I have bought several powerbooks on ebay from here in the UK. There is a big scam (certainly with ebay in the UK ) where people list big ticket items including PowerBooks, and then offer to sell them outside the auction with lines in the advert like "contact me to buy this". Many of these seem to have a lot of positive feedback, but I have discovered they have either stolen someone else's ID (and you can identify this because you will find not much recent feedback), or they build up a feedback profile by buying many cheap items. The giveaway sign seem to be no pictures of the actual powerbook - just pictures from the brochure. I would recommend: 1. contacting the seller and asking for a serial number and recent photos of the item 2. asking if they are prepared to use escrow (even if you don't plan to use it), I have found the fraudsters always find some reason why they cannot accept escrow. 3. suggest you will pay in cash and collect the item (again even if you don't intend to, this will flush out the fraudsters who will immediately say it is not possible. You can do this even if the item is overseas by saying something like "I will be in your country on a business trip next week could I drop by and collect it...")
I contacted ebay fraud office and told them about these scams but they have done nothing. Best of luck. Chris -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
