I am setting up a group buy (originally through www.twinturbo.net) for the 10GB units. I need a total of 10 participants (I have 4 already) to get a price of $520 shipped (with insurance of course) anywhere in the USA. If more than 10 are interested, the price may drop to below $500. International shipping will be extra. Please let me know if you are interested. Payment will be through Paypal.

Where are you getting ten 10gig empegs from?

This sounds really suspect and I hope no one signs on untill there's some more information available... No one has an unlimited supply of empegs to sell any more, and I don't beleive anyone that has more than 10 of them would be trying to unload them all at once at discounted prices... Back this up with some details, however, and you'll make plenty of people happy...

Matthew

I would be very interested in being able to pick up a second if I could, but I tend to agree with Matthew on this. Who would honestly want to sell them off that cheap if they had so many and knew what they could get for them?

I would prefer not to reveal my source, then it will become a bidding war to get the units. If there are any questions about me, please read www.twinturbo.net. I have been a member there for over 4 years. I just ran a group buy on Techtom MDM-100's ($299 ea.) which had not been available in the US for over 2 years. There were 35 people who purchased those units. I have also ran other group buys on items such as gauges, etc. Feel free to post questions on twinturbo.net asking for feedback about me. I am new to the Empeg and initially started the group buy in order to get Empegs for a few other 300ZX owners. I will be writing software to interface it with my Z's ECU to control timing, fuel curves, and limiters (rev and speed). I am also a certified Paypal member. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know. Here is my profile on twinturbo.net:
http://www.twinturbo.net/cgi-bin/ttnet_directory.pl?forum=general&user_id=171

All I can say is... Just be careful about your source.

Hey TT

Your profile link requires a log-in as a new member to twinturbo...kinda inconvenient...

I'm sure about my source. I've done lots of business previously. About the login...sorry about that. The webmaster doesn't want hundreds of people trolling the board. It happened on twinturbo.com and they ended up shutting the board down because it just became a flame war. It's really simple to logon and it's free. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but if you want to know about my history, it's something you have to do.

Hey TT

I don't mean to sound harsh. However, if you scan the board you'll find that there has been a lot of threads on scams and people being burnt lately. With the player being EOL and tuners rarer than Faberge eggs, it's understandable when people are a bit cautious. Especially when it's a large number of players suddenly appearing at once. I would love to have a spare player but I don't relish losing a wad of US cash either.

The webmaster doesn't want hundreds of people trolling the board. It happened on twinturbo.com and they ended up shutting the board down because it just became a flame war.

Yeah, we've only had just a couple of those.

John,
I completely understand your concern. I've read about those scams also. BTW , I do not think you are being harsh.

I do have a day job as a fuel injection engineer so I do not need the money. I've been on twinturbo.net for 4 years. With over 5,000 members, I've helped (virtually and physically) or done business with quite a few of them. Like I said, I initially researched and started the group buy to help myself and a couple of fellow Z'ers to get their units relatively inexpensively. :-)

Here's my not very good quality picture (I'm in the green sweatshirt)... and no, that's not my Z.
http://www.streetchallenge.com/uploadpix/up/jlc2.jpg

Tony,
You'll find this place to be a small close knit community, who feel (and many rightly) that they know the in's & out's of the empeg from its conception.
All are to well aware of the number of empegs produced, and of their availability. So when you come striding in saying you can get ten 10GB units for $520 plus more you are going to be met with suspicion.
Now while you might be a honset individual, your supplier might not - please bear in mind we don't know either of you from Adam.
I would suggest you find some way of confirming your supply chain. The best way that comes to mind would be for you to get the serial numbers and to have them confirmed by empeg - I know someone here can do that for you.
While many here would love the chance of an empeg (any empeg) for ~$500 no one whant to get taken for a ride.

I will get the serial numbers as soon as possible. I have requested them already. I will be leaving for Hilton Head tomorrow and will not be back online until Sunday night. If you do not hear from me until then, that is why.

I think it's good to be sure who you're dealing with, but you guys are acting like this is a great deal.

I submit for evidence:
A) 10GB closed for $455
B) 10GB closed for $535
C) 10GB closed for $417
D) 10GB closed for $510

$479 is the average price for recent ebay auctions. While $520 is a good deal, it's not a killer deal.

You are only telling part of the story...
Don't forget to add the $15 shipping to all those prices. That brings the total average to $494. That is the price I expect to equal or beat with more participants. Also, some of those units are used, these are all new. The first unit I bid on E-bay went for $635 (I bid $625). I wish I had found this group buy earlier.

Dear ttonyztt, you were not the winning bidder on the following closed item:

Item Name: Rio Car 10GB MP3 Player Model RD100-10 New (Item# 1360887867)
Final Price: $635.00
Your Max Bid: $625.00
End Date: Jun-22-02 17:03 PDT

If I don't have at least 10 people in the group buy, I'm going to buy the rest of the units myself.

If it weren't for the skepticism and the paypal as payment, I may be interested. If they are proven to be real and payment can be made in another form, let me know.

