eBay & lifetime activation

I just recently had to deal with all of the nonsense that we're discussing in this thread - proving it has an LSA, without giving out the SN.


This was the best solution I could come up with at the time (which happens to have been 01:24:39 am ...)

-- In the 243-ZONES menu, activate the "Show Clock" option (offhand, button #3 - I think)

-- Take a digital photo of:

MENU -> SETUP -> SYSTEM INFORMATION -> UNIT INFO

This will show the status of the Activation, the S/N and the Key #, along with the current date/time (My idea of providng some sort of "security blanket" for the buyer, that you didn't shoot the photo ages ago, and have since transferred the LSA to another unit.)

To protect the SN & Key, but sill provide him with enough of digits to assure that the unit was indeed an RTV -5504, and that when he recieves the shipment, that what's in box was the unit that took the photo of: multiple thick stacks of post-it notes were strategically applied to the TV screen, leaving the fist 8 digits (7 of which are the model number of the unit) and the last 2 digits, prior to taking the photo.


The photo is attached -


I got paid, he got a 5504 w/ an LSA - everyone is happy-happy-happy (just like if were garlic cloves in Emeril's kitchen...)

I am scrupulously accurate when I prepare the text for any of my eBay sales ads. And without defending those who would deliberately deceive, I offer these thoughts on eBay postings.


I have come to believe that there are some people who sell on eBay who don't know the definition of "new in box". They think that something that is like-new and packed in its original box, is "new in box". I have seen this where something is advertised as "new in box" and the ad goes on to say it's actually been taken out for testing, or some such indication of light use. Well, guess what - you take on item out and use it - it's used.


About a month ago I sold a camcorder that I had had for a few weeks and didn't like. I posted the ad in the category of used DV camcorders. I had the words "excellent condition" at the top in a large font. In spite of that, the buyer left positive feedback that I had deceived him by selling him a camcorder that was in very good shape, but used, and not the new camcorder I advertised. Why he left positive feedback with that kind of comment is strange to me. If what he said had actually happened, I would have expected negative feedback.


The problem with eBay is that you are mostly dealing with amateurs - mostly honest, in my experience.


Bye.

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You also have to learn to read between the lines. When someone says that an item is new, but has been taken out of the box so they could test it, that means it's a store return. If the item originally came in a sealed box or blister pack, the seller would have listed it as "sealed", he wouldn't have opened the sealed packaging.


But you're right about the number of amateurs out there. You can easily tell the amateur sellers from the professional ones by the quality of their listings, but as a seller it's hard to protect yourself from amateur buyers. I have seen so many sellers get hit with neg f/b because they charged (let's say) $6.95 for s/h and the buyer didn't like the fact that the envelope arrived with a 60 cent stamp on it. I've also seen neg f/b left along the lines of "I won't pay $10 shipping for a $1 item", well if you weren't prepared to pay the shipping cost, why did you bid on it???


Another good practice before you bid on something is to check the f/b that the seller leaves for his buyers, the main question being how well does he deal with conflict. If he's the kind of seller that automatically leaves neg f/b for anyone that dares critize him thru f/b, then I would advise that you stay away from this seller.