dwood wrote:From the fraud point of view, making sure you only ever work in cash and in person is often the best way. Newer alternatives are things like using PayPal or Interac bank payments using your phone while meeting in person are relatively safe too.
Almost all eBay transactions are done via PayPal which originally was an eBay entity. And the seller has it pay that service fee also which, no doubt they figure into their asking price.
dwood wrote:As far as the Mac Minis go. I was pretty excited about the new ones. However, they regressed in their processor choices and they went to RAM that's soldered onto the motherboard. So, there's no, practical way to upgrade the new Minis.
Called an Apple marketing ploy to make more money.
dwood wrote:The maxed out, previous generation Minis are pretty cool. They didn't have Thunderbolt ports (which is pretty useful for all sorts of things), and they max out at 16GB RAM. Other than that, they are pretty cool little beasties!.
I bought 2 used MacMini's (Oct 2012) and they both have Thunderbolt ports, which, with an adapter, can be used for a monitor. In addition, they both have 4 - USB 3 ports. So as you say, really cool.
You may have seen a thread where I mentioned using 2 - Mac Mini's to "increase" the RAM, sort of. Not esp the cheapest way, but where I had a physical space issue, the Mini's served the purpose.
dwood wrote:You also mentioned eBay. eBay is great too. It's just that I find there to be more of a commercial mindset there. I didn't think your average Joe goes there to sell things anymore. It's people looking to make a profit rather than people just getting rid of stuff. Those people also have to pay eBay a percentage of the sale which raises the price too. However, there are exceptions. They do offer nice consumer protections as you discovered.
Yes indeed, many re-sellers have picked up stuff at garage or estate sales and haven't the foggiest idea about these items except for what the label on them says. Some do "research" and copy mfr's (right or wrong) info. So, yes, you do take a chance, but sometimes the seller's (lack of information) is good because they don't have a clue as to the value. Sometimes pictures of the item(s) show at least a vague bit. Some sellers don't even wipe off the dust and crud.
You may have noticed eBay scans communications between buyer and seller in an attempt to make sure no email addresses of phone numbers are exchanged which could lead to a sale (and lack of commission) outside of eBay. Another thing to observe is if the seller offers to take the item back and refund the purchase price. For small, cheap items, it isn't worth the time or effort to do anything except put the item out of it's misery and into the rubbish bin.,
Rgds,
Ed