For reasons I am against Paypal, check out http://www.paypalwarning.com

I personally part of the Paypal *scam* and know of fourteen others with similar issues. They basically wait until you store up a large sum of money in the account and close it unexpectedly (for some lame reason) and find ways to never return your money.....

1) Yeah, I won't use paypal now either. They shut my account down when they tried to run a credit through on an old number that had been changed because of fraud. Then they won't turn it back on without linking it to a checking account and providing sixteen forms of ID, neither of which is something i'm ever going to do.

2) Well, you may want to check serial numbers, but I personally want to see a picture of 10 players laid out on a New York Times front page... I'd settle for a LA times or Wall Street Journal if i had to... But then, I'm not buying any players any time soon, so it doesn't really matter.

If you've got the players and all works out, I'll be happy for all involved. $500+ may not be a good deal compared to ebay, but ebay is a lot of hassle for some people...

Matthew

I would take a certified check or money order also. E-mail me for my address. It's not a PO box either! Please include your screenname in the e-mail.
There is no 2.9% fee to pay on certified checks or money orders. I've found most people prefer Paypal because you can use a credit card and it gives some form of protection.

I will have the serial numbers and picture shortly. This is turning into somewhat of a hostage situation, LOL! I'm starting to feel like there is a ransom on these units. I will ship these unit via USPS. That should give you comfort because if anything illegal happens, it becomes a Federal case of mail fraud.

1) Yeah, I won't use paypal now either. They shut my account down when they tried to run a credit through on an old number that had been changed because of fraud. Then they won't turn it back on without linking it to a checking account and providing sixteen forms of ID, neither of which is something i'm ever going to do.

Dude, they did the same thing to me! I lost my card, they tried to run it, now my account is "restricted." Last I heard, they wanted my birth certificate, social security card, and first born to get my account running again. Thanks PayPal.

Now I'm worried. I have been using PayPal for a while. I don't sell much on eBay, but here and there I come up with something that is still perfectly useful that I don't want anymore. I always pull the money from PayPal as soon as I get it.

Now if these horror stories are true I may just want to close the account now... even though I personally haven't had a problem with them. At least not yet.

Well, to their defense, it's my fault for not deleting that card from my account. I sell a few things a month on eBay and most people use eBay Payments when PayPal is not an option. I haven't had anyone complain yet that I don't accept PayPal.

I signed up a c2it account, but nobody has paid me using c2it yet.

I say your auction for the tuners, and the many different forms of online payment you offered as alternatives to PayPal. Typically I buy more than I sell online - I know I can get things cheaper online, even with shipping costs. So usually I dig up the best deal I can find and order it that way.

Right now I am reading material on the PayPalWarning site and I'm about ready to hop over to PayPal and close down the account. There may be a time when I want to sell something expensive (certainly NOT my empeg, though), and I don't want a hassle. I hate hassles.

Odd I have been using PayPal from the get-go put over 20000 though it in the last 2 years (perimer Business member) No problems at all... in fact when I fat fingered sending 265 bucks to the wrong person it only took them 48 hours to refund my money back (Even after the person in question excepted the cash)

ya i use paypal quite often and even have the atm card they offer, yet it dose make me wonder. I have never had a problem with them, i would hate to have one. I try not to keep over $500 with them at any given time anyways, it is a nice service.

Same here. I've got an ATM/Debit card, and a PayPal credit card (which is actually through Providian), and I've never had any problems. I haven't had that much money flow through my account, but I've done a significant amount of business (probably 1/4th of that), and everything has gone very smoothly.

Yeah, for more PayPal horror stories, check out:

http://members.aol.com/TheCDSeller/paypal.html

Best,

_owen

Same here. I've got an ATM/Debit card, and a PayPal credit card (which is actually through Providian),

Be very, very cautious about that Providian card.

Do not ever use it unless you are fully prepared to pay the balance in full every month. They will take advantage of every line of fine print in your contract to slap user fees on you that are simply beyond belief. I know of people who got behind in their payments to Providian and ended up paying more in service charges than the amount of the purchases made on the card -- I'm talking thousands of dollars in service charges.

My very earnest and serious advice to you is: Pay the account in full, then cancel the account, then burn the card. ANY other credit card will be preferable to Providian.

tanstaafl.

Speaking of Providian. I regularly put thousands of bucks and pay off the balance in full. Used it for business essentally. They couldn't extort any sort of fees out of me at all, so a couple of months ago, they *SOLD MY ACCOUNT* to Chase Manhatten Bank. The new credit card has a much higher APR and I'm no longer using them. WTF? Is this legal?

Calvin

C) 10GB closed for $417 <--heh, this one is mine. Its a great unit and everything that came with it looked new and never used, all accessories came sealed and even new remote battery in package and i got it all for $430 shipped. when I got it i upgraded it right away with hijack and loaded it up with mp3s. This was definately worth the money. I wanted one since I saw them on carplayer and well I finally have one.

