Date   : Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:16:09 +0100
From   : afra@... (Phill Harvey-Smith)
Subject: eBay... sigh

On 29/08/2011 13:34, Mark McDougall wrote:
> And here I was thinking only the _buyers_ on eBay were stupid...
>
> Some genius selling a BBC plugged it in, and when it went 'pop' after
> 30s and black smoke came out, decided to cut the power cord off!!!

Though to be fair this is what I do when I'm scrapping portentially
faulty mains powered gear. The though being that it's then clear that it 
will require work to get it working again, hopefully someone trying to 
replace the power cable would also spot the fact that the PSU has problems.

Mind if it's really faulty, and dangerously so I usually also mark it up 
as faulty in perminent ink !

The other thought is that having deliberetly and clearly made the thing 
un-usable, the seller may be (or think they are) more protected leagally 
if it blows up and injures you / brings about the end of the world. The 
defense being "I made sure it was safe when it left my hands as it was 
impossible to connect to the mains".

Cheers.

Phill.

-- 
Phill Harvey-Smith, Programmer, Hardware hacker, and general eccentric !

"You can twist perceptions, but reality won't budge" -- Rush.