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Squaretrade offers warranties on eBay purchases.
One year of insurance through them costs less than $20, and I believe the 2nd year is half that.
I got my Pearl from eBay power seller seller kyles_treos.
He has Verizon silver and pink Pearls for either fixed price Buy-It-Now, or auctions. My "very good" condition Pearl came with the plastic protector still on the screen, and I swear it looked brand new. Couldn't find a scuff or scratch on it anywhere.
01-02-09 06:33 PM - Glad you found a 'new' BB.
There were some cases of that iPhone robbery deal happening in this area too. Unfortunate progression, from 15 years ago, when kids were getting stabbed and pistolwhipped for Starter coats.
My $.02 on CL.....
CL is definitely a place to exercise due caution, but I wouldn't say stay away 100%- you have to be very careful though. I've made probably 50+ personal transactions through CL over the years- sale or purchase of goods of some sort, and have never had a bad experience, knock on wood. And very few of my transactions have been below $100, the highest being the sale of my last bike, at $5,500 cash.
You DO have to be very careful though, and always buy in person. Though I'm a pretty big guy, and can handle myself pretty well, I still choose to meet people in public places- restaurant, Union Station in DC, places like that. For the few transactions that have to take place at my home, like my bike sale, I am carrying, just in case. For the few that have to take place at someone else's home or 'home turf', I bring the goons with me. Never know. Also, on CL, there's a limit to the due diligence you can do since you only have a name and email address, which can often tell you NOTHING AT ALL. But I always google the email address of the other party, and the user ID (before the '@'), name, and anything else I can.
Most recent example: About a month ago, I sold a kids dresser to someone via CL. She had a somewhat unique name. By the time she got to my house, after Googling her, I knew her age, current and previous places of employment, the industry she was in on the side, city she lived in, where she was born, the city she lived before DC area, and her maiden name. This was from a simple Google search, not one of those fancy (albeit scary) pay sites. This speaks to the volumes of personal information that people place on the internet. Frightening, in an 'Enemy of the State' kinda way, but it can be helpful. My idea was that even though she was a woman buying a dresser for a child *supposedly*, that didn't mean that a truck full of anything wasn't going to pull up in from of my house (though I'd be prepared for it
). Anyway, she and I hit it off when she got here, so I showed her the information I pulled up on her, and she freaked out. We still talk, she was cool people, as were most I've met on CL.
Pardon the soliloquy. Thought I'd share.01-04-09 08:46 PM
