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

The other thing is, you never pay the full value of an item, because you
have to assume there will be some defects. If you have a house full of
parts, you can make it work. If you are just a casual buyer seeking to save
a few $$, you can get really burnt. For example, if you buy a 600 series
(when they are a bit more current) and the LCD cable is bad, and you don't
have one or know how to replace it, you are looking at an additional $75-100
at a shop. Not a real bargain at that point.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Bell" <RobDBell@mailworks.org>
To: "David Ross" <ross@math.hawaii.edu>
Cc: "ThinkPad Mailing List" <thinkpad@stderr.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 4:12 PM
Subject: 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 17:06:33 2006