And to be honest with you, he has some valid points.

Q. After the iPad was introduced, most analyists greatly upped their predictions for how many million units Apple will sell in the iPad’s first year. Do they know something we don’t know?
A. Yup. They know that the iPad isn’t for everyone, just like the iPhone isn’t for everyone, but they also know there are enough people who, when they see and hold one in person, will absolutely fall in love and buy one right there on the spot. There is a big market for the iPad, it’s just not for everybody, but it doesn’t take everybody to make a product a hit. It just takes a lot of somebodies.

Q. So why are some people so Mad?
A. Because they were led to believe the iPad would have some features it in it doesn’t have.

Q. Did Apple lead them to believe this?
A. Nope. Just rampant rumor and speculation all over the Web.

Q. So they’re mad at Apple because the rumor sites made them think the iPad would have more or different features?
A. Yup, pretty much.

I changed my mind :P

blogger - manual uploading - tumlblr….

And now it shall be wordpress. Hopefully it will stay that way.

I saw some chap on Clubsnap selling an item for a very good price and thought it might be a steal. However, a second look at his post (i was viewing on the phone just now) reminded me of something that a seller once warned me of - Scams in Clubsnap.

I wanted to blog about this since a while back but it constantly slipped out of my mind.

Now that such possible scams have surfaced again, i feel obliged to warn others.

Stage 1

Scammers start by selling some items that are not very valuable (non-constant f2.8 zoom lens for example) stuff on a bargain.

The item is sold almost immediately.

Remarks: What the scammer is trying to do here is to make potential buyers feel ‘dui’, in other words make potential buyers feel upset that they missed out on a good deal. There is a high chance that the buyer-bought-lens-immediately is a farce and made up entirely to demonstrate that the things the scammer is selling are in-demand.

Stage 2

The scammer then posts another item for sale, this time a priced item (1ds mk3 for example) and again for a bargain price.

However, the scammer demands a deposit to secure the deal.

So naturally, the kiasu people (basically all of us) who has some money to throw away will wana reserve the set, thinking that they made a steal.

Remarks: Guess what? You just got scammed. In making fake threads about other stuff being sold at a low price, the scammer is trying to lend the impression that he/she is a credible seller. So when selling another item at a low price, this time wanting a deposit to ‘close deal’, victims naturally want to reserve it before others do.

This may sound absurd, but i did got this piece of information from another reputable seller that such things do happen once in a while.

So how do you prevent yourself from being scammed?

1. Check seller’s background - The most simple thing to do is to check when did the seller signed up for an account to sell items. If the date now is December 09 and the seller’s account info suggests that it was created in Dec 09, you know something is fishy. Also, insist on mobile contact info.
2. Double check the usual selling price of that item - It is also always good to find out how much others are selling the same item for. Even if the scammer has some pretty valid excuses like urgent need to sell it to raise cash, it doesn’t make sense to sell it cheap to raise cash no?
3. Check terms & conditions - Insist on meeting up to transact instead of paying a deposit and expect the person to deliver it to you. Having said that, reputable sellers on threads like Mass Sales are registered with the moderators of Clubsnap and they do expect paying upfront before delivery. Then again, these people are registered and can’t get away with scams, thus they can be trusted.
4. Insist on a photo of the actual product - Surely a keen seller will more than oblige to take a picture to show you the condition of the item. But this is not as safe as other precautions as the scammer can use other seller’s photo. However, requiring the scammer to take one step further to show you photos of the sale item might cause the seller to expose his contact details.
5. Always test the equipment before handing over the cash - The use of fake ‘prior sales thread’ like Stage 1 is to bypass this step. I’ll repeat: ALWAYS INSIST ON TESTING FIRST BEFORE HANDING MONEY OVER.
6. If the whole sales thread just sounds too good to be true, then chances are it ain’t true. Don’t be dumb enough to think you are ‘The One’.

That should be it.

Also, point 6 reminded me about this one thing my secondary school teacher said to my class well over 10 years ago about casual sex and STDs.

“If you meet a super-hot girl in a club and you are getting lucky with her, don’t be naive enough to think that you are her number one (first guy to have sex with her). In fact, you are very likely to be her number one-O-one (101).”

Yeap… words of wisdom from my ultra-eccentric teacher when i was 15 years old.