Re: [Thinkpad] How to buy a notebook on Ebay

David Ross wrote:

> Some years back somebody here gave me a really hard time for suggesting
> the buying on eBay was risky. Oh, how times have changed:-)
>
> Last week I had my first-ever bad experience with eBay (not
> computer-related); seller is an affiliate of Circuit City, so I thought
> I'd be reasonably safe. I can't even leave negative feedback, since the
> seller waits to see what the buyer writes, then leaves rubbish feedback
> for anyone who dares to gripe. Now that I know that the feedback system
> has an extortion component, I would never buy anything expensive on eBay
> except from someone I know of through independent channels.
>
> David

I've been there before in my more naive days on eBay... That was when I
learned that a lot of people have two eBay accounts - one for buying and
one for selling. With a setup like this you can feel really good about
leaving an honest feedback and not caring how the seller retaliates.
And your seller account doesn't get tarnished. That lesson also taught
me to not only review the seller's feedback (left by buyers) but to also
check the feedback they leave for their buyers. That tells you how
often they leave feedback and how nasty they are if someone leaves a neg.

James was right that the seller *should* leave feedback immediately
after receiving payment since the buyer has done their part by then, but
when you're dealing with scumbags they never are going to do what they
'should' are they? All in all I've had pretty good luck on eBay even
with some really large purchases (a 600E and a A21p, an expensive
subwoofer amp) but it takes diligence and care.

Rob
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Received on Sat Feb 25 16:12:58 2006