Doc,

Paste up a link to the item you bought and I'll tell you what I "really" think tomorrow.

Excel - fwiw the ebay and paypal disputes proceedures are both as useful as a chocolate teapot. Both, especially ebay make too much money from volume/repeat sellers to have any interest in helping little buyers - at least that's my experience from a couple of disputes I've had. Sad and very very annoying.

Whoa Doc! I'm a fan of eBay. It's just that the concept of 'second-owner' proprietary software does not compute.

In most cases *sweeping generalization alert* the software is licensed to the original purchaser and that license *is not transferable*.

The key lies in your use of the phrase " . . . and make a bit of money selling their surplus goods".

A software license isn't goods. It is a license to use intangible intellectual property, a license which - usually - is only granted to the original purchaser of that license. The license is, of course, a contract between a a licensor and a licensee.

It is a process I am familiar with, as frequently my own company's permission is asked for the transfer of our software licenses to a third party (often in the US, and often between a contractor and the ultimate user of a system).

To sum up, when you buy a piece of software - you don't buy it. You buy a license to use it, and that usually - or often - precludes resale or transfer without the licensor's permission.

I agree with Kernow - the chance of Ebay / PayPal taking any meaningful action over this is less than zero. When my wife's debit card was used for fraudulent purchases a couple of years ago, all the bank wanted to do was close the case once her money was refunded, they certainly didn't want to let on to the world outside that there was a fraud problem - and as for involving the police - no chance of them doing that!

So, I think, get your money back, and move on - it's possibly worth making a fuss and leaving a bit of negative feedback, but you might get flack back from the seller rubbishing you. I'm sure you can handle that.

MM
what happends when you buy a second hand PC with Windows already on it as I am sure you have at some stage? Do you feel it is necessary for you to reload a new copy of Windows onto the laptop/PC as the copy on it is not transferable to you?

Trust you to come up with the exception to the rule.

With Windows, the manufacturer normally has a license which *requires* him to put a copy of Windows on every machine he manufactures. In return, he gets a heavily discounted price per copy and Bill Gates gets to be the richest man on the planet. [FWIW, in common with most things Microsoft, they didn't invent that licensing model - it was Gary Kildall at Digital Research, Inc, for the CP/M operating system way back . . .]

So the license is glued to the machine, as it were.

My company does something broadly similar by employing a floating license system which is attached to the CPU ID of a server which then doles out the appropriate number of licenses to client users on a network. The 'root' license is granted to a machine within an organization.

Talking of Ebay. why would they wake me up at 11.45pm last night with a message which began something like: "If you are expecting a call from Ebay......" I didn't wait to hear any more and put down the phone.

This is one of my favourite eBay Sellers.

His stuff is fantastic, particularly if you want to buy really fresh fish. I highly recommend this seller's produce.

When you open the strapped polystyrene box, which is full of ice and perfectly fresh fish and/or sea food, it smells of the sea.

TOK,

I have just signed up as an eBay seller. In the process I had to give them my number and immediately the phone rang with that message you received.

My guess is that someone accidentally put your number in the box and you were called as a result.

Not me - I promise. I only signed on this afternoon!

TP

Thanks TP for the explanation. "Accidentally" at 23.45? I wonder.... But then, I'm just a grumpy old cynic.

I've just had a note from PayPal and also a confirmation e-mail from the eBay Seller saying that he has given me a full refund on my Windows 7 Ultimate purchase.

So a nice start to my weekend, eh?

I have a Acer laptop which is about 3 years old and has been ultra reliable but this last week its been a right pain getting the thing to fire up,gut feeling tells me its the battery gone home and like most things i never took the battery out while i use it on the mains.If the battery is finished would that cause the issue of it firing up when even plugged into the mains.

Any thoughts on this one please,i am very tempted to open the battery pack and replace the batteries myself.

Any suggestion please.

The answer is no. The battery is effectively bypassed when the mains is connected (except when it is charging up). The battery should be lithium-ion or similar and is not serviceable (Sealed unit). Replacement of the entire battery unit only. Your boot-up is due to another cause (assuming your mains supply/transformer is not defective), but you don't say if the the lap-top actually starts the boot sequence but doesn't load Windows or doesn't appear to do anything. (Fan noise, hard drive noise, screen base lights up).

To prove the point, just remove the battery completely. It should boot up normally. If it is any different from the battery being in then there is a connection.

fwiw I've had two laptops where the battery has expired/very limited life. Start up remained normal with or without the battery pack in place.

As suggested by others, try removing the battery and just run it on the mains adapter. That will eliminate the battery as a problem in the power system. If you still have the problem, then it's not the battery (apparently).

And you're right, what does for Li-Ion batteries is continually being recharged when already charged to within about 90% of capacity, So it's sensible to remove the battery when the laptop is being used continually as a desktop.

A Li-Ion battery is best stored when charged to approximately 50% of its capacity, but I wouldn't lose sleep over that.

A word of caution, young Mega. I assume that the battery is a Li-Ion (Lithium-Ion) type. It will say on it. Li-Ion cells don't come in standard AA packaging etc because they (a) run at 3.7 volts and (b) have a tendency to ignite if charged with the wrong type of charging circuit.

If the battery pack needs replacing, replace it with a manufacturer replacement and don't leave the damn thing in the laptop all the time when it's running on mains.

Thanks gents for the advice on the laptop,i have decided to retire it and buy a new one.

Mega

Just one point about taking out & leaving out the battery, if you ever have a power failure whilst using your laptop & the battery is not installed, you will lose all the work you have done which hadn't been saved. With the battery in, the laptop will continue to run normally.

Amazon have just emailed about a half price deal on Acronis 2011.

My version is about two generations old so I am tempted to upgrade.

First, though, I ask the gurus.....

I use it to create a bootable image on a USB mounted hard drive. It worked the one time I used it, but I am never embarassed about upgrading if it hints at more safety and reliability.

TP

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

It's a bit of a mouthful, but it might be an idea to commit it to memory.

AND

It might be best to delay ordering that new computer.................

"New PCs could start in just seconds, thanks to an update to one of the oldest parts of desktop computers.

The upgrade will spell the end for the 25-year-old PC start-up software known as BIOS that initialises a machine so its operating system can get going.

The code was not intended to live nearly this long, and adapting it to modern PCs is one reason they take as long as they do to warm up.

BIOS' replacement, known as UEFI, will predominate in new PCs by 2011.

The acronym stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface and is designed to be more flexible than its venerable predecessor."

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11430069