HP Forum Archive 07

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HP Museum copy cat Message #1 Posted by Ty Rogers on 11 Mar 2002, 5:25 p.m. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1338162894

Re: HP Museum copy cat Message #2 Posted by Tom (UK) on 12 Mar 2002, 7:20 a.m., in response to message #1 by Ty Rogers Yes, pure plagiarism. He doesn't even credit or link to the HP museum site. For those thinking of bidding look at the listing carefully. Nowhere does it say this calculator works, only that: "Since this is vintage electronics -- it's sold as is.". He then goes on to list all the original functions of the item. In the notes at the bottom he does tell the buyer the implications of bidding including: "* Unless otherwise noted, items are sold as-is no warranty expressed or implied. All items are sold as described, so be sure to read the item description carefully. I have sold many items on eBay and have an excellent satisfaction record!" PS I don't know the seller and I'm not accusing him of trying to rip anyone off, but the listing as displayed does have some huge get outs if anything went wrong.

Sold "As Is" Message #3 Posted by Thibaut.be on 12 Mar 2002, 9:17 a.m., in response to message #2 by Tom (UK) My experience is that you should read "not working at all".

Not Necessarily but... Message #4 Posted by Mike on 12 Mar 2002, 1:26 p.m., in response to message #3 by Thibaut.be "As Is" does not necessarily mean "not working" but you should bid as if it does. I have bought a lot of "non-working" calculators that turned out to work. I have bought a lot of "working" calculators that turned out "not" to work. Actually, I find that "not-working" calculators turn out to be good deals a lot of the time. The problem with "as is" is that it likely means the seller knows something he is not wanting to disclose. Ask questions. The most important thing in an auction is the description of the item being sold; and not the specs. Most bidders, hopefully, know what they are buying. A link to some page with specs is a better way to do this. Too many words is just a way to mask a few words about the description. Some Tips I don't like the "as is" term. But there is good reason that a legit seller might want to use it. I sold a calculator once to a guy, who opened it up, removed a part, installed his bad part, then claimed it did not work. Problem, for him, was the calculator that I sold him had never been opened. It was very easy to spot the fact that he opened the calculator. The tampering was easy to spot in the photos that I took and I pointed it out to him. He got caught and did not put up any fuss.

Re: Not Necessarily but... Message #5 Posted by Mike McDonald, Leavenworth KS on 14 Mar 2002, 12:28 a.m., in response to message #4 by Mike As a long-time ebay buyer/seller - I view the "As-Is" term as "No Whining", and am willing to accept less than what an item might bring simply to move it down the line to someone who cares/needs it more than I do. Likewise - only under severe "internal" conflict can I pay a "working" price for an "As-IS" item. But . . . there are common failure modes in things I know how to fix (like reel to reel tape decks) that the description lets me know what my exposure is. anyway - I do try to decribe what works and what does not work so that buyers can make an informed choice

Re: HP Museum copy cat Message #6 Posted by Ellis Easley on 12 Mar 2002, 11:25 a.m., in response to message #1 by Ty Rogers That's about the biggest Ebay listing I've ever seen! Dave should stop paying for his website and just post it on Ebay every week! "Questions to the Seller" could be routed to the appropriate part of the page for Forum, Classifieds, etc. As long as he sold something every week, why should Ebay complain?

82106A? Message #7 Posted by Ellis Easley on 12 Mar 2002, 12:02 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ty Rogers After looking at this auction for a while, I noticed some discrepancies: At the very top, it says: HP 41CV,Printer, Memory,Card Reader & Cards! At the top of the "Description" section, it says: HP 41CV Calculator + HP 82143A Peripheral Printer + HP 82104A Card Reader + 29 Memory Cards + HP 82106A Memory Module + thermal paper roll Just below that, it says this: CONTENTS OF AUCTION LOT 1 HP 41CV Calculator + 1 HP 41CV Owner's Manual + 1 Printer + 1 Printer Handbook + 1 Card Reader + 29 Memory Cards + 1 Memory Module + Thermal paper Roll After all the stuff lifted from the Museum, it says: CONTENTS OF AUCTION ITEM: 1 HP 41CV Calculator + 1 HP 41CV Instruction Manual + 1 Printer A little further down, the pictures show a calculator, printer manual, card reader manual, and card reader. So I wonder: (1) what is actually for sale? (2) what does the buyer need a 82106A for since he's getting a 41CV?? (Doesn't that sound like the punchline of a stereotypical nerd joke?!)

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