HP Forum Archive 13

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eBay Auction - Read The Fine Print Message #1 Posted by Tony Copley on 5 July 2003, 10:19 a.m. I almost pulled the trigger with a “Buy It Now” on this HP-35. Below the series of three photos is an additional, added, photo of what appears to be a red dot. A comment below the three photos, “PLEASE DISREGARD PICTURE ON BOTTOM OF PAGE” is easily overlooked. A mistake in listing or an interesting way of sucking a buyer in with “Buy It Now”? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3034043964&category=11713

Re: eBay Auction - Read The Fine Print Message #2 Posted by Vassilis Prevelakis on 5 July 2003, 3:22 p.m., in response to message #1 by Tony Copley I see that this auction allows payment via PayPal which offers a "buyer's insurance". To use this you pay PayPal a fee and if you do not like your item you can get the money you paid for the item back. I have not used this feature yet, but it looks a neat way to ensure that you do not get saddled with some mangled piece of hardware that was described as "in mint condition" on the auction page. Note that this insurance does not protect you against items lost or damaged in transit. If anybody has additional info/experiences with this feature, please write on. **vp

I don't believe this was accidental or an oversight Message #3 Posted by Mike on 5 July 2003, 6:59 p.m., in response to message #1 by Tony Copley Look... some facts. I suspect this was deliberate. He "added" the photo, using "add to description". If he wanted to change the photo, he could have just deleted it, instead of saying, "disregard bottom photo." You can edit and delete all you want, until someone bids. Now, if someone bid, preventing him from deleting the photo, he THEN would not have been able to change the original auction description. But he had that "disclaimer" in the original description. He could not have added the disclaimer, had someone already bid. So, it appears that he 1) had the disclaimer before he added the photo OR 2) he just added the disclaimer and left the photo in. Finally, you can check his feedback. He has more than 50 less than positive, including 27 negatives. I'm finding that there are more and more that are simply using deceptive selling tactics on eBay trying to leverage off of the higher value calculators that collectors sell. He wound up selling a $50 for $150. I suspect that if you go back and read all his feedback, you will find other negatives because of deception. Edited: 5 July 2003, 7:00 p.m.

Re: I don't believe this was accidental or an oversight Message #4 Posted by Vassilis Prevelakis on 6 July 2003, 1:48 a.m., in response to message #3 by Mike Mike wrote on 5 July 2003: > Finally, you can check his feedback. He has more than 50 less than positive, including 27 negatives. Come on Mike, the guy has almost 3800 positive comments from unique eBay users. I'd think that it would be suspicious if he didn't have these negative ratings. **vp

Re: I don't believe this was accidental or an oversight Message #5 Posted by David Ramsey on 6 July 2003, 11:37 p.m., in response to message #3 by Mike It certainly did look suspicious, especially after I used the "Buy it now" button and THEN noticed the disclaimer text! The seller was very accomodating, refused my transaction, and re-listed the calculator noting that it wasn't a red dot. I feel foolish for making this newbie mistake, though.

I've pulled the trigger a little to quickly myself Message #6 Posted by Mike on 7 July 2003, 12:24 a.m., in response to message #5 by David Ramsey When you find something that looks like a bargain, your fingers start moving quickly, trying to beat the other 10 people that are looking at it too. We've probably all been burned once or twice like that.

It's back! Message #7 Posted by Dave Mabry on 6 July 2003, 11:12 a.m., in response to message #1 by Tony Copley Well, it appears that the buyer didn't complete the transaction. That HP-35 is back, photos and all, including the one with the serial number. But no red dot photo or disclaimer, and no mention of the last auction in either feedback. Same HP-35, new auction.

Re: It's back! Message #8 Posted by Raymond Del Tondo on 7 July 2003, 4:19 a.m., in response to message #7 by Dave Mabry However, the description says: >In excellent working condition. THIS IS NOT RED DOT MODEL > So the sentence in capitals is ok. But the first sentence only says that the unit works in an excellent way. Cosmetically the machine is near to trash, IMHO. I once got a *mint* HP-35 (no red dot) in trade for a new TI35X, which cost about 35 DM (Deutsche Mark) at that time. That was fate:-) Raymond

Re: eBay Auction - Read The Fine Print Message #9 Posted by Thibaut.be on 8 July 2003, 5:04 a.m., in response to message #1 by Tony Copley A red dot simply could not have a S/N starting with 12...

HP AC adapter? Message #10 Posted by Ellis Easley on 9 July 2003, 8:37 p.m., in response to message #1 by Tony Copley Is that really an HP AC adapter? I've never seen an HP adapter built like that - it looks like a TI adapter to me. Did HP ship adapters that looked like that one?

Re: HP AC adapter? Message #11 Posted by David Smith on 10 July 2003, 4:23 p.m., in response to message #10 by Ellis Easley Yes, that style was used with the earlier HP35 and HP80 machines. The hard cases have a little raised ridge in them where the charger sits. The early model hard cases will not hold the later model chargers properly.

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