The lows of resale

Reading things like this remind me of why I'm not always comfortable buying from sites such as Craigslist and Ebay. As much as I like the concept of recycling and things like the Compact, it unfortunately also encourages the evil world of theft.

"Hi - My black macbook was stolen from my car while eating dinner in SJ on Wednesday September 12th. The serial number is 4H6201HFVMN and it was in a black backpack.

I'll offer a reward (how much depends on how much of my backpack comes with it) but at a minimum i thought I'd get the word out on this laptop in case someone is thinking about buying one and finds this machine.

It's been reported to the Police and to Apple so trying to get it serviced or phone support for it will end up in an awkward conversation for whomever needs assistance with it... There was another friend's computer stolen at the same time as well as three other cars broken into and had stuff stolen so whomever is selling it is someone who makes a habit of it and doesn't deserve your money. They're a cowardly thief that makes money on the misfortune of others.

Some punk named jedi9000@yahoo.com sent me a mail claiming to have the unit and claiming to be in the proces of parting it out b/c he thinks i don't have the major module serial numbers. Well jedi9000@yahoo.com, I do have access to that (HDD serial number is ST9120821AS, the MAC address of the computer is 00:16:cb:cc:50:ba so check these things before you buy!). In the meantime, i'll leave your email address here so other lowlife dirtbags can crawl this page, get your email address and send you spam."

I love the idea of saving money by getting this on sale, but this makes me feel a little guilty. I must admit that whenever I browse the pages and pages of NWT and NWOT designer clothing makes me wonder how they get such items, especially when they are still in stores. I realize there is a group of sellers that legitimately cannot return the items and changed their minds. There is surely, however, a number of people who sell items for which they never paid.

I once worked part-time for a year in a popular retail store. For weeks, someone was stealing flatware. We joked that they were probably working to build up a set of 8 place settings. They were very smart about how to disguise the theft so that it went unnoticed for several hours. Also, when inventory was done on the smaller kitchen items, more than $20,000 in inventory was missing in a six-month period. Maybe most of this stuff was theft for personal use (or gifts), but just imagine how much more reasonable prices would be if stores didn't have to worry so much about theft.

When the time comes for me to buy a laptop, I'm going to make sure to write down all the computer information and store it somewhere safe.