An entertaining Ebay moment

mark leuchter · February 23, 2005

Hi all,

Some guy had reposted an ad for an S-16 Aaton LTR from a few months ago, and he's "selling" it for, of course, a couple hundred bucks. Obviously a scam. But I figured, what the heck, have some fun. I've done "test" email queries before to see if someone was a scam artist, but I decided to ask the grandaddy of all "how much of an idiot scam artist are you?" question: did the camera come with 3 or 4 photon torpedo hyperdrives. His reply:

"This include 4 photon torpedo hyperdrive. Please fell free to reply me with any questions."

Ah, classic. Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away, Scotty and Han Solo are laughing.

Mark

February 23, 2005

Well that one takes the cake, hilarious!

Yeah it's a scam alright every one knows the S-16 Aaton LTR has 3 photon torpedo hyperdrives.

Richard.

Trevor Greenfield · February 23, 2005

Contrary to popular belief, the S-16 Aaton LTR early models were in fact, 3 photon torpedo hyperdrive models. In 1908, Aaton introduced the LTR-LE model with 4 photon torpedo hyperdrives in an effort to further protect against Klingon ambushes.

"The extra photon torpedo hyperdrive allows for more spatial photon torpedos in a confined area such as space", Mr. Todd Aaton said, cerca winter 1908.

Despite the continuing advancements in propulsion and weaponry by Mr. Aaton, the necessary atomic power needed to fully utilize the 4 photon system wasn't developed yet, as reported by Scotty "I'm givin er all shes got sir, she won't hold up much longer under the pressure of firing the 4th hyperdrive unit!"

Testing of the LTR-LE 4 photon torpedo hyperdrive system was halted in early 1909 when it claimed the life of CREWMAN #15 during a cross galaxy recon run for some B-roll. In February of 1909, Arri announced they had successfully done away with the need for extra atomic power by introducing a phantom power source which drew plasma energy from a concoction of Mr. Goodbar, Maxwell House, and Marlboro cigarettes. This paved the way for a camera unit much more dynamic and powerful than the Aator LTR-LE, and fed the crew at the same time. This effectively ended the short lived life of the Aaton LTR-LE 4 photon torpedo hyperdrive camera system, and Aaton resumed production on their LTR 3 photon torpedo hyperdrive units later that same year.

Hence, should you happen to come across an LTR-LE unit at an auction in the 21st century, you should most definitely snap it up. You will not be able to power the unit effectively, but for rare collector value alone, making this the only Aaton camera in history to pull in over a million dollars, as witnessed during last years auction in New York. Also, when a few guys in a white van with the engine running stop you in a parking lot outside of Target and tell you they are selling $5000 speakers for $400 because they have some extras, you should buy them, as everyone knows this is the best way to get your hands on some top end stereo equipment for a fraction of the cost. Best yet, most of these angels even offer a 3 year warranty!

More buying tips to come soon!

zrszach · February 23, 2005

haha :D i wouldnt rule out ebay tho...as long as you really know what ur getting.

Nate Yolles · February 24, 2005

It's not the sellers that bother me on ebay though. It's the other idiots that you are bidding against. The people who drive up the prices so high that it's no longer a deal. When it gets to the point where the ebay price is just underthe price of buying it brand new, you no longer have a deal for yourself. Furthermore, it's not uncommon to see auctions prices higher than the MSRP of the product brand new. I see that a lot and it really makes you wonder about people and their so called "street smarts". It's like the white vans driving around where you can get $5000 home speakers for only $100 bucks, you pay cash and get no receipt from a company located in Las Vegas - and people actually think they're getting a good deal. ;)

Matt Pacini · February 24, 2005

Hey, post the ebay link, so we can all overwhelm the guy with questions.

As for ebay bidders, sometimes they are phony bidders; friends or alter-identities of the scamming seller, trying to get the bids up as high as possible.

However, having said that, I've sold a couple things that I was astonished that bidding went up higher than the retail value.

I had a prop gargoyle that I used in my film, that cost me 20 bucks.

I decided to sell it, clearly listing what it was, the size, etc., and it ended up at about $65., which just floored me.

Weird.

So, which Aaton camera is it that has the freon hyper-moldulated throzzle rod fluctuator?

I can't remember.

I'm pretty sure they all have the side-mounted zircon core defibrillation circuitry, but I'd still have mine upgraded to the zero-thrust, moto-flatulation modulation reverser if I were you.

Matt Pacini

John Sprung · February 24, 2005

Furthermore, it's not uncommon to see auctions prices higher than the MSRP of the product brand new.
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Had that happen at a live auction when I was looking for a truck. I went expecting to get a truck that blue booked at $9k for maybe $6k. Some fool paid $16k for it.

-- J.S.