Serial numbers and auction sites

[Chris Randle (UK)]

Guys & Gals,

Why is it that quite a few auctions for HP calculators have the serial number obfuscated? I can see that, usually, only the first few chars are of interest to confirm the year of manufacture, but I can't see any major risk in disclosing the whole. What have I not thought of?

[Gerald H]

Object has been pinched.

[d b]

(11-24-2014 12:26 PM)Gerald H Wrote:  Object has been pinched.

That is quite possible. The other two reasons that I've thought of when I was selling a spare calc was that
1) I bought it at the flea and I didn't know it's history, so it may have "been pinched".
2) I didn't want to give it's # on ebaby and set myself up to get shook down.

As an aside to this; It must seem just amazing to people now that a four function calculator without even a decimal point from 1971 would have an individual serial # stamped on it.

[John Galt]

I always show mine in the description as well as in the photos. Not only should the bidder know what he's bidding on, buyer fraud has become a problem. The scam is that buyers will report a good item DOA, keep it, and return a dead one to the seller.

People list "dead" items all the time. They're cheap to buy so this is an easy scam leaving little recourse for the seller. eBay's policies strongly favor buyers. If you don't willingly refund the buyer's money, they just take it from you and suspend your seller account.

On more expensive items, it's common for scam buyers to disassemble an item, substitute inoperative internal components, reassemble it and then claim it doesn't work. Exterior photographs won't help in that circumstance, so for equipment with the ability to report internally stored serial numbers including a screenshot in the product description showing that information also protects a seller.

Buyers outside the US pay a premium for old HP calculators and that's where I sold most of mine. Fortunately I've never been burned by buyer fraud but I know people who have, and I no longer sell outside the US for this reason. Mail fraud is a serious federal crime but US law enforcement can only assist within the US.

[Katie Wasserman]

(11-26-2014 06:48 PM)John Galt Wrote:  I always show mine in the description as well as in the photos. Not only should the bidder know what he's bidding on, buyer fraud has become a problem. .....

You'd make Ayn Rand proud -- or maybe it's the other way around