Last night I spotted a great deal on eBay. The lot was a 1Ghz Powerbook and a 23” HD Cinema screen, with a Buy It Now price of £1300. New from Apple, that kit would be worth closer to £4000. The seller had just under 200 positive feedback ratings, with zero negatives, which should be good sign. It seemed too good to be true. So I looked a little closer.

Warning sign #1: None of the feedback ratings were from the last 6 months, and none were for transactions where this user was the seller – he’d always been the buyer. Not so good after all.

Even so, I was soo tempted that I emailed the guy and asked some questions about the condition of the items and shipping etc. This morning I got a reply.

Warning sign #2: His email address was flagged up by SpamCop. So he’d either been using an open relay, been sending spam in the past, been wrongly listed by SpamCop, or most likely, using some sort of anonymiser.

According to his email, he had two of these Powerbook/Cinema display sets, both brand new in their original wrapping. In order to save us both the time and hassle of an eBay auction, he was willing to let me take one for £1000, or £1900 for the pair! Plus free shipping and insurance! Blimey!

Warning sign #3: Too cheap!

The items are currently in Spain, but he was willing to ship them with “Display unit, no commercial value” customs status to avoid paying import duty and tax.

Warning sign #4: He’s not worried about customs laws, so why would he be bothered about, say, dealing in stolen goods?

Even so, I was so tempted by his offer that I had to keep taking reality checks. I always thought that people who get conned out of their money are a bit daft, but I can see how it happens. A few more beers and he might have had me.

Warning sign #5: Too good to be true.

That said, I don’t know that the deal wasn’t legitimate, but see the evidence for yourselves. I descided that if it really sounded too good to be true, then it probably was.

So I still have no Powerbook.