Sometimes it pays to be stupid. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2012, 01:56:39 am
content: I bought a Preamble/Lecroy 1855A 100 Mhz differential preamplifier on eBay by making astupidlow offer. They had a $900.00 buy it now price and I offered $300.00 and they accepted it. It is in fully operational condition as stated in the listing. Anyone had similar experiences?BTW This thing is quite a bit of kit as Dave would say. I didn't know such a thing existed until I was searching eBay for preamplifier's and saw these. I downloaded the manual and realized this thing is very handy to have. The built in ovenized precision offset voltage source lets you do some awesome stuff on a scope. nominally matched 1X probes can be used on it with minimal loss in cmrr. With the 10X-100X differential probe box it can 1500V on 10X but is limited by the probes to 500VAmp manualhttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.lecroy.com%2Ffiles%2Fmanuals%2F06_operation.pdf&ei=Lq8pUJnEMoaO6AGhh4CYCw&usg=AFQjCNF6L4byIsmeD-NbXdWCLqQZB4a0ZA&sig2=_xH4juTmRXhmRk2vmZrhfQ10X-100X probe manualhttp://www.lecroy.com/support/techlib/registerpdf.aspx?documentID=1757

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2012, 02:11:24 am
content: Don't publicize these things in such detail. You will queer the pitch for anyone who comes after. And I'm only half kidding

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 14, 2012, 04:06:37 am
content: Nice.I once scored three Lecroy AP031 diff probes from the Farnell trade counter for $90ea IIRC.Seemed too good to be true, and I asked if they were faulty. Nope, brand new, just clearing them out.Promptly resold on ebay for $400 a pop or something like that.Should have kept one...Dave.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 14, 2012, 01:08:14 pm
content: Sometimes it works.I needed Nozzles for my Tig Welder.At that time: 8eur/piece original, 4 eur/piece for replicas.And then I did an offer of 30eur for a box of 15kg, and won.A few were broken :-)

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2012, 09:18:31 pm
content: Stupid strikes again!OK IanB I won't be too specific. I just got a very nice piece of equipment that currently lists for $2100.00 new. Buy it now was $750.00 offered $200.00 ... sold.My point here is don't be afraid to make somewhat ridiculous offers on eBay.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 03:55:14 am
content: I bought a BK Precision 9150 5.2V/60A PS for$15.65from testequipmentdepot on ebay.They apparently didn't put the decimal place in the right spot, cause the price should have been$1565.00. I paid for it, and waited for my tracking number.But, they didn't honer the deal. I don't really blame them. But then again, an ebay sale is a binding contract. But you can't twist their arm to actually ship it.They refunded me - claimed it was "out of stock" - then relisted it with the right price a day later. Oh well.

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 05:15:03 am
content: Quote from: george graves on August 26, 2012, 03:55:14 amIf you can, I would leave negative feedback on the outright lie regarding the out of stock. A better thing for them to do is say they made a mistake and offer a discount towards purchase of an item from them. Most reasonable people will know it is a listing mistake and appreciate the gesture to "make it right" even though they may never use the discount. However, to lie about it and relist the next day just reeks of bad business behaviour. It infers that the original buyer is a dumba** and won't notice the relisting.Huge thumbs down to testequipmentdepot on ebay

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 05:26:30 am
content: When i was young (15 or so) i found some old plasma display modules (4 color [shades of orange], 640x400 resolution) at a junk shop and bought a few at $9.50 each.I managed to find the datasheet and build a rudimentary board to convert a 640x480 VGA signal into the 8bit digital it required. It didn't work too well, but was quite a learning expedience.Anyway, while searching on the net for more info i came across some guy in USA who was looking for people selling the exact model i had. I emailed him and, pulling a number out of my ass, said "i have some of those in stock for US$150 each"He was quick to accept and asked how many i had available.A quick trip back into the local surplus electronic shop and i found 6 more units still there for sale at $9.50, so i bought them allHe said he would take the lot (i had 8 now), i emailed him some pictures and we decided to do half payment now, half after delivery using western union. I was pretty happy, i had turned NZ$76 into US$1200 (about NZ$1400). Everything went find, i posted them and he paid the rest.About 5 years ago (10 years later) i searched for the same part again because i found my old VGA converter circuit and i was curious what device/machine those plasma displays had come from.What did i find...? well, i found the website of the guy i sold them to, reselling them for $2000 each.They're from a huge printing press and cost $4500.00 to buy brand new!Just checked his website again right now, looks to have sold out of my ones and is now selling refurbishment units.http://www.jtgraphics.net/oki.htm

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 05:32:28 am
content: At the very least you earned big bucks but he earned even larger bucks! ... ah well this universe is odd

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 05:37:37 am
content: Yeah

author: steve30
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 26, 2012, 06:54:02 am
content: Some nice bargains there.I've had a few things on ebay for quite reasonable prices, but nothing this good,

author: ablacon64
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 27, 2012, 02:58:03 am
content: Quote from: Psi on August 26, 2012, 05:26:30 amGarbage to some, treasure to others.

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2012, 04:26:19 am
content: Not quite in the same spirit as the thread, but this auction went for $100http://www.ebay.com/itm/300773651377A new working one is priced $3,500 USD. So $7K worth of "parts" sold for $100.I would have taken a chance and may have even sent them to Fluke for a repair evaluation cost.

author: M. András
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2012, 08:40:57 pm
content: Quote from: retiredcaps on September 03, 2012, 04:26:19 amthats damn sure was stolen and the dude didnt even know what they are

author: codeboy2k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2012, 09:39:25 pm
content: Quote from: george graves on August 26, 2012, 03:55:14 amI was sued in Civil Court as a seller on eBay that listed a product and I made a price mistake, just like that you said. We are both in Canada, in the same province even, and just a city away. That probably made the lawsuit easier.I called the guy up on the phone, talked to him about it, told him I made a price mistake, obviously I can't sell something brand new worth $5000 for just $50.00, and he seemed like he recognized the mistake and was considerate, and agreed to a refund. So I refunded him. Later he surprised me with a lawsuit and won in court despite accepting the previous refund. In court he claimed he wasn't aware of eBay's binding contract clauses, and he didn't know his rights, and that I persuaded him convincingly to accept the refund before he knew his rights. I am sure I tried to be convincing on the phone to get him to accept a refund. I sure didn't expect a lawsuit to come from it.After the court I received a check from him in the mail and had to ship the product.

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2012, 10:46:56 pm
content: Quote from: codeboy2k on September 03, 2012, 09:39:25 pmI have never sold anything on ebay so this is probably a dumba** question, but is there no "preview" screen where you can view your ad before hitting "submit"?