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This guy is selling a G5 for £400!

SuperKerem

SuperKerem

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 29, 2012
863
261
Hi guys, I was browsing around ebay when I saw this:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=321707486126
It's a dual 2Ghz G5 on sale for £300/$450, and used to be up for £400 previously, because apparently it comes with over '£2000 of software' aka a pirated copy of Adobe CS4.
I messaged him to say that he should stop trying to rip people off and a dual G5 is only worth £50 but he replied:

"Please check your facts. Where can you find a highly speced powermac, yes now outdated but can deliver the same results as an imac. Please show me any G5s that have all that software, with over 75 applications and have customised osx and software preferences not to mention additional brush palettes

I havnt seen one so maybe I should put the price up.

Not to be rude but you shouldnt give bad advise, I know imacs and mac pro platforms have took over the show but be aware alot of people prefer to use powermacs over these transient set ups and find G5 and G5 pros more editorially efficent and cost less to run. I know people in London who will tell you so."
Click to expand...
I swear one day an unaware person is going to fall for this...
Some people...
 
I'm sure people fall for this all the time. He might not even be trying to rip anybody off; he might seriously think that his computer is worth that much. Lots of people have trouble understanding that old hardware is almost always worthless. I've seen people try and sell ten year old computers for a couple hundred dollars. Usually older people. If you say anything to them they almost always say something like "But I've kept it in good condition". Oh well, they will learn so enough.
 
nijmegen96 said:
I'm sure people fall for this all the time. He might not even be trying to rip anybody off; he might seriously think that his computer is worth that much. Lots of people have trouble understanding that old hardware is almost always worthless. I've seen people try and sell ten year old computers for a couple hundred dollars. Usually older people. If you say anything to them they almost always say something like "But I've kept it in good condition". Oh well, they will learn so enough.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just replied to his message but I doubt he's going to change anything. Not that I care, I'm happily sitting here next to my Quad G5 with all the '£2000 worth of programs' he mentioned lol.
I hate to admit it, but back in 2010 when I was a Mac n00b I would have thought this was a great deal, a 'Mac Pro' with all the (outdated) programs I would ever need, right?
 
Heck, my first G5 had more good software than that(CS4, Quark, and a bunch of pricey extra fonts) and all were 100% legal. It came from a graphic design agency here in town. Granted it was a single 1.8(late '03, which means it has 8 RAM slots) and I think about 2.5gb of RAM, but none the less I paid $125 for it and got a 17" ADC Studio display with it.
 
I've seen many Macs go for ludicrous prices advertised in this way - I'm guessing a lot of people assume all that software is legitimate and comes with the original install disks...something this buyer cleverly 'forgets' to specify.

There's also a lot of people out there who will be buying a gift for someone - maybe a parent who's son or daughter is starting college/university - they'll think a Mac's a Mac - what's the difference?
It's shameful eBay can't protect against this but it's business.
 
keremtezcan said:
Yeah, I just replied to his message but I doubt he's going to change anything. Not that I care, I'm happily sitting here next to my Quad G5 with all the '£2000 worth of programs' he mentioned lol.
I hate to admit it, but back in 2010 when I was a Mac n00b I would have thought this was a great deal, a 'Mac Pro' with all the (outdated) programs I would ever need, right?
Click to expand...

Right, because in 2010 it actually was a great deal.
 
redheeler said:
Right, because in 2010 it actually was a great deal.
Click to expand...

Back in 2010, G5s could still run an OS that was actively supported(Leopard) and many PPC computers(including all G5s and Aluminum Powerbooks) could still be taken in for repair at the Genius Bar. Without actually bothering to dig up the information, it wouldn't surprise me if there were still a few late '05 G5s lingering under Applecare-if they'd been bought in the refurb store sometime in 2007(when many of them were 1 year old at most) this would have been a distinct possibility.

5 years later, none of the above is true.
 
