Immediate Ebay help needed!

[Kyocera]

Nobody should ever have to apologize for being cautious. The "good people" (sellers) are unfortunately "guilty till proven innocent". Byproduct of internet commerce.

[zelchenko]

Be wary of Greenzap. It's an iffy MLM at best. An outright scam at worst.

This so-called "webcash" that's promised is vapor--an alleged promisory note for future use ONLY with businesses that have agreed to accept it. Apparently, this "will" (notice the forward-looking statements) only be applied as a discount. You won't even be able to make a whole purchase on anything worthwhile using just this funny money.

Google it thoroughly. You'll find very little of substance. Shares of the parent company (NPWV.PK) are trading at 38 cents a piece, down from a 52-week high (previous symbol NPWV) of a buck fifty.

Check out www.greenzap.com. I'm sorry--call me closed minded, but I'm not trusting my money to a business that replaces "S" with "Z" on everything.

Read the comments beneath the following blog post thoroughly:
http://www.bleakgeek.com/2005/08/03/gre ... egit-proof

Excerpt from one of the comments:

The Truth says:
August 8th, 2005 at 5:10pm

Choosing to promote a company because of what it might get you over what it might cost others is not something I would be proud of. But at least you aren’t laying it on like some others do. Let’s see where GreenZap is in 6 months considering they are operating without money transmission licenses which is against the law.

[Edward Mendelson]

You might also want to look at:

http://www.greenzapscam.com/

[slagmi]

Hmm...

More regarding Paypal-
'address verified' means just as it sounds, though I believe PayPal does little more than a public records search.
'account verified' means that the account is linked to a checking account. meaning that the possibility of payment via Credit Card that is then later disputed with the Credit Card company, and no other way of getting the funds, is reduced. Some sellers prohibit PayPal credit card payments specifically.

I can tell you from experience that it's hard to sell on eBay without accepting PayPal. A large percentage of eBayers will simply move on if you don't, mainly due to the protections afforded to both buyers and sellers. In fact, especially as a seller, with out PayPal, you have much less protection. Unless you are big enough have a merchant account with MC/Visa or elsewhere.

DC81, did this seller have any feedback? Any feedback that was actually SELLING not BUYING?

maryemar, if all's said and done, why not link the auction? Any reputable seller should not have a problem with some scrutiny. It equals publicity. There's more than a couple of people here who would be interested in a used ThinkPad!

[zelchenko]

It was easy to find this listing. She has 1 feedback--from a seller. I know people have to start somewhere, but maybe it'd be better if they started by building a good reputation as a buyer. 1 Positive feedback is a good start, but only a start.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 6810855276

Her shipping charges are equitable. If she had a better profile and I were in the market, I'd consider that a plus. So many sellers like to add "handling" to that shipping. I wish they'd just make their reserve higher instead of trying the creative accounting method.

[dc81]

Although I did back out of the sale (mutually agreed between me and the seller). She was very courteous and responsive. That made the decision just a little harder.

I guess I am just a little paranoid when it comes to Ebay, especially anything in that price range, this thread didn't help with my paranoia much, but overall I think it will end up ok. If I had the money for a new Thinkpad (T42p) I would have loved to just skip all the Ebay stuff and be assured that I am not getting scammed, but not everybody has that option. Maybe my next Thinkpad, if all goes well???

[slagmi]

Well, if that's the one, IMO maryemar, with those terms it's more likely you'll get burned than any potential buyer.

Please be careful! Money orders and cashiers checks are easy to fake! If the cashiers check is deposited at a different bank than it was drawn on it could easily take 10 business days or more to actually clear. If it does.