From: Benjamin Koh (benkoh_at_stanford.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 18 2000 - 22:05:44 EDT
Don't you mean Yahoo customer support? I'd think eBay couldn't care less
what happens on a Yahoo auction.
Anyway, IMHO this sounds suspiciously like a con job. The fact that the
9 feedbacks came within 1 hour of each other is BAD NEWS. Circular
feedback is BAD NEWS. Certified funds made out to CASH is BAD NEWS.
Dude, hold on to your money. I will be amazed if you ever get that
laptop and it's legal and in working condition. Anyone with 15 brand
name laptops to sell is very unlikely to be stupid enough to sell them
for $800 each. Good deals can sometimes be had from owners of single
units. But 15 laptops? We're talking a fleet of machines here. You (and
anyone else considering such a transaction) would do well to be afraid.
Be very afraid.
For myself, I'd stay away from high-value transactions with people
without a long history of feedback. It's hard on Yahoo, but I have seen
people with feedback in the 50+ range. And on eBay there are sellers who
are practically bulletproof - 1000+. I'd rather pay a small premium (or
use escrow) for big dollar items. Remember that if something is too good
to be true, it usually is. Caveat Emptor!
Benjamin
> Donald Malcolm MacQueen wrote:
>
> Before I sent my money off to Canada, I did some checking. I sent the
> following to eBay customer support:
>
> I won auction 23317486. It is for an IBM ThinkPad 600e laptop. I got
> it for the ridiculously low price of $800.
>
> The seller (playin586) last week sold 15 of these for $925. All nine
> buyers left feed back for him within 1 hour of each other. The
> feedback left for each of them on their auctions comes from one of the
> other eight people in the group of nine.
>
> The seller wants only money orders or cashier's checks made out to
> CASH sent to Canada.
>
> This sounds fishy to me. I have emailed the seller and asked him for
> the email
> address of one of last week's buyers. I will send the money only then.
>
> Please check this out. Also consider alerting firework21_kr who won 14
> units
> before he sends his money off to a possible never-never-land.
>
> I will let you know what I hear back from user Playin586. Thanks.
> Donald
>
> ---
> Donald M. MacQueen
> Registered Smalltalk Bigot, [Esq.]
> ----------------------------------------
> I've tried the rest, now I use the best -- Smalltalk!
> ----------------------------------------
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