LCD panels -- buyer beware

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Robert La Ferla <robertlaferla at comcast.net> wrote:
>  I can't see how they could sell something as new if it's missing
> a part...

My comments are specific to items represented as not new.  A trend has emerged
in sales of used LCD panels:  vendors and even private sellers have figured
out they can liquidate the power bricks separately, and get more money that
way.  (Example, the AC adapter might fetch $35 for a monitor that goes for
$220; if you bundled the adapter in, you might only get $230.  Selling
separately nets $25 more.  Same for used motherboards/CPUs.  Drives me nuts. 
And the retail stores have all folded or gone online, no more ELI Computer
shops around anymore.)  Virtually no one includes the power brick in the deal,
even for old-model off-brand items for which accessories are hard to locate. 
A shady dealer can--and has in my case--dispute a "DOA warranty" if you tried
to plug in a third-party AC adapter.

> There certainly  are more unscrupulous sellers out there now (on the
> Internet not just eBay) so I no longer just consider the lowest price
> but also take a long  detailed look at the reviews/feedback before
> purchasing.

The feedback segment of an eBay profile, while useful for private sellers, may
be less so for the big dealers.  I have a theory about this:  a big dealer
with feedback over 1000 has leverage over you as a small buyer with feedback
under 50.  If you submit negative feedback on a dealer, his leverage is that
he can (and will) submit negative feedback on you as a buyer.  Most of us who
have suffered a mediocre transaction with a dealer will simply decline to
submit feedback.  You really have to think twice or 5 times before submitting
that negative feedback, if you care about building your own positive rating so
that eventually you can turn around and resell items (such as the clunky
monitors that are piling up in my basement.  ;-)

Even on a $250 purchase, I'm not sure I want to submit negative feedback--it
might feel cathartic for me but it won't affect the dealer's 4000+ rating. 
And scrutinizing his recent feedback really doesn't shed light on a situation
like mine:  the guy is being a turd, plain and simple, and you won't see that
fact in his sterling 99.1% feedback rating.  I'm sure many other unsatisfied
purchasers have had the same dilemma, and declined to enter the deserved
negative feedback.

Bottom line:  I think you can put the most trust in a feedback rating between
10 and 1000, with a score above 96%.  Customer counts above/below that range
make the tool relatively useless.  Maybe a rival to eBay will come up with a
better system.  But even the oldest such system--the Better Business
Bureau--has been corrupted by large-dealer leverage of the same variety.

-rich