Database Develop

Ebay - be cautious

I have seen a few references to ebay on this and other media.
The basic idea behind ebay is great and it started off brilliantly with people selling used or unwanted stuff to other people looking for exactly that stuff.
In the meantime most of the stuff you find on ebay is cheap crap made in China (not everything made in China in bad!, but most crap is made in China) I think.
Like cigarettes, all advertising for ebay should contain a warning: Buying here might be harm your purse.
Sorry if I sound a bit cynical but fact is that ebay is trmendeously successful and people get carried away. I use ebay myself occasionally but I would never ever (again) by a phone or accessory on ebay.
This is all my humble opinion. I do try support serious online shops that sell good products and good service at a competitive price. My advice here: Always see to it that the online shop you buy from provides full contact details on their website: postal address and a valid phone and fax number. There are too many shops out there with no physical address at all which to me is quite dubious.
Cheers

I've been purchasing a quite a few things off eBay, mostly UK sellers, and all of the product I've got are brilliant. If you were to think China products are mostly crap, you can well steer away from it (i.e. most of the China sellers have a word 'China' on the item location).
Anyway, I have bought a powered USB hub from China (via eBay) for GBP5 (include P&P). For the same product, if you were to get it from here in UK, it will cost you at least GBP15+. And yes, my USB hub is still here and I'm using it.
And, yeah, I've got myself a 512 Kingston SD from China, for GBP5 cheaper than of UK sellers.
Anyway, with most people saying that China will be an "economy threat" to others, I'm sure there are some reason to that (i.e. you can't be a threat by manufacturing craps). You might want to reconsider your point of view.
Anyway, I've got my Charmer off eBay for GBP150, that is more than 50% off as compared I were to get it (without contract) off local/web stores.

I have saved tons of money from getting stuff from Ebay, which includes my K-Jam.

I've bought a lot of stuff from ebay.
However, selling stuff on ebay, obviously be extremely careful about your purchaser and receive positive indication of payment before posting.
Buying: well, you take your chances of course. I've had bargains on some small electricals (eg USB hubs etc), but if you're paying that kind of money, be prepared for crap quality, and then hope you'll be pleasantly suprised.
I've had my fair share of scammers and non paying auction winners. I think your level of caution should grow the more expensive the item, of course. A lot of guys will try to scam you out of a phone, or into a stolen one (or one without a touch screen :wink
V

I've managed to find original XDA accessories (Keyboard for £16 and Extended Battery for £11!!!!!!!) selling stupidly cheap (would cost 5x more in the shops) and both work great!
Regards,
Neil.

I think there's some golden rules with eBay...
Take everything you see on there with at least a pinch of salt.
Remember, some fraudsters will get others to post fake good feedback, I've seen this in the past and although it's hard, it's possible.
Also make sure you can pay via a scheme which offers Buyer protection - the standard eBay buyer protection is VERY inadequate, and it's really hard to get your money back (and they charge a fee for the service too). If you have a credit card, usually if you have a problem you can speak to your credit card company directly and they will protect you from fraud by charging back the transaction (as far as I know, all UK credit card companies offer free fraud protection these days, so if you are defrauded out of your money they'll give it straight back and get in touch with the transaction processing company themselves to resolve the situation).
Avoid paying by cheque/cash/postal order wherever possible, you're just asking to be taken for a ride like that. Also, third party escrow companies not run or approved by eBay you should steer VERY clear of, I have seen people defrauded by fake escrow agencies. Anybody who pays with cash is just asking to be mugged.
Read the item description VERY carefully - I'm amazed how many people complain that they've received something they didn't want, or people who put negative feedback on items after they bought something which was actually broken (and said so in the description)... They have only themselves to blame. Scour the eBay description every time, and don't be afraid to ask the seller further questions or request pictures / more information if you feel you need it to be confident enough to make the bid.
Everyone with an ounce of common sense will already realise this, I hope.

