This is ancient, but we’ve been so entertained by The Broken Laptop I Sold on Ebay stories that we thought it was time to reread another eBay revenge classic: P-P-P-Powerbook!

If you don’t remember or don’t know this famous eBay revenge story, here’s the summary: after Jeff over at the Something Awful forums tried to sell a new Powerbook on eBay, he found the auction won by a London scammer who wanted him to pay through a shady escrow service. eBay buyers use escrow services to guarantee payment on high-priced items. It’s great in theory, but they are a favorite ploy of eBay scammers to rip-off sellers by convincing them to use fake ones set up in Nigeria specifically for the purpose.

So what did Jeff do? He pulled out a three-ring binder and created a hysterical simulacrum of a Powerbook, which he proceeded to send to the scammer. He marked the value for $2000 dollars so the scammer would be nailed with substantial VAT charges. Then he sent out his nefarious Internet agents to film the Internet cafe where the package was set to be delivered.

The result? He got every aspect of the saga documented, including delivery of the package to the scammer himself. A classic tale of consumerist revenge, well worth reading again… for the very first time!

P-P-P-Powerbook!

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