Group Ipod buy. Scam or not?

A good friend of mind recently got into a "group buy" of ipods. One of his co-workers got him in contact with someone who is apparantly going to invest $3000 in ipods, and get them cheap because he is spending so much money. The more ipods bought, the cheaper the prices, so this guy is allowing other people to buy them as well. The only problem is that the guy will not give information about his source to protect his interests. He said he will give his contact information to those people who are buying ipods through him.

My friend started taking orders from people, and he's about to spend $2000 on ipods. He's afraid of getting scammed, so I told him I would talk to "some people" (basically ocforums) to see what to do. The only thing I came up with so far is to use paypal so if he never gets anything, paypal will refund his money. Along with that, SSS, I was wondering if you would be willing to run this guy's contact info through your connections to see if any red flags show up. I appreciate any help you guys can give.

Thanks.

I wouldn't buy it. 3000 isn't that much money for a deep discount on IPOD's unless he has a really good source, and in that case he should front the cash buy the ipods then resell. Handing anyone straight cash before you have the product in your hands is a poor idea. Maybe draw up some form of a contract for the deal, so you could have some legal recourse, otherwise its just a he said/she said deal

One question I have is are they refurb ? A place that sells closeouts or do factory liquidations emailed me about iPods.. It was a few weeks ago but I am almost certain the buy in amount was 20 units.

But yeah.. What Ramlean said is good advice

They are brand new (or at least are supposed to be).

i'd wouldn't do it.

zip22 said:

i'd wouldn't do it.

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nor would i

zip22 said:

i'd wouldn't do it.

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Ditto, Group buys are always a headache, even worse if you get ripped off.

Thank you guys so much for the input.

you have to look at these situations and calculate the risk/benifits. There is way too much risk for little benifits.

Silversinksam said:

Ditto, Group buys are always a headache, even worse if you get ripped off.

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Ya like I did by good (or so I thought) friend. Stay away...FAR away. Most likely I'd bet they are stolen

i would do it, but the profit would have to be exceptional. also i would ensure that there is a contract with notarized signatures. if he refuses to do so then that right there should tell you the most likely outcome.

how do you know these arent brand new stolen ipods?

the risk is high in the event that you dont take care of your investment.