I've been trying for a TiBook 500 logic board on Ebay for a while now. I just came across this auction:

[S:US:1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">cgi.ebay.com]

The seller's handle looked familiar. I searched completed auctions and found this--another auction he had on the same item that ended a little over two weeks ago:

[cgi.ebay.com]

Everything is the same--same photos, description, etc. I suppose he could have TWO TiBook 500 logic boards and just re-use the same description from the first auction. The paranoid in me is thinking that the board might have been bad, and he made a deal with the 1st buyer to refund him & get the board back, to keep his feedback at 100%--and now he's trying to sell it again. (The buyer in the 1st auction did leave a positive).

I'm not that experienced at Ebay--the most expensive thing I've bought was $45. Would any of you more experienced folk see a red flag here?

He sold 5 of these [cgi.ebay.com] back in Nov and Dec and it looks like the same picture used for each. He could have a couple of logic boards or his previous sale could have gone south. I would bet that it is not a non-working board that he got back to protect his feedback, because selling it again will likely wreck his feedback.

I don't see anything that is of particular concern except the number of feedbacks. All are positive, with good comments, but not that many.

In a general sense, I don't buy expensive stuff (and for me, expensive is when I'd cuss and swear if I got screwed) with sellers having 33 feedback. I do it by my overall feel; I'd probably go to $100, maybe $125 with this guy, and then pass because of the feedback issue. I assume $125 won't get the board, but you never know...

Looks okay to me-maybe he's a tech?

Send a message and ask!

I agree with Michael. It seems recently that a lot of auctions just don't go right. I buy and sell and two of my last three sales have had bad buyers that didn't follow through. If it's a repost, sometimes I don't bother updating the auction to reflect the reason for no sale on the first attempt.

I'd say he's fine. People have paid a bit for his stuff and claim it to be working fine in his feedback. He just must have a good soucre for used parts.

reezekeys Wrote:
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[snip]

> The seller's handle looked familiar. I searched
> completed auctions and found this--another auction
> he had on the same item that ended a little over
> two weeks ago:

I'd try to email the winner of that last auction and ask if everything went well, and if the board is what he expected, etc. If you want, you could even explain your concern that the new auction is exactly the same and wanted to make sure he didn't return it.

You may not even get a reply, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Thanks all for the advice.

Michael>>In a general sense, I don't buy expensive stuff (and for me, expensive is when I'd cuss and swear if I got screwed) with sellers having 33 feedback<<

I hear you, though ironically *I* have never sold anything on Ebay, and have only a 11 feedback--and I'll soon be putting some of my old music recording gear up there. I guess I can understand the prejudice, especially when more money is at stake, but you have to start somewhere!

I think I'll email the previous buyer as wurm suggested.

It's really been a tough call with this particular item. A five-year-old computer that works fine except for a dead firewire port. I've been watching (and bidding on) logic boards for over a month. This particular Ebayer's last auction ended at $155, BY FAR the lowest price of any I've seen in the last month. I would love to get one near that price! (One just went for about $225!).

Just get a Firewire card for the PC card slot--you can save $100-$200 and lots of struggle.
There are cards that are Firewire and USB 2 so you gain twice.

reezekeys Wrote:
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> Thanks all for the advice.
>
> Michael>>In a general sense, I don't buy
> expensive stuff (and for me, expensive is when I'd
> cuss and swear if I got screwed) with sellers
> having 33 feedback<<
>
> I hear you, though ironically *I* have never sold
> anything on Ebay, and have only a 11 feedback--and
> I'll soon be putting some of my old music
> recording gear up there. I guess I can understand
> the prejudice, especially when more money is at
> stake, but you have to start somewhere!

I have a pile of stuff that I've been swearing I'll sell, but I haven't done it. If I do actually do it, I'll probably get po'ed over prejudice like mine! However, remember that the prejudice is over larger amounts. I've bought small things from people without any feedback, assuming that they'll be particularly good at the beginning to build their feedback. So, when you start selling, maybe you should start small, build the feedback and then hit the big time!

Ken Sp>> Just get a Firewire card for the PC card slot--you can save $100-$200 and lots of struggle.
There are cards that are Firewire and USB 2 so you gain twice.<<

That's the first thing I tried. With two different cards I get the same result: 2 FW hard drives corrupted withing minutes (sometimes seconds) of access through the card. A FW burner attached through the card doesn't complete data burns, and the audio CD burns are messed up (you hear the music plus static!).

The two cards were brand new--they were the same brand so maybe that's the issue (IOGEAR), however it looks like most are made in China and different companies stamp their names on it.

The other downside to them is that 1) you can't use the computer in FW target mode and 2) you can't boot from an external drive attached to a PCMCIA FW card.

If you're concerned about the seller, by all means send email via eBay Messages to others who have purchased logic boards/other products from him/her. You'd be surprised how easy it is to get a response...most eBay people, especially Mac people, are more than happy to communicate with other members for a variety of reasons.

Asking about the seller is one of the better reasons to communicate via eBay Messages, it turns out. Try it, you'll see. I'll bet you get a response back within 8 hours or less. I really don't care about how many feedbacks a seller has, to be honest. I've been buying/selling on eBay for more than 6 years, and I've learned to trust my instinct, Feedback, and the eBay Messages function, as to whether I want to do business with a seller.

Just last week I bought a brand new SIIG 5-Port USB 2.0 PCI busmaster from a seller with ZERO feedback...it was his first auction. I emailed him twice and felt very comfortable with his answers, and ended up getting the card for $.01 (yes, one red cent) plus shipping, because no one else cared to bid on it. I gave him a rave review for his Feedback, and he really appreciated it, in spite of having to sell the SIIG card for a penny.

Communication is what eBay is all about. Read the seller's Feedback, ask questions, use common sense, and it will all work out well in the end.

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What's the difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make some sense.

Wise advice, rexrzer. Thanks.