This cannot be real

[risc]

well my mate did buy one. first time on eBay though. so he deserves to have his money taken away from him because he's new? I don't really see the point here.

Your friend just gave his money to someone he doesn't know, with no positive feed back for selling? Sorry but...

edit: okay that may have been a little harsh, sure your friend didn't deserve to lose his money _BUT_ you think alarm bells may have gone off because if something seems too good to be true it probably is. Hopefully your friend can get his money back.

 

[RedTomato]

To me anyway, the G5 sale seems legit - it seems a fair price, and I expect anyone taking a personal trip to take suitable precautions (as plastered all over CraigsList.)

It should be easy to verify the seller's phone number and address and company name (he says he closed a division).

 

[prady16]

That seller is no longer a 'registered user'!
What was the price and the items he was selling anyway?

 

[KilGil27]

Who actaully buys that stuff?

 

[0098386]

That seller is no longer a 'registered user'!
What was the price and the items he was selling anyway?

£300-600 for iMacs, Macbooks and some Sony laptops.

Who actaully buys that stuff?

People new to this kind of stuff? Jeez there's a tad bit of elitism going on here. The kid just got a computer, he's using eBay for the first time. He actually said to me today that he hadn't placed a bid to begin with, he just thought he did. That's how new he is. Or should we do away with learners altogether? Anyone who can't drive - tough. And new no computers please.

 

[twistedlegato]

What Was It!??

 

[0098386]

What Was It!??

£300-600 for iMacs, Macbooks and some Sony laptops.

.

 

[jtown]

It's not elitism. It's laughing at people who get burned by their own greed.

If some guy was selling imacs out the back of a van in a parking lot for a 70% discount, would you think it was a legitimate operation? The items are either stolen or fake. If you buy from that guy, you're either proffiting from someone else's misfortune or you're about to be burned. (And the only way to get burned yourself in that situation is to accept a sealed box and drive home without bothering to look in the box. Which is pretty darn stupid.)

To fall for that kind of scam on ebay is even dumber. Assume the guy really has a few stolen computers for sale. Once he's got your money, why would he bother shipping anything? If he stole it in the first place, why wouldn't he just steal your money, too? Oh, no. Only an honest thief would sell something on ebay. Where's the emoticon for Bwahahahahahahahaha?

Not only are you trusting the Guy in the Van to provide a legitimate product, you're giving him the money first based on a promise to ship you something later. Now given the fact that the only way it could be sold that cheap is if it's stolen, we come back to the fact that you're trusting a thief to come back and deliver the goods when he has no incentive to do so. Assuming he actually had stolen goods, now he's got the goods and your money. Just in case you missed it, there never were any computers. Why go to the effort and expense of obtaining stolen merchandise when you're never going to ship it?

 

[twistedlegato]

.

Oh sorry

 

[gnasher729]

Not only are you trusting the Guy in the Van to provide a legitimate product, you're giving him the money first based on a promise to ship you something later. Now given the fact that the only way it could be sold that cheap is if it's stolen, we come back to the fact that you're trusting a thief to come back and deliver the goods when he has no incentive to do so. Assuming he actually had stolen goods, now he's got the goods and your money. Just in case you missed it, there never were any computers. Why go to the effort and expense of obtaining stolen merchandise when you're never going to ship it?

Here in England they caught one guy about a month ago; he was luggage handler at Heathrow, his wife was an eBay Powerseller with about 12,000 sales. He had been emptying suitcases for 2 1/2 years before he got caught. Obviously what she sold was things like used clothes, shoes, all things that you expect to be cheap because they are used.