[dronning]

Is there any way to confirm if a unit I'm bidding on has lifetime activation other than the sellers says it has?


There have been a few sold that claimed lifetime has been paid already and the price difference has been about + $200 ($100 savings) verses the ones without.


Or would you not risk it and buy one that isn't claiming lifetime.


Dave

 

[raaaaaa]

I do not think it is worth getting the life time on a replay because they become so cheap that when you upgrade a year or two later you can't take the life time subscription with you it is on the old replay tv and can not be transfered. ( I think I could be wrong)

 

[MIS-Man]

Not anymore - now that Replay will transfer service. The only way I could see it if they were willing to give you the Serial # and call it in, but they could move activation after you bought it, or keep the serial # and do it after you receive it. Just a bad / weird situation.

 

[mhargr03]

If a seller is dumb enough to give out their serial number they deserve to have their lifetime service stolen by the person they give it to.


DO NOT give out your serial number if you are selling lifetime units. Buyers, you have to either trust the seller or play it safe and add lifetime on your own. From what I've seen, units without lifetime +$300 come out to only slightly more expensive than units with lifetime bundled. I wouldn't take the chance myself...

 

[rm -rf *.*]

If the seller is willing - and you want to go through the setup process - you could attempt to take advantage of the escrow accounts. If one happens to be that retentive - go for it - knock you're self out; and when it's all over and done with - remember what MIS-Man said (2 post's above this one)...



Oh, and raaaaaa (did I get enough "a"-s in there?), even before DNNA started officially transferring LSA's a month or so back - the Lifetime was still the better choice - you could always get your $250 (in the old days - that's what LSA's cost) or $300 back when you sell the RTV. You'll never get anything for the months gone by when you sell a month-month RTV

 

[GTDaveMac]

Also I believe that it is safe to give out the 18 digit serial number to check status. The last three digits in the entire 21 digit number are required to transfer the activation.

 

[sfhub]

It's inconsistent, they don't always require the 3 digit verification code.

 

[mhargr03]

Indeed...so the moral of the story is never give out your lifetime serial number.

 

[rm -rf *.*]

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...)

 

[GTDaveMac]

Looks good.


Any reason why you didn't use h t t p://REPLAY-IP/screenshot.bmp?sync=2 instead of using a camera? You could then use any photo software, or even MS Paint to delete the unwanted info.


I just found out about this nifty feature, although you probably do know about it.


Do you think the camera version is more believable to be "un-faked"?

 

[mhargr03]

Most eBayers probably would think it looks less authentic because they are unaware of the real capabilities of the RTV.

 

[sfhub]

Maybe the low tech method leads to more confidence. If you get to fancy

people start thinking you may have doctored it.

 

[SeeSpotRun]

Quote:

Originally posted by GTDaveMac Also I believe that it is safe to give out the 18 digit serial number to check status. The last three digits in the entire 21 digit number are required to transfer the activation.

When I transferred service I couldn't give them the extra 3 numbers because my unit was actually broken and I had no way to get the extra 3 numbers and they still let me transfer it.


-SeeSpotRun

 

[rm -rf *.*]

Had I even known about the command posted by GTDaveMac at the time -

"Old habits die hard, then proceed to fester..." would probably have won out anyway...

 

[Jeff D]

Quote:

Originally posted by GTDaveMac Also I believe that it is safe to give out the 18 digit serial number to check status. The last three digits in the entire 21 digit number are required to transfer the activation.

As this 3 digits is just a checksum there's nothing to back up your point. It's only used for the CS to check you gave them a valid string and to figure out what part was wrong if it wasn't correct. They can figure out exactly what digit was incorrect and even correct it for you. =)



I'd only deal with users/sellers who have good feedback. It cuts out some options, but it's the only "safe" way to go.

 

[The Robman]

Quote:

Originally posted by dronning Is there any way to confirm if a unit I'm bidding on has lifetime activation other than the sellers says it has?

It's just like anything else you buy on ebay, you take your chances. The best you can do is check the sellers feedback to see if he's reliable. It's like when a seller says an item is "new in box" yet when you get it, it's clearly used. Sellers who lie like this usually have quite a few negs in their f/b to show for it.

 

[Crunchy Doodle]

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.

Quote:

Originally posted by The Robman It's just like anything else you buy on ebay, you take your chances. The best you can do is check the sellers feedback to see if he's reliable. It's like when a seller says an item is "new in box" yet when you get it, it's clearly used. Sellers who lie like this usually have quite a few negs in their f/b to show for it.

 

[BaysideBas]

Has everyone forgotten the scam in the early days of ebay? When Sony Playstations were simply unavailable that Christmas? Someone advertised "Sony Playstation original box. $XXX.XX" And that's exactly what was delivered, the original box for the SP. No SP mind you, just the box! Caveat Emptor.

 

[GooberedUp]

I still see some of those auctions. I saw one for an Xbox the other day.


I don't know who's crazier. The person listing or the person bidding. I'd feel stupid either way.

 

[The Robman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Crunchy Doodle 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.

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.