Buying Computers From Ebay

[angel_benet]

I'm carefully considering getting a used iBook g3 (or even g4 if i get a good deal). i couldn't resist and browsed through ebay. I found the following (i hope it's okay to post these here, if not, mods please let me know and i'll delete the post)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80050&item =5757371440&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80050&item =5758002636&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80050&item =5758720497&rd=1


Would you ever buy an iBook from ebay? Why or why not?

[penmanila]

unless you're used to ebay and maybe unless you were living in the states or canada, i would generally advise against buying laptops on ebay--for the simple reason that powerbooks and ibooks are among the most highly scammed items there, esp. when they come at bargain-basement prices too good to be true. if you live here, you have practically no legal recourse; you'd be buying blind, without seeing the item (as opposed to buying used stuff locally); and you'd have to pay considerable shipping charges and customs duties that could offset whatever you're saving.

i've been buying and selling on ebay since 1997, and yes, i've bought a few computers on it, but i use a US address and i've never bought a high-end machine like a new or newish powerbook that i'd pay, say, close to $1000 for. (for that i'd go to the online apple store, which sells refurbished macs at deep discounts.)

this isn't to say that there are no real bargains on ebay--in fact, it's full of bargains--but again you might not want to take the risk of sending a huge wad of money overseas to someone you basically don't know for something you basically haven't seen.

we have a pretty good used-laptop market here, i think, and there are bargains aplenty. a student of mine just bought a G4 ibook last month, used but in great shape, from a friend who just wanted to get rif of it, for 37K!

[braveheart]

buying accessories would be fine. buying a pbook...nah.. too risky

[penmanila]

and let me add that the risk isn't only in being robbed of your money by a scammer. the seller and the product could be legit--but what do you do if the ibook you get in the mail turns out to have a defective CD-ROM drive? what do you do if one of its keyboard keys comes off? what if it turns up on a registry somewhere of stolen laptops? it's risky enough buying second-hand, with no warranty left; it's riskier still buying second-hand and blind, from 7,000 miles away

[angel_benet]

thanks for your replies. i, too, almost got scammed once by the infamous nigeria western union scam on ebay. thank you for reminding me. i should look elsewhere for a good deal.

penmanila, that student of yours was really really really lucky. that's all i can say about that. :-)