>Subject: [MacDV] Re: Be careful! >From: Matthew Guemple <mo.og at verizon.net> >Message-Id: <2C1BF61E-38AB-11D7-B321-000A9566D3DC at verizon.net> > >Hey all. I've bought and sold stuff on Ebay a few times, and with few >exceptions successfully. For expensive stuff ie. money you can't afford >to never see again... always go through Escrow. Sure it takes longer >and costs more, but it's the only way to make sure you don't get >scammed. An interesting twist on Ebay ripoffs using Escrow is for the buyer to receive the goods, then complain to the Escrow company that something was missing: e.g., guy won an auction for a PB, then when it arrived he made a claim to the escrow company that the HD, processor, RAM and combo drive were missing, while accusing the seller of trying to rip him off. Obviously a shakedown to get a partial refund on the auction price, because if the seller had said "okay, send it back to me and I'll refund your money", he would've gotten back a PB sans HD, processor, etc. I've actually used an escrow company twice for ebay auctions, once as a buyer and once as a seller. "Luckily" (I guess), both went okay. Just goes to show you that when it comes to scams, the only limit to the possibilities is your creativity. Chris