So I decided a few weeks ago to buy a scanner to put some old photos I have lying around online. My mom and dad also have some pics they want to send out, so I decided it was as good of a time as any to purchase something. I did some research and was especially impressed by the Canon Canoscan LiDE 500F scanner. It got great reviews on all the sites I checked and was pretty cheap for its quality, speed, and functionality. The problem was, it's like 3 or 4 years old and is hard to find. I checked on Pricegrabber and there were none available. I decided to go on eBay and found one that was in new condition - "New in Box" - according to the seller. I ended up winning and received the scanner in the mail about a week later.

When I opened it up, I could tell right away that something was rotten in Denmark. The box looked like it had almost been taken through a shredder. The peripherals inside had clearly been removed from their packaging, there were scuff marks on the top of the scanner, and when I opened the lid, there was a packet of highlighted paper on strategic planning.

I sent a note to the seller and told her I would keep the scanner only if it worked and I got a 50% refund. She was happy to oblige and sent me the refund the next day. A few days later, I tried using it and discovered it was broken. It would start scanning and then just conk out. I even tried several different operating systems to no avail.

I sent the seller a note yesterday asking for a full refund and I'm still waiting for a reply. I'm gonna leave her a nasty review. Now I'm wondering if I might just try to get a cheaper scanner at Office Depot or something since I'm not doing anything too complicated. I just want the pics to be clear and vivid. This was my first bad experience with eBay, but it goes to show that even people with great user ratings (99.5% positive) aren't always on the up and up. Online commerce is convenient, but you never know what you're getting until it arrives in the mail.