eBay Computer Scam?

Amie

Amie

Mac Convert for Life
Apparently, they are selling new PowerBooks on eBay for $5 (free shipping). Something tells me there's something VERY wrong with this. I'm highly suspicious. I would appreciate if someone would go to eBay, do a search, read about the items listed, and share your thoughts with me? It's a joke, right?
 
What listings? Either it has been removed already, or the powerbooks had a starting bid of 5 dollars.

But, yes, no one in their sane mind would sell powerbooks for 5 bucks. Unless they were very rich.
 
My rule of thumb is, if you have to ask "is this a scam?", then it almost certainly is. A link would be good, as we could really look at it then.

I did see something recently on BoingBoing.com (can't locate it now) about an auction for a PowerMac quad G5 that closed at well over $1000, and the listing was titled something like PowerMac Quad G5 with Studio Display! NEW! List and the page long sales spiel about how great the PowerMac was ended with the words "This auction is for a list of suppliers who can provide you with a PowerMac at massively discounted prices."

So, in essence, some poor sucker paid over $1000 for a piece of paper advising them of where they can buy a PowerMac. I think its currently under review by eBay and the courts, but it'll be a while before the buyers get their $$$ back.

EDIT: while hunting, I found this: http://www.boingboing.net/2002/10/15/ebay_scam_bid_on_the.html

Caution: U r bidding on the oppritunity to buy me one of these players, not urself. so don't expect to recieve one.
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha! Some people will try anything. Thats tantamount to walking up to someone in the street and muttering really quickly "If you say what then you agree to give me your wallet.", stealing their wallet, and expecting to be able to use that as a defense later in court.

And this one is great: http://www.boingboing.net/2004/05/14/best_scamartist_inte.html

... culminated with him taking delivery of a "P-P-P-Powerbook" made out of keyboard bits glued to an old binder
Click to expand...

And ... http://www.boingboing.net/2003/10/03/for_sale_on_ebay_one.html

He he - an Air Guitar. Nice!

And I finally found the article. Wow, my memory of it was way off. It was $51 paid for the list for an LCD monitor. http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/06/ebay_auction_does_th.html
 
symphonix said:
My rule of thumb is, if you have to ask "is this a scam?", then it almost certainly is. A link would be good, as we could really look at it then.

I did see something recently on BoingBoing.com (can't locate it now) about an auction for a PowerMac quad G5 that closed at well over $1000, and the listing was titled something like PowerMac Quad G5 with Studio Display! NEW! List and the page long sales spiel about how great the PowerMac was ended with the words "This auction is for a list of suppliers who can provide you with a PowerMac at massively discounted prices."

So, in essence, some poor sucker paid over $1000 for a piece of paper advising them of where they can buy a PowerMac. I think its currently under review by eBay and the courts, but it'll be a while before the buyers get their $$$ back.

EDIT: while hunting, I found this: http://www.boingboing.net/2002/10/15/ebay_scam_bid_on_the.html



Ha ha ha! Some people will try anything. Thats tantamount to walking up to someone in the street and muttering really quickly "If you say what then you agree to give me your wallet.", stealing their wallet, and expecting to be able to use that as a defense later in court.

And this one is great: http://www.boingboing.net/2004/05/14/best_scamartist_inte.html



And ... http://www.boingboing.net/2003/10/03/for_sale_on_ebay_one.html

He he - an Air Guitar. Nice!

And I finally found the article. Wow, my memory of it was way off. It was $51 paid for the list for an LCD monitor. http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/06/ebay_auction_does_th.html
Click to expand...
LOL!!!

Unbelievable. I'm sure glad *I* didn't bid.

Good hunting. :)
 
Just an update: When you mentioned that you couldn't find any listings like that, I did a search on eBay myself. Nothing! They just ... poofed. Weird. There were at least three listings like that when I started this thread. They might have sold really fast, but I doubt people are that stupid to buy such a suspicious product at such a ridiculous price. More than likely, the seller had complaints and scam report alerts from eBay and quickly removed his listings.

I even e-mailed the seller and said something like, "Why on Earth would you sell a PowerBook for $5? This is a joke, right? If you *are* serious, e-mail me with more information. If you don't reply, I'll know it's a scam."

And guess what? He didn't reply. Big surprise. lol
 
Suspcious or legit?

"New Apple iBook G4 80GB HDD 512MB RAM Laptop Computer" (photos show that it is in the original box), $150.

I'm just floored. Is this for real???
 
Personally, I don't trust eBay worth a damn. There are too many schmucks out there to just put your full trust in to send something out of their own free will. It's way too easy to lie on eBay, and I've got to imagine that there are a thousand new court cases a month having to do with eBay. The chances are just too high for total scammage; I'd rather just buy it from manufacturer and pay a couple extra (hundred) dollars.
 
Amie said:
Did some more eBay digging: This is an Apple PowerBook? lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-Powerbook...8797595960QQcategoryZ4606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...


Yes, the PowerBook name has been around for almost 15 years, starting with the PowerBook 100 series. People mistakenly think that the name "PowerBook" came from the laptops having PowerPC processors, but they were called that way before the PowerPC made it into the Macs.

Incidentally, this wasn't Apple's first portable computer. There was a "laptop" called the Macintosh Portable. Not very light, and battery life wasn't that great either. I guess you could call it one of the first desktop replacement Macintosh computers. LOL
 
Holy cow! So that IS a real PowerBook--just a very old PowerBook. Wow. I had no idea they'd been around so long and looked like that. I guess I just witnessed a piece of Apple history! lol
 
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