Providian has been investigated several times for illeagal practices, however they seem to be quiet lately. Yes, they may legally sell your account, if you do not agree with the new interest rate, you may cancel the card and continue to pay it off at the old interest rate, I think it was Ralph Nadar that got that one into play.

I just recently signed up with paypal mostly to buy stuff from people on this board.

The most annoying thing is that there is a fixed amount of money I will ever be able to spend there because (a) I only gave them one credit card number, and (b) I refuse to link in a checking account.

You think this would be good enough since that credit card will cover anything I need to buy. I won't give them any more credit cards to limit the possible extent of fraud due to their (potentially) crappy online security. I won't link in a checking account because if anybody pays me I'll have them issue me a check (too many horror stories about paypal draining people's checking accounts).

So they gave me some randomly assigned initial limit which gets decremented with every purchase I make. When it's done, I'm done (unless I transfer money for them to hold for me (yeah, right)).

The second most annoying thing about paypal is that they regularly accost me with email and with a message every time I log in, letting me know that I need to be "verified" to lift these restrictions. I.e., link in my checking account, provide them with my social security number, and give them my Mother's maiden name.

Fat Chance, Buddy!

They are very very eager to get their hands on my checking account. And I don't trust them any farther than I can throw a truckload of shredded Enron documents.

My sentiments exactly. I had linked in a checking account and had no problems. But after I heard the stories I figured I've been taking my chances for long enough. I'm going to be selling things on eBay worth more than $25 once in a while... and I damn well want to get the money when I do. I have deleted the checking account and the spending limit has returned. When I've reached it, well, most sellers have more than one form of acceptable payment. In fact, the seller of the last auction I won doesn't accept any form of electronic payment. There's a good old-fashioned money order on its way to him now.

When I first heard about Paypal, I thought it was a great idea. I didn't think about what could go wrong. I have since removed my checking account also. This is a great opportunity for a reputable financial institution to step up and take away all of Paypals customers with a safer format.

Yes. A company structured like PayPal, that was legally allowed to act like a bank, with some actual insurance backing up the money that's moving. One that would cover the user of the service... and not just the service's ass.

> This is a great opportunity for a reputable financial
> institution to step up and take away all of Paypals
> customers with a safer format.

Isn't that what c2it from Citibank is supposed to be?
(If you call Citicorp reputable, that is. At least when they screw you it is all clearly put forth in their account agreements. I call 20+% credit cards usury, when money markets are returning only a few percent.)

But in any case, they *are* a bank, governed by laws and covenants thereforeoverunder applied henceforth in perpetuity ipso facto ad nauseum.

Can I hear a "habeus corpus" brothers and sisters!

I know of the risk. I know three people that work at Providian at the moment and I made sure to get fully briefed before I decided to go ahead and get the card. Thank you for the warning though. From what I've heard from them, Providian has pretty much settled with selling/closing accounts and are not taking any more new accounts (aside from ones that are through other companies, like PayPal). In addition, they aren't authorizing larger card limits (my PayPal card only has a $2,000 limit).

So are there any players left?

So in the US a company can just help themselves to funds from your chequing account? This isn't possible in the UK - they can deposit, but they can't withdraw anything without my bank being in possession of a direct debit authorisation. The direct debit guarantee ensures that I get my funds back immediately and automatically in the event of a dispute. In any case PayPal don't use Direct Debit.

The worst they could do is withold funds in my paypal account, which I empty out within minutes of receiving anything

If they find a way to rip me off I'll let you know!

Rob

I have a zero balance with it. I don't like cancelling credit cards because of the adverse effects on the credit rating.

Calvin

I don't like cancelling credit cards because of the adverse effects on the credit rating.

Funny. I thought that one's ability to get a loan was often dependent upon their debt potential. For instance, if I have enough open credit cards to run me up into bankruptcy, I would be less likely to be approved for a home loan than someone without a bunch of open credit cards but with the same current-debt-to-income ratio.

I should ask my wife about this, since she's a banker.

If I have $100,000 of credit, with $3000 spread across 8 different cards, that gives me a debt to credit ratio of 3000/100000 = 3%. If I start canceling cards, and consolidating, so that I now have 2 cards, and only $10,000 of total credit, my debt-to-credit ratio jacks up to a whopping 30%. It would adversely affect credit in the same manner if I did not cancel cards and instead spent $27,000 in a short period of time.

Calvin

8 cards! I thought I was bad.

That's was speaking hypothetically. Good god I don't have 8 cards. :-D

Calvin

I heard on the radio this morning on the way to work that Ebay has just purchased, or made a deal to purchase, Paypal. Is this a good thing for Paypal users, or does it place a black mark on Ebay?

I am interested. [email protected]

Yes, ebay is buying paypal for $1.5 billion. Hopefully they'll fix paypal's reputation.

That is great news.Tthe one semi-bad thing about ebay is the payment thingy. If they can sort that Ebay will only get better.

I'm new to Paypal but I've read the horror stories. If Ebay can sort it out, then woohoo!

I probably have more than that. I don't even remember. I use one and have a balance on anoither that I'm paying off slowly since the interest rate is a promotional one less than my mortgage.