Thanks for the tips guys.
Always remember " if it sounds too good to be true, it will be !!! "

Just sold my magician on eBay at the second attempt. I've bought quite a lot on eBay, even from Hong Kong and everything's been fine and dandy.
As a seller I'm a bit of a newbie and some nigerian tried to scam me out of my magician. He registered that very day claiming to be an american on business in Nigeria. He even went so far as sending me a fake PayPal confirmation.
I smelled a rat straight away when he said he wanted it posted to nigeria but gave him a chance given that there was a 0.0000001% chance he might have been genuine. When the fake PayPal came through though that was it. I reported him to eBay, PayPal, the owner of the domain he was using to (try to) scam me and then re-listed. He was thrown off eBay in short thrift and I soon had another (genuine this time) buyer.
If selling, you can specify that bidders MUST have a PayPal account and with "But It Now" you can specify immediate PayPay payment. Make sure you do and you really should be OK.
I have my money and the magician is in the post.
Everybody is happy.
P.S. Why do 99% of the world's internet scammers come from Nigeria?

There's a culture, particularly in Nigeria, that scamming people from richer countries is almost entirely acceptable, as the scammers prey on the gullibility and greed of the rich people who usually fall for the scams (the promise of millions with a much smaller payment, what stupid rich person could turn that down?) - some people make a living exclusively from scamming Europeans and Americans (they call their targets 'mugus', singular mugu)... The most prevalent scam is the Advance Fee Fraud - the 419 scam (so called due to the number of the Nigerian law which makes it technically illegal... The thing is, these laws are rarely enforced, and corruption itself is widespread throughout the police force and government).
Of course, this is just how I interpret it, but you'll find others who share a similar point of view. Just googling for Nigerian scam 419 culture brings up some interesting results, including http://slashdot.org/articles/05/10/21/138243.shtml and http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/31063 ... Read those and browse for some more, very interesting, discussions on the subject.

Read this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3887493.stm on the BBC web site. It's very funny. :lol:
It's about a hobby called Scam Baiting - which is basically stringing the 419 scammers along, getting them to do rediculous things and sometimes conning THEM out of money in the process.
If you want to get in on scam baiting go to http://www.419eater.com
Edit: Funny you should mention police corruption - this is the address he wanted me to send it to:
Name : Eke James
Address : block (d) highway patrol barracks flat 17 :shock:
City : Ikeja
State : Lagos
Country : Nigeria
Zipcode : 23401

TheBrit: that's some funny sh*t!! :lol: "Church of the Painted Breast" LMAO
Sometimes I'm not even sure if the scammers know what they're talking about: one time I received a request to end the auction early with an instant payment of something like £300 for this xda iis with a broken screen, and that I must send it to this guy's cousin a.s.a.p. cos it was his birthday! :lol:

Oh guys if you haven't seen it already, check out http://www.amirtofangsazan.blogspot.com/ - don't sell a faulty laptop and leave your data on the hard disk! This has been making news around the world, over 2 million hits now and a Wikipedia article hahaha!
Neil.

OMFG - the fun never stops!!! I'm laughing so hard that I can't even go to bed... :lol:
It's a shame that the guy's been kicked off ebay now: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI..../search.dll?from=R40&satitle=6825578528&fvi=1

Hardly, he's exactly the kind of person that I don't want to see on ebay. I love all the newspaper coverage this story's been getting

What I mean is that guy is probably using ebay under a different name now, so it's hard for us to track him down, unless he forgets to wipe his hard disk again!

I have bought heaps of great things on eBay and I find it great but you should always be careful of things that seems to good to be true.

Your Broken/Bricked Alpine???

I would like to purchase an unuseable Alpine. I'm interested in learning how to repair/replace components and need one to learn on. Thanks...:

I have a dud, the screen is not being touch sensitive, therefore is unuseable. I've posted a thread asking for support although the cost of postage to US may be expensive. It is currently offered for sale on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260149345736
HTH

Recommendation for Insurance on My Kaiser ?

Looking to get some insurance for my Kaiser in the event of stolen/loss/accidental damage. Can anyone recommend any that is based in the UK based on there own experiences.
Cheers

gave up on insurance here. had it on my Imate Kjam and they wouldn't compensate me when I lost it. So cancelled it after I bought this.

