Thanks to everyone who replied re my ebay query. Never fear - I wasn't actually going to buy it - a new machine like that, I want a warranty and a local service to fall back on - but I appreciate how quickly I was warned off.

I thought it must be a scam, but I have seen other stuff on ebay (yes, Newtons) that I was interested in, and wondered if the whole of ebay was a just a giant scamfest.

I've also heard bad things about Paypal, and this is sad, because there are a few software demo sites that I would love to buy from, but I am not willing to use paypal to do it. Are there any secure alternatives out there?

thanks again
Jude