Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

"You want HOW much???"

Nice little scam they have going:

Assuming they aren't out and out frauds, here's how it looks like it works. Advertise a computer at full list price (Sony multimedia desktop, $2,299, Buy it now price) Insert the line "Factory Refurbished". When the eBay customer buys, order the refurbished computer from Sony's Clearance store for $1,500, and have them deliver direct to the customer.

Hows that for profit, without ever having to get your hands dirty?
 
Hey, at least he's got 25 of them. Don't everybody buy at once.

Have a look at his other auctions, too. Lots of great deals to be had. :rolleyes:

I like how he's got 11 pages of auctions, has an eBay store, ... yet has been an eBay member for over a month, and has sold ... absolutely nothing. 0 feedback.
 
Yahoo! Auctions is terrible too:

4 GB iPod mini, $235... "retails for $399.95!"

Same guy... this time a 20 GB iPod, $345, claims it retails at $499.95.

That's not the only guy lying about retail prices. This guy claims the 4 GB mini retails for $250, and has a buy price of $210 + $20 shipping. He also says he will sell one for $230 shipped if you contact him via email and make the deal entirely outside of Yahoo!

Browsing the Yahoo! Auctions I have to say it's difficult to find someone who isn't at the very least selling used/refurbished items for well above retail price. Most of them also lie about the retail price, and several are outright scam artists. It's utterly ridiculous.

Oh well, another one just for good measure... $399 mini
 
eBay is generally a very bad place to buy things. People bidding on things are often times complete morons. I was looking for a gamecube for my kids maybe 6-8 months back and I figured I'd get one off eBay and save a bit. It was ridiculous. I saw people selling new cubes for more than you could get one in the store and then charging $15 for shipping. I emailed a few of these people asking why they were such big idiots.
 
Yeah, I wanted to buy a Pro Mouse, and I thought, "Well, all these people on MacRumors etc. keep talking about how they toss theirs out in favour of a better one; that's probably not literal, but there'll probably be tons of cheap Apple mice on eBay". Lo and behold.... nope.

There was one for about $12, but then shipping was $17. Sheesh.

Anyone here want to shoot me a cheap Pro mouse? :)
 
AstroManLuca said:
Yahoo! Auctions is terrible too:

4 GB iPod mini, $235... "retails for $399.95!"

Same guy... this time a 20 GB iPod, $345, claims it retails at $499.95.

That's not the only guy lying about retail prices. This guy claims the 4 GB mini retails for $250, and has a buy price of $210 + $20 shipping. He also says he will sell one for $230 shipped if you contact him via email and make the deal entirely outside of Yahoo!

Browsing the Yahoo! Auctions I have to say it's difficult to find someone who isn't at the very least selling used/refurbished items for well above retail price. Most of them also lie about the retail price, and several are outright scam artists. It's utterly ridiculous.

Oh well, another one just for good measure... $399 mini
Click to expand...

The bastard is not wrong, he's just misleading his customers, stating the price in Australia, not USA.
I guess that for some people, Dollars are just Dollars :D
 
Well people are always going to try eh.. :p

And there will always be someone that falls for it, so that's why they can do it :eek: :p ;) :rolleyes:
 
CanadaRAM said:
Heh. Bet'cha that helped. :D Get any interesting replies?
Click to expand...

Well, I didn't call them total morons in my emails, but I pointed out that they could get a brand new unit for less than they were bidding on the supposedly new/rarely used unit. All I remember is something like the person hadn't really checked what they were going for and just assumed eBay was a deal.
 
that is just generally ridiculous. i guess i should probably just start stealing apple mice from my school and sell them for 75 bones and then i will be rich!!! :D
 
jmk said:
eBay is generally a very bad place to buy things. People bidding on things are often times complete morons. I was looking for a gamecube for my kids maybe 6-8 months back and I figured I'd get one off eBay and save a bit. It was ridiculous. I saw people selling new cubes for more than you could get one in the store and then charging $15 for shipping. I emailed a few of these people asking why they were such big idiots.
Click to expand...

But, it is a great place to sell things :). People are so willing to WIN the auction, that they will bid and bid and bid.

eBay has become the flea market of the 21st Century...Mach 3 razors, Dyson vacuums, "new with or without tags"..most of that stuff is stolen from brick-and-mortar retailers.
 
I was watching 12" ibooks and powerbooks on ebay last summer, and they were consistently selling at or above the apple refurb prices-- sometimes they sold above the new prices. Every once and a while one would sell with grey-market software (loaded with Photoshop, virtual PC, office, etc. with nothing about licenses) that justified the price, but in general the prices and bidding were completely irrational. I think the poster above who noted that people just assume its cheaper b/c its ebay hit it right on the head.
 
mac-er said:
But, it is a great place to sell things :). People are so willing to WIN the auction, that they will bid and bid and bid.

eBay has become the flea market of the 21st Century...Mach 3 razors, Dyson vacuums, "new with or without tags"..most of that stuff is stolen from brick-and-mortar retailers.
Click to expand...

That's very true. There are a few problems though. If the winner backs out, my experience is the runner up always figures out he bid too much and backs out.

Also on computers (especially laptops) there is a huge risk of getting ripped off especially if you ship it overseas.

The people seem to get too emotionally involved in an auction and keep on bidding higher and higher. That's good for sellers but usually bad for buyers.

There are many instances though where you can find something with a low buy-it-now and snatch it up early before someone else does.
 
It's sad to see people take advantage of people like that. Good thing he hasn't made any sales. I'm half-tempted to report him to eBay for misrepresenting the items but I don't know what good that would do.
 
I would rather purchase mine from Apple. Would want to be sure that it came with a warranty.
 
So much of eBay has become a commercial enterprise for sellers that it's hard to find great bargains among all the auctions. I've only used eBay several times, but the hassle of shipping and related charges, plus doing escrow on over $500 purchases just didn't make sense to me.
 
I am at times amazed that people are willing to bid more for a used item than the original retail price, especially when the item is still available new from the manufacturer.

It seems that many buyers rely on the description posted by the sellers to determine the MSRP, and as the previous posts have indicated, these can be pretty unreliable.

On the flip side, I have been able to get good prices on the items I have listed, which helps when I upgrade my computer equipment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back