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The Lite Side
Things We've Learned from eBay
Jeff and Lori Adkins - 2004.04.20
With so many people visiting our site, eventually you need to wind up buying a piece of equipment for your low-end Mac. There are lots of things to buy, but where to buy them?
One place many of us turn to is eBay. Now, some people have never used eBay because they're scared they'll get ripped off. And while it is true you can be ripped off (it's happened to us once or twice) you can also get some great deals. So here is a guide to help you get started if you've ever considered participating in an online auction. We call it the Lite Side's
Guide to Buying Stuff on eBay
It is better to buy Mac equipment from people who type MAC. You will get a better price than the thing is really worth.
People who normally use PCs are astounded at the resale value of Apple equipment.
Approximately one-half of one percent of all buyers are whiny jerks.
Your wife will let you get a faster Internet connection if it helps her snipe an auction.
People will sell anything, even if it is broken, obsolete, ugly, or they don't really know what it is.
People will buy anything, even if it is broken, obsolete, ugly, or they don't really know what it is.
You can only buy so many things before succumbing to the irresistible urge to sell something.
There are not that many legitimate large-scale eBay businesses with Hotmail accounts.
If someone is selling something at a really really great price, but they only have a few feedbacks, there is a significant possibility that they wrote all the feedback you are reading.
Your definition of "works good" is apparently not the same definition everyone else learned in school.
The UPS guy's name is Chuck.
He has two kids, one of whom is on the swim team.
His wife sells recipe books on eBay.
They have a dog but it is smaller than yours.
Those little short pants are really cold in the morning.
You know the UPS guy a little better than you really want to.
It's really hard to cuss someone out thoroughly with only 80 characters to work with.
More exclamation points are the typing equivalent of pausing because you don't know what to say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shipping and handling do not have a standard definition.
There is still a lot of animosity left over from the Revolutionary War judging from the number of people refusing to do trade across the Atlantic Ocean.
The whole concept of exchange rate is a mystery to a large number of people.
In general, eBay sellers are among the best and worst packagers of material to be shipped in the known universe.
It is a pain in the neck to clean up spilled packing peanuts.
For holding a box together, one layer of packaging tape is about as effective as eight layers.
Apparently a lot of teachers are in the habit of giving grades with additional plus signs; here is a conversion chart, explaining what is wrong with grade inflation as a bonus:
- 0% = A-
- F = A
- D = A+
- C = A++
- B = A+++
- A = A++++
- A+ = A++++!!!!
The number of hours of background research (competition's buying history, product information, etc.) is directly proportional to how bad you want the product.
If a person has just bought a camera, they will pay more for a flash than a person who just bought a cheese grater.
Sniping is fun. Sniping with a proxy bid where people don't have time to increase the bid enough to find out how high you set your bid before the auction ends is possibly one of the most joyous moments a person can spend online.
Not many people are neutral. People are opinionated and polarized, sort of like Democrats and Republicans. Neutral people are like the Greens. They don't win, but they do have an influence.
Every time you open a delivery from an eBay purchase it is a little like Christmas. Opening it is probably more fun than actually seeing it, which is always a little bit of a letdown, sort of like the second hour after winning a football game when everyone finally leaves.
Sometimes wanting something is better than actually having something.
Recent Lite Sides
- You Might Be a Computer Geek If..., 06.17. 20 signs that you just might possibly be a computer geek.
- What if Apple thought like a PC company?, 11.01. Apple has innovated and blazed its own trail. But what if it had followed the path taken by the PC copycats?
- How Microsoft can turn Vista lemons into lemonade, 10.22. How Microsoft could profit by no longer allowing manufacturers to sell new PCs with Windows XP installed.
- iPods that never passed beta or focus groups, 09.13. "What most Apple fans don't realize is that there were a few iPod variants that never made it out of beta testing and the focus group stage."
- More in the The Lite Side index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
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