And that was the Buy It Now price. Dude didn't know what he had, apparently.

He linked an article that says the price was 1200 dollars so I would guess it was a mistake.

That's worrying. The guy obviously researched enough to know that the required adapter was 12-14V, and enough to find that review but didn't find riocar.org or this forum...That's not easy. Add to that the fact that the stated history is dodgy (how many friends would just give away a UKP1200 player because it's suffering from the #1 reported problem that is easily fixed?), and the absence of a sled, and you've got to wonder what the serial number of this unit is, and whether it has disappeared from someone's car in the past.

Eighty quid though...

Umm, Sounds like a knock off to me!!!!

No sled, to AC etc... pinched out off a front seat maybe???

Cheers

Cris.

Yeah I am betting its a a stolen player too. No remote either.

I wonder if one of us could contact the buyer somehow and ask for the serial number. Hm, but might that introduce the problem of buying stolen merchandise: something like, the buyer gets the merch taken by the authorities with no compensation because it's stolen and the seller gets found, only if possible. That would stink for the buyer.

Hm.... I wonder, if we could get the serial number, find who it belonged to (if stolen) and work out some way to compensate the buyer for his assistance while getting the player back to its rightfull owner AND getting the authorities involved....

And I'm not pointing any fingers, but the guy has sold a lot of convenient car audio gear, other convenient things you find in cars (cell phones), and... come on now. Again, I'm not pointing any fingers because I've sold one or two head units that I got from friends (stock headunits from their dead cars, one broken for parts).

Why do I get the feeling this post may be deleted....

[Edit: added stuff]

Yeah, i'd say we should get the serial number from the buyer... or hell... even see if you can get it off the seller.

Has anyone emailed either the buyer or seller for the serial number yet? Point them to this BBS and this thread specifically in fact. I'd do it, but I thought I'd ask before sending the umpteenth message about the same topic.

Empeg and bag... Couple of cables but not much else... Does sound stolen. Or the "friend" simply replaced the unit and kept everything installed in his car. Don't know why he'd give away the empeg bag though.

Bruno

I've been combing ebay since my player was stolen, but unless the thief upgraded the HD and found a bag I highly doubt it's mine. Still, it does seem a little odd...

I sure haven't e-mailed the buyer. If someone does, please let us know so nobody else does. I'm really curious about this one.

I've reported it to ebay, and you wouldn't believe how many menus and pages I had to go through to find an even vaguely related section - you would have thought that selling stolen goods on the site was a top priority.
It will be interesting to see what action, if any, they are prepared to take.

You know, I may do the same.

Now, can somebody do something positive about tracing Darkstorm, instead of just talking about it! - not that I'm out of pocket.

I have a lengthy standard reply, which seems to indicate that ebay have not understood the situation, I'll see if I get more.

The eBay wording claims to have the software included -- if that means the original CDs, then it's unlikely to be hot property..

Unless he has downloaded it from the website and burnt it to a CD

Seems unlikely, seller doesn't seem to have looked at our site, or any others. no sled for car and no power unit for home seem a stronger case for the theft theorists.
Have you looked at any of the vendors other items? - Ho, Hum.

The large number of mobile phones doesn't really mean anything. One of the lots the seller won was a bunch of semi working mobile phones.

How did you reported it to eBay? As a suspicious sale? Anyone try to contact the seller directly? (yes, I'm being all talk, but I'll stop now).

On the same day that I contacted ebay, thair lack of concern over policing fraud and possible fraud on the site, was featured on a consumer affairs programme here, called "Watchdog". The UK MD was interviewed outlining extensive steps that are being taken.
All I got was a standard email, which made it clear that they didn't understand the problem, plus a follow up email asking me whether I was satisfied with the service.
So, as far as I'm concerned, the people that had reported them to Watchdog were about right, but I really don't want to dig deeper by following it up further.