Public Service Announcement

I've been with eBay almost since the first day (before they had photos on their auctions). But I don't buy a lot of computer equipment. What I do buy is brass musical instruments--usually with hefty price tags (think tubas). One of the common scams on eBay is to hijack an ID and use the photos and description of an instrument that sold a couple of months back. As a matter of course, I'll always email the seller and ask for an additional photo or some bit of unique identifying information, such as the serial number. This tells me three things. The first is that the seller cares enough to respond to inquiries--if the seller doesn't reply, I don't bother with the auction. The second is that the seller actually has the item in his posession. You'd be surprised. The third is that the seller is who he/she says he/she is. If the tenor of the reply doesn't correspond to that in the eBay posting, I get suspicious. Many (if not most) scams originate in countries where English is not the official language. Never respond to a "second-chance" solicitation. You know, the "the winner of my auction didn't pay me or sent the item back, so rather than re-list it, I'm offering it to you as one of the other bidders for the winning bid" ploy. Those are almost always scams. If you respect eBay for the jungle that it is, you'll be okay. Cheers, Chuck