded on seven laptops and won them in the space of a few hours and just joined the day before.
(buyers bidding ID edited out)
I sent them an invoice before i checked my mail and the email did sound a bit fishy to me.
I used my sisters account because i got scammed under my own ID when i bought something and I have only just been getting back into using ebay also for a few other reasons i haven't logged into my own account for a while.
Here is what they mailed me but i removed their shipping address of at the end-
I got my final value fee back but i am not sure about my listing fee. I also do have to pay to list it again.
I gave the buyer my name, sort code and account number so they could either do a cash deposit or a bank transfer. I don't think that they can do anything with this info but i would prefer they had not received it.
They basically bidded on seven laptops and won them in the space of a few hours and just joined the day before.
(buyers bidding ID edited out)
I sent them an invoice before i checked my mail and the email did sound a bit fishy to me.
I used my sisters account because i got scammed under my own ID when i bought something and I have only just been getting back into using ebay also for a few other reasons i haven't logged into my own account for a while.
Here is what they mailed me but i removed their shipping address of at the end-
I got my final value fee back but i am not sure about my listing fee. I also do have to pay to list it again.
I gave the buyer my name, sort code and account number so they could either do a cash deposit or a bank transfer. I don't think that they can do anything with this info but i would prefer they had not received it.
mkrishnan said:Ugh, that sounds like a bad experience. I'm sorry.
So do you think that the fact that they are no longer registered means that eBay detected a scam account and purged it, or that they fled?
Had they just never arranged to pay for it? How did the transaction indicate they would pay for it? Do you have to pay to list it again?
And when you said you gave them your bank info, what do you mean? Why would you give a buyer your bank information?
It might be worth ringing your bank and repeating to them what you've said above, and ask them to note your call. That way if anything happens to your account you will have covered yourself.Roba said:
I've noticed all these listings in the last day or so and reported them to eBay (for what it's worth).
stevep
shadowmoses said:
Dont remind me. I got caught for 2000 Euro for a powermac on an ebay scam. The level of details they can provide to fool you is astonishing, but whats more astonisihing is ebays total lack of control or willingness to do anything about it....
If it's too good to be true - it is..... I'll remind myself that every day for the rest of my life
Dont buy a 500 macbook unless your doing so in person, and have the macbook in your hands before parting with cash.
Only the gulible would buy such a Macbook for that price and not to forget that its from Mainland China and feedback is "random" as well. The value of the Macbook still tops the 1k mark so dont bother bidding/buying it.
steve thank you for your advice
I have been looking on ebay today and if you look at this auction
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACBOOK-PRO-1...8813208362QQcategoryZ4606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and then this one below it is obvious that the seller has basically just copied his ad and picture. They have done the same thing for an ad that sold earlier this week as well.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACBOOK-PRO-1...Z8817388935QQcategoryZ177QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Also, some of the auctions that are running i bet that some of the bidders are just scammers who are artificially hiking up the price.
I have been looking on ebay today and if you look at this auction
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACBOOK-PRO-1...8813208362QQcategoryZ4606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and then this one below it is obvious that the seller has basically just copied his ad and picture. They have done the same thing for an ad that sold earlier this week as well.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MACBOOK-PRO-1...Z8817388935QQcategoryZ177QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Also, some of the auctions that are running i bet that some of the bidders are just scammers who are artificially hiking up the price.
mkrishnan said:
Just as a follow-up to my own off-topic comment...
I just got this in the mail today -- it's appears to be a new-in-box grey market Hong Kong model. It came with a multi-lingual manual and a US charger (which ... yay! in Motorola's cases plugs in with a mini-USB plug and appears to be interchangeable between the phone and the headset...nice touch).
It's charging now, but it seems real enough.
Surreally enough, I also got my Griffin EarThumps today -- they come in perfectly matching blue and orange packages. Oddness. The colors look right for Griffin but seem wrong for Motorola. Hmmm...
I have bought things from Hong Kong and of course you can get some bargains over there but you just have to careful. Computers are much cheaper than in the UK for sure. Of course not everybody from Hong Kong is trying to rip people of or scam people. I think that a lot of these laptops were just scams though. The one that i linked to the seller even got thrown of ebay it looks like.
I bought a camera from Hong Kong that was listed as UK compatible and whilst the camera was great and genuine i soon learnt that English copy =a hand made printed out manual on A4 paper and the plug was not UK spec but if i was bit more savvy with these things i would have known and i know now.
I tend to always look at the feedback to try and judge how the seller is.
I bought a camera from Hong Kong that was listed as UK compatible and whilst the camera was great and genuine i soon learnt that English copy =a hand made printed out manual on A4 paper and the plug was not UK spec but if i was bit more savvy with these things i would have known and i know now.
I tend to always look at the feedback to try and judge how the seller is.
mkrishnan said:Just as a follow-up to my own off-topic comment...
I just got this in the mail today -- it's appears to be a new-in-box grey market Hong Kong model. It came with a multi-lingual manual and a US charger (which ... yay! in Motorola's cases plugs in with a mini-USB plug and appears to be interchangeable between the phone and the headset...nice touch).
It's charging now, but it seems real enough..