Got my dual 2.7 GHz G5 for only $50, and within hours had all the software from that listing installed :)

Heck, even CS2 is free from Adobe these days!
 
keremtezcan said:
Hi guys, I was browsing around ebay when I saw this:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=321707486126
It's a dual 2Ghz G5 on sale for £300/$450, and used to be up for £400 previously, because apparently it comes with over '£2000 of software' aka a pirated copy of Adobe CS4.
I messaged him to say that he should stop trying to rip people off and a dual G5 is only worth £50 but he replied:


I swear one day an unaware person is going to fall for this...
Some people...
Click to expand...

Sadly one of my friends found himself in a trap like this :(
 
Unfortunately common

It's pretty common on eBay, people trying to jack up prices on their computers by loading them up with software, pirate or not.
 
jbarley said:
This has been discussed on the forum earlier, and I believe that legally it is not free. Something to do with Adobe making licences available to previous registered owners.
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Correct-it's only "free" if you own a legitimate copy of CS2.

Adobe has all the recent versions of CS available for download on their website(if you are a registered user, which you are if you've bought any more recent Adobe products). The only difference is that they shut down the CS2 activation servers and provided a "universal" code.

Again, you still legally need to own a copy of it. Adobe has just provided a way to make sure legitimate owners are "left out in the cold" so to speak.

Speaking of which, I need to go over and buy a copy of Lightroom while I can still get the edu discount. I was actually amazed when-about two years ago-the schools IT store put Acrobat 10(full retail) on closeout for $35. The only had the Mac version, which I suppose is why it lasted a while, but I was ecstatic to get it. I still, though, need to go back and change my default PDF viewer back to Preview because Acrobat takes too long to launch when I just want to look at a document.
 
Last edited:
bunnspecial said:
Correct-it's only "free" if you own a legitimate copy of CS2.

Adobe has all the recent versions of CS available for download on their website(if you are a registered user, which you are if you've bought any more recent Adobe products). The only difference is that they shut down the CS2 activation servers and provided a "universal" code.

Again, you still legally need to own a copy of it. Adobe has just provided a way to make sure legitimate owners are "left out in the cold" so to speak.

Speaking of which, I need to go over and buy a copy of Lightroom while I can still get the edu discount. I was actually amazed when-about two years ago-the schools IT store put Acrobat 10(full retail) on closeout for $35. The only had the Mac version, which I suppose is why it lasted a while, but I was ecstatic to get it. I still, though, need to go back and change my default PDF viewer back to Preview because Acrobat takes too long to launch when I just want to look at a document.
Click to expand...

Oops! Guess I forgot to read the fine print. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Anyway, that silly listing doesn't even include retail disks. Only then might it have a legitimate value proposition.
 
catzilla said:
Common everywhere: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/sys/4962315672.html
Or this:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Power...693?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fbca5885
This:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Power...068?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a9c3bf08c
Click to expand...


The first one's not a terrible deal since you get a cinema display with it. It also doesn't look like the poster is necessarily trying to mislead people, rather that he's confused about the naming of different models.

The latter two are just hilarious. And a little sad.
 
ptdebate said:
The first one's not a terrible deal since you get a cinema display with it. It also doesn't look like the poster is necessarily trying to mislead people, rather that he's confused about the naming of different models.

The latter two are just hilarious. And a little sad.
Click to expand...

In a lot of ways, Ebay encourages these sort of bad descriptions since they practically force you into using pre-made templates for items in that particular category.

It drives me nuts when I sell watches, as half the stuff they try to make me fill in doesn't apply to what I'm selling, or if it could apply they don't offer the appropriate choices. As an example, the options for "Case Material" are Gold, Silver, Gold Plated, and Stainless Steel and I think a couple of others. For the category I'm selling it, it would be far more beneficial to eliminate stainless steel and gold plated, then give us the option to designate coin silver, sterling silver, and various grades of gold filled. But, then, they don't ask me about this stuff.
 
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