Okay, I'll admit it. I buy a lot of electronics on eBay. You can find some pretty interesting things once in awhile but, you can also get screwed too. Not all sellers are on the up-and-up. In my experience, the ones you have to look out for have in their username the word "recycle". Since the used car industry has fallen upon hard times, most of those salesmen have found their way to eBay; and yes, they have brought all their "used car salesman" techniques with them.
Take for instance, the hot-rod P4 motherboard I bought a couple of years ago. The seller, one of these electronics "recycler" types, said several times in his ad that the board had been tested and was working. He guaranteed that it wasn't DOA. Now, this particular motherboard uses a daughterboard for all it's memory, so if it's been tested and guaranteed to work, one would expect to find the motherboard included. Right? Wrong! Apparently, recyclers have developed some special black magic for testing incomplete motherboards. Apparently, all they have to do is just get the memory close to the motherboard and it'll work, for testing purposes.
No problem, you think. It's guaranteed. Just return it for a refund. Right? Wrong! I'm still waiting for my refund and the "recycler" no longer has an eBay account. As the Irish say: "Fool me once, shame on you ..."
I'm the sort of person who sizes a computer for the job it's going to be doing. Some time back, I was given an old Compaq Presario 9250 that I intended to use as a controller for a tape library. So far, so good. Needed some memory, so I searched eBay for the appropriate sticks. I found one seller claiming to have "NOS" parts. "Great!" I thought, and placed an order. While waiting for the parts to arrive, I located the latest BIOS and all the manuals I could find on this particular computer. When the RAM arrived, I loaded it up and powered up the box. Nothing. It just sat there. I pulled out the memory and put the two 8m sticks back in and it worked. Emailed the seller and explained the problem. I got an RMA number and an address to send the parts to". Nice guys." I said to myself, and shipped the parts off. A few days later, the parts came back to me. The address was no good and now, the seller wasn't taking emails. Gotta love the Irish. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
This is the one I call the "third time that became a charm" and sometimes the "straw that broke my camel's back." It's also my most recent mistake. The Motorola/General Instruments DSR-920 and DSR-922 digital/analog C-band receivers have been serving 4DTV customers for some 10-years now. The 920 is the older of the two. Its operating software is contained in a RAM chip powered by a long-life battery. That's a "long-life", not eternal life battery. If you lose that initial programming, the receiver is worthless, so be careful. I should have heeded my own advice a bit better, as you will shortly see. These receivers were over $500 new so when used ones appear, you gotta look. Maybe take a chance? Right? Better think again, especially if they are being sold on eBay by someone who calls themselves some sort of a "recycler". Here's some the text of, and my running commentary on, this fellow's ad:
| "This auction is for a General Instrument 4DTV Videocipher RS
Receiver . [I wish I knew if
this was a DSR-920 or a DSR-922. I can't ask the seller because he's
too busy to answer questions. See below.] This item was pulled
from a working environment [Hey,
is this a satellite receiver or a computer part? Boilerplate ads and
stock photos don't really work very well here.] and has been
tested as follows: The unit powers on [One would think that the receiver
includes, at least, the power cord. After all, they all come with one
and you need it to see that "the unit powers on"] but has not
been tested beyond that point so please bid accordingly. Place bids
only if you have all necessary cables and accessories to operate. ."
[Maybe there's a remote. Maybe
not. That's okay, but there's damn sure a power cord. Right? Wrong!
These things use UHF remotes. The little antenna is there. Why not the
power cord?]
"CUSTOMER SERVICE We strive to make your eBay experience the best possible, and answer messages within 1 to 3 business days of receipt. To ensure we have all necessary information to address your issue, simply use the "Contact Seller" link on the page of your auction win to contact us (it will automatically contain the item information we need). Due to volume, we regret we cannot answer "pre-purchase" questions during an auction." [This last bit is really stupid. Why the hell should I buy anything from this clown, if he's just too busy to answer someone's questions? In this country, we ask questions first, then decide if we are going to buy or not. Canceling the sale makes the buyer look bad on eBay. Here's where taking that "calculated risk" comes into play.] "RETURN POLICY If you receive an item signicantly different than what was described in the auction than please contact us immediately so we can get the problem corrected. [That'll never happen because their auction descriptions are so ambiguous, you'd have better luck nailing Jell-O to a wall than you would nailing them down as having misrepresented an item.] Please allow 1 to 3 business days for a response. If you don’t receive an email reply please try again and be sure you are using the contact seller link on the ebay item auction page [because unless you already bought the item in question, they won't talk to you. Nice guys, eh?]. Under no circumstances should you leave negative feedback because if we did something wrong we will fix it promptly. Your cooperation is necessary and appreciated." [This last phrase is scary. What are they going to do if I don't cooperate? Send Vlad with a baseball bat to break my kneecaps?] "FEEDBACK Thank you for joining us in the eBay community. We appreciate your good feedback and will leave feedback for you as well! If you have an issue, please contact us via the eBay system (through the auction page for your item) so that we may address and resolve the problem." [It's best not to leave any feedback whatsoever to these failed deals. Just learn from your mistakes, and those of others (like mine), and move on.] |
Here's how these guys work. They buy, from cable companies and competing little dish outfits, pallets consisting of assorted satellite receivers, boxes of remote controls and bags of power cords. This is the stuff they take away, as a favor to you, when they give you great deals to switch to their system. Anyhow, the "recyclers" haven't a clue as to what parts go with what. Supposedly, they are going to tear all this stuff down so the metals can be reclaimed. In reality, they get greedy and lazy. They sell this stuff at local auctions, pawn shops, temporary stores (those Christmas "Blowout" stores that pop-up every November), and on the Internet, for as long as they can get away with it. Then they disappear.
Well, to make a long story short, I grabbed one of these. It was less than $100 and they ate the shipping costs, so I wouldn't be out that much if it went wrong. I had to look at it that way because the seller was, after all, a "recycler" which meant I was probably going to end up with an old DSR-920, dead battery, dead motherboard, doorstop. Guess what? That's just what I've got here.
We all learn by experience. My experience teaches me that if you're buying something on eBay which represents complex technology, from someone who calls themselves some sort of a "recycler", and the eBay ad consists of stock photos, bad English grammar, and CYA legalese, with next to nothing about the technical aspects of the device, the odds are better than even that you're going to get screwed. Now, for mon to thy contribution to the Irish expression: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, it's time I stop dealing with such clever people."
In closing, Dear Reader, you might think I'm either an idiot for complaining, or a heartless bastard for calling out things as I see them. Notice, however, that I'm not naming names. I don't desire to cause trouble for any one person in particular. Besides, sometimes people change. Maybe these nasty fellows will too and it would be nice for them if they started out with a slate that had not been muddied my me. As for opinions, you're entitled to yours, as am I mine. You enjoy yours.