I am with CUSC foneguard, they offer a new replacement if yours cannot be repaired. I found many of the companies google finds to be all the same, just differant websites all offering the same thing.
Check out CUSC and see if its any good for you, I found them to be quite helpful however they will want you to pay the full years cover due to the high cost of replacement.

Hi
Remember the only reason insurance companies offer insurance is overall they make money from it, so instead of them making a profit, be your own insurance company and profit instead
Either offer yourself free premiums, or charge yourself and put the money in savings account somewhere.
Do this with any domestic item you purchase by never buying an extended warranty or insurance plan, and you save far more than you will ever claim from yourself.
Regards
Phil

Donations for Kaiser purchase to solve the driver issue

Hi all,
So, it was posted at the end of last month that cmonex was willing to lend her expertise to helping address the video driver issue. However, she needed access to a Kaiser to do so.
Now I have heard a lot about her abilities across the fora. I am all for people's efforts to raise awareness and force HTC to address this (see my other post below) but I am also keen to give her a chance to see what she can do.
All it needs is for about 25 people to donate £10 each and we can buy one to send to her. I am happy to organise this, with a purchase via Ebay. However, I am not able to put up the whole amount myself. Also if we club together to fund this, if it doesn't work out, no-one has lost a large amount.
I would purchase it on Ebay and post the auction link here so that all can see the money has been spent as intended.
Post below if you are willing to contribute and once we have enough volunteers, I will identify a suitable auction. Please only post if you are truly willing to part with the money. I know there is the bounty fund but suggestions to use some of that to fund this purchase have fallen flat, and I think we need to organise this properly.
Of course, no one could reply and I'll feel quite embarrased at this post! (Mods, I might call on your pity to remove this if that happens!!) But I figure it's worth a try - if we all do what we can, maybe we can conclude this issue.
PS Don't bother posting to say what's the point. I know we 30days to return, no-one forced us to purchase. I am extremelly happy with this phone and would only consider selling if there was another product exactly the same, only with hardware acceleration support! Just want to get the most from the device we were given. I realise HTC never promised h/w acceleration, and that the chipset just has the capacity. But surely the spirit of XDA-devs is to try optimise the experience we get from our devices?!

I'm in for $20 US

Thanks. No-one else keen to pursue other options? I have confirmed with cmonex that she has not yet got a TyTN 2 to work on...

im in for $25 USD

I'm in for $20 USD

I'll chip in £10

In for $20 USD

As long as people can confirm this is a reputable deal with some chance of success, I am in for £10. I (and I am sure many others) would be reassured if a mod was involved in this thread.
Surur

Count me in for $30 US... as long as we can verify that's he'she is not just trying to get a free Kaiser.

$20 US. Plus some letters to make the post long enough.
Criminy.

$20 here. (and perhaps the chance to be one of the first test dummies?)

refurb tilt?
i know i dont have a premier account, but ive been hearing about people getting tilts for $149.99 which is pretty cheap. Maybe thats an option as well?

We need a two year contract for that.

kareem9nba said:
We need a two year contract for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not really, depending on the agreement between at&t and the company.......u can do a "device only" upgrade several times a year, some even have the privilege of unlimited upgrades.

Fisha21 has a few posts, some questions & others answers so he looks pretty genuine to me (plus he's British so stiff upper lip and fair play old chap ).
I don't have a problem putting in a few quid for this, but I think it might be better to contact Chainfire (as a focal point) and offer the services through his website so we can be publicly seen to be:
a. Disgruntled with HTC.
b. Prepared to take action against HTC.
c. Prepared to find our own solutions - even if this involves costs over and above our original purchase price.
This might even highlight to HTC that we could work with THEM to get a solution which avoids bad publicity, pissed-off-never-to-return customers and ultimately unlocks the real potential of the Kaiser.

ach2 said:
Fisha21 has a few posts, some questions & others answers so he looks pretty genuine to me (plus he's British so stiff upper lip and fair play old chap ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed.
I just commented last night on another thread that there was a lack of interest in this thread - looks I am being proved wrong. That works out to about £84, using XE.com to convert USD to GBP. I will lay down £30, which gives about £114 so far.
I fully agree that people need to know I am not just trying to get a free TyTN2! I can post a photo of mine to prove I already have one. Or I am more than happy for a mod/Chainfire to get involved/ be a front person/ takeover...whatever works. I just want to pursue all available options rather than relying on HTC choosing/being forced to help us out.
I did not suggest linking it to the Class Action website as I thought it might be better to keep the two separate. Not sure how it works legally if we get someone to develop software without HTC's involvement. Perhaps if something comes of it, then we can link it - otherwise stay under the radar?
EDIT: Besides, it is thanks to this site that my TyTN2 is running as well as it does - I don't want to get barred from here for scamming members! Where will I get all my cab, ROMs and general software goodies?!

How about this: Put up the paypal account so we can start filling it up. If we can get $7000 pledged, people will probably happily instantly pay anything between 1 and 10 EUR if it increases the chances of us getting decent drivers. 350 people donating 1 EUR shouldn't be to hard to achieve, right?
Even if nothing came out of it, I wouldn't mourn over my euro

Im not dissing this idea, just telling another way to think about this:
The bounty is so big now, that i would think anyone who thinks she or he could possibly pull this off, could buy the Kaiser with their own money.
Anyway if there is no success, selling the Kaiser would bring most of the money back to he or her...

I am certainly not saying that I am going to try and solve this - just trying to facilitate things!
Just thought it would be less of a loss, if things don't work out, if lots of people donate small amounts of money, rather than one person shelling out £300 (although I'm not sure we'd actually get 350 people donating even just 1 Euro).
Also, with someone (very busy) having offered to help us out with this, it seems rude to say "Yes please, but buy your own device to work on". Know what I'm saying?
No-one has to donate to this at all - if there aren't enough people interested, then the idea stops here. However, I am working on setting up a reliable method of collecting the money, so people can be happy it's genuine.
Also, bear in mind this is not likely to be a quick fix, especially as Cmonex is also working on other things (and has a life!). This being the case, if it didn't work, I don't think the TyTN2 would be worth as much at that point, so I doubt the initial outlay would be recovered - hence the thinking that multiple small donations would be better.

Yes, I understand thet buying the phone isnt that big of a deal compared to the problem, but there is also that 7000USD bounty. Thats not small change if someone is able to do it solo.
I would imagine if someone thinks that he or she is able to do this, investing few hundred on a phone what you can sell after, wouldnt be the obstacle in it.
If people want to buy the phone its ok, but I dont know if it really would be necessary...

Want to Sell my unlocked ATT Tilt

I am selling a used GREAT CONDITION ATT TILT (TYTN II HTC). BEEN USED FOR FEW MONTHS WITH MY COMPANY. THE PHONE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED (will work with t-mobile) with 6.1 WINDOWS!! Comes with original accessories (extra stylus, charger, data cable, screen protector, manuel, and CD.)
I'm also including:
2GB MicroSD card
a brand new invisible shield( a $24.95 value)
Looking for about 200.00. No trades. I accept PayPal only. If you live in the Ann Arbor, MI area then i will consider a local pick-up. thanks.
Do contact me on [email protected]
Thanks,
Rupesh

Comes with Manuel? What about his brother Miguel? Oh you meant Manual! Sorry My Mistake.
Given that you have only 3 posts I will post the Following.
This Above post, person, or transaction is in no way affiliated or endorsed by XDA-Developers, the Administration Team or the Moderation Team. Any purchase made is done so at your own risk.

How about creating a new forum area???
It would be nice to move all these posts to a separate group where it might say "Member Sales" with a notice saying that XDA has nothing to do with the ads. That way they could reach only the people that want to buy an item instead of everybody else. Just a little tired of seeing so many posts from people selling their used Kaisers/Tilts.