The Truth @ The Spin Factor

Atomizing the truth (An academic journal).

Can you get a good deal through DubLi?

Here is what a DubLi promoter has to say:

Just ignore this blog – he’s no doubt an eBay seller who is trembling in his boots. [...]

So that brand new full warranty Macbook Air 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo w/ 80 GB HD and 2 Gigs of Ram that I just paid $1115.00 for cost me $9.95 to ship. http://linktrack.info/ib0vu45

The best price you can find online is at Amazon for $1844.00 – yeah, it’s a scam that I saved a TON on my new laptop.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006HU4NK

Whaaaaa…go pound sand!

The Spin Factor response

To EJ,

The computer listed on DubLi (that you linked to) is not the Macbook Air.
The computer listed on DubLi is a regular Macbook, with an alleged T8100 2.4Ghz processor.

But Intel does not make a 2.4Ghz processor for mobile products in the T8100 model. The T8100 model is a 2.1Ghz processor.

Second, your computer has 1Gb of DDR RAM. All the computers you’ve listed so far, have 2Gbs of DDR2 and DDR3 RAM.

That means your RAM is slow and outdated.

Third, the computers you’ve listed have FAR better video cards. The video card that comes with your Macbook is an onboard intel video card (sucks resources out of your already limited RAM). The other computers come with top of the line Geforce video cards.

Fourth, your computer comes with iLife ‘06, and the Tiger OS 1.4; The other computers come with iLife ‘08, and the Leopard OS 1.5.

The only advantage your computer has is a fairly spacey hard-drive, but that’s always a cheap and easy upgrade.

Fifth, the memory capacity of your motherboard is 2GB (you currently have only 1GB and it is slow memory); The other computers you listed come with 2GB, and can be upgraded to 4GB of fast DDR3 RAM. So even if you upgrade your computer to 2GB, that’s as far as you can go.

The Bottom line: You got ripped-off even at the price you paid.

The Evidence that DubLi ripped you off

Dubli was asking for $1500.

My evidence consists of equivalent or better computers (new) at the price you paid or cheaper:

$899 – Equivalent Specs, better video card, better faster RAM, better motherboard, better OS, better productivity software, reputable company. Higher RAM capacity 4GB.

$1,194.00 – Faster processor, faster and better RAM (and 2x more), better video card, equivalent hard drive, better operating system, better productivity software, higher RAM capacity 4GB, better motherboard, reputable company.

The Bottom line: DubLi posted inaccurate (contradictory) information about the computer specifications. DubLi marked up the price by over $300. And DubLi made money off the people who paid to reduce the price (by a factor of 3).

The Real Bottom line: Even if you had gotten a good deal from DubLi, the fact that DubLi makes most of its money from selling licenses makes it a pyramid scheme and therefore unsustainable. Don’t ignore all the bankruptcy information.

Last but not least. You can get a better laptop at the same or cheaper price direct from the apple store, newegg.com, or amazon.com

November 12th, 2008 Posted by eaglescout | Analysis, Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias, Fraud, Lies, Psychology, Rip-Off, Scam, Truