I bought a new iMac a couple of weeks ago. It’s pretty nice. I bought the 24" model with the new brushed aluminum case. It’s roughly ten times faster than my old computer, depending how you do the math, with double the memory and ten times the storage. The screen has two-and-a-half times as much real estate. Everything is bigger, better, faster, stronger, and more robust. My computing life has really turned a corner.

Normally the frugal sort, I justified the purchase of the hugest iMac because the price was brought down—by a combination of a $100 student discount and the offer (to students only) of a free iPod nano (which could then be sold on eBay) with the purchase of any computer—to within $50 of the smaller iMac. I divided the $50 by the five years I expect to own this computer, and figured that I'd be willing to pay $5 a year to have the luxury model. Who could argue with that math?

The selling of the iPod on eBay was more of a challenge than I thought. About two days after I ordered the computer and the iPod, Apple released a whole new line of iPods and lowered the prices. This sort of put a hole in my plan to recoup some of the cost of the luxury iMac. I bought the 4 GB iPod Nano (tall thin model) for $199 and before it even arrived at the house you could buy an 4 GB iPod Nano with video (short fat model) for $149. So I was surprised when my first auction ended at $157. But I am already familiar with the pattern of people getting so caught up in the auction that they overpay for used stuff on eBay.

It made sense when I got an email from eBay saying that they had “administratively” cancelled the winning bid because it was made by someone using a hacked account. I tried contacting a few other high bidders, but they were suddenly uninterested or tried to bargain me down. So I relisted it. Finally, about 16 days after I started the first auction, it sold for $141. Not bad.

Along the way, I had this sort of weird exchange with this sort of weird guy who seemed not to understand that I, as a guy selling stuff on eBay, am not in control of the eBay computer system. It started off with a standard question, but by the end it became clear that he thought I was eBay, both customer service and tech support.

Why is the UPC removed? Has this ever been used? Does it come with the warranty from apple?

The UPC was removed because I received a rebate on it as part of Apple's back-to-school deal. From the original listing:

"It was purchased with Apple's back-to-school promotion, and to process the rebate it was necessary to open the package to remove the original UPC information. However, a copy of this information (serial number, etc) will be included with the iPod. The iPod itself has never been used."

The iPod has never been used. It is under the standard warranty from Apple.

Thank you. I need to replace my daughter's iPod that got washed and dried. It is for her birthday.

Oh, it really hurts when that happens (an iPod gets washed).

This iPod is perfect for a gift. She'll be so excited to open it that she's not going to care if it has a UPC code or not.

I'll include in the box a photocopy of the part of the packaging I removed. It has the UPC code and the serial number.

Thanks for your bid.

I sure hope I win. I can't stay on the computer 24/7. Do you know anyone else who may have a red ipod nano.

Hi, sorry, don't know anyone else who has one.

eBay's bidding system works by letting you just enter one bid, which is the maximum bid you're willing to pay. It automatically bids in small increments up to that amount, but no more than it has to do to keep you in the lead. Once it hits the maximum, only then does the other person get ahead. So just bid the maximum amount you're willing to pay and let eBay do all that micromanaging for you. (Keep in mind that the brand new ones from Apple go for $150, so you'd be silly to pay more than that on eBay).

Last night I went online and placed a maximum bid of $145 for the iPod for my daughter and the bid was confirmed. I come in this morning and it shows that someone outbid me with $141.00 and my $145 maximum bid does not even show up. Please explain.

Sorry, I have no idea. That's a technical matter for eBay to explain. In my list of bids, I see your maximum bid being $123.46.

It was last night around 8:30 and it said bid accepted. Now I cannot locate another one for my daughter's birthday. Who should I get in touch with?

If you're willing to pay $150, which you seem to be, you can get one of the newer models right from the Apple store (online or physical). http://www.apple.com. That way, you don't have to wait for an auction to end. Otherwise, eBay is probably your best bet.

I offered to buy my daughter the new one, but she wants the exact same one I purchased for Christmas which was the red 4gb nano. I had it engraved. It lasted for about 3 weeks until it got washed and dried.