a question regarding "miraculous" ebay auctions
okay, so for shits and giggles i hop onto ebay, looking around at computers and such to see what prices are running... and i run into this:
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the sixty-four thousand dollar question is, how does this work? has anyone ever done this before? has anyone ever gotten boned by this kind of thing before? is this a scam, or is there some massive secret to buying big-ticket items that i've been missing all my life? |
I don't trust it personally. Look at their rating and read about how others felt about it; chances are you'll find people's reactions. Watch out for fake entries though.
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Frankly I'm curious as well. I've run across these and always wondered. I wonder if its something like buying wholesale, you can get them for 150 apiece but you have to buy like 30? That or its from somewhere with limited supplies (read: 1) and there's a disclaimer in the 'information' saying you're not guarenteed to get it.
I'd just think if these people could get stuff so cheap they'd be getting it themselves and reselling the items on ebay for a profit, not the information on how to get them. |
another one, just for example:
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It is a scam. You basically tell the company you wish to "test" the product out for a magazine or for a company you work for. They send your a model to test and sometimes let you keep it.
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so what happens if they ask for it back and you don't give it back?
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Those you just send back. The idea is eventually, you will have a company that won't ask for it back. Or they won't ask for a back for a long time so you get the use of the product anyways. Like with a video card or something.
Someone I know runs a computer hardware site and gets free products all the time. His is legit though as he really does give them a rating and a review. Usually the video card or whatever company lets him keep the product. Sometimes they give him 3 months or so then they want to back. |
so i pay 150 or whatever, get my "test laptop", and then have to give it back when alienware comes calling?
what happens if i just refuse to give it back? |
Depends on the company. Most probably won't give a shit since it would be cheaper just let you keep it then to get all legal on you ass. Though, they very well could call someone out there to get it back from you if you agreed originally that you would send it back after "reviewing it". Then there is the whole matter of fruad. Usually these instructions tell you to send a letter, stating what your company does and explaining why you want to try or have a sample of their product.
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hm. it's hard for me to beleive a company will just give away their machines like that. has anyone else had experience with this?
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The other way I can see this working since this is a bigger item then most of the scams for the other way, is to send in a broken alienware laptop for a brand new one. You buy a broken one at low cost and make them send you out a new, upgraded one. I donno though.
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There's another scam that I know goes around for iPods.
You get a link to a site that claims to be able to get you what you want for 1/10th or some other fraction of the price. Paying this money adds you to the bottom of the list. When x people join the list, the person on top gets an ipod. So the people who join early get cool stuff cheap and the bottom people get screwed. And the people running the site get money in the process too. EDIT: here's a link with links to such sites and a longer explanation: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,...w=wn_tophead_1 |
It's a scam based on a lie. In order to get these companies to send you a "sample", you need to represent yourself as a major purchaser. The instructions give you lots of advice on how to make it seem like you are a major wholesale purchaser, from ways to trademark your "company" name, to links to getting cheap stationary with your company logo, even services that give you a phone number answered by a secretary that is sorry you aren't in, but would love to take a message for Mr Phred Green, company president. Build enough of an illusion, and companies will send you plenty of samples in hopes you'll buy many.
That's the lie. You are tricking companies into sending you samples of a product that you have no intention of buying in bulk. |
I think lordjebus is right -- this looks like just another pyramid scam to me.
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yea, he is right, a while ago i saw one that was selling instructions on how to get phones for some low price, i was curious just because the dude was selling the instructions for so much money, and all it was was a link to a site, he made like 1000's of dollars just by selling this link
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I have seen these scams all over the place. The situation that Alethia describes is a 'best-case' scenario. In most cases, you get nothing because they make you wait beyond the 30 day recovery period and by the time you complain, they are off the hook and have sharked hundreds of others.
If it sounds too good to be true... |
http://www.thephonematrix.co.uk/how_it_works.htm
Total Crap. Most of the time, a gullible person who bought it will leave the URL in feedback for the scammer. |
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Sounds fishy... but then again..I don't trust anything.
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hey phred, how's about this i'll mail you a dollar and if you can get another 1500 board members to send you a dollar, you can get a new laptop:) i am dead serious, i WILL mail you a dollar, (if you PM me with your address). |
I know we at our paper can sometimes lay our hands on some pretty pricey shit if we sweet talk em right. Like one reporter on our paper got hold of a Nivea press release. We promised to give them a page of editorial and a picture (which was going to happen anyway) and they sent us a whole box of cosmetic products, and not like free samples, proper commercial size bottles of the stuff. I mean, cosmetics aren't a laptop, but the principle is the same.
If you say you work for PC Gamer or something, and you have the credentials to back it up, I'm sure you would have little problem getting hold of an alienware pc for free. The question is, how are you supposed to convince them who you aren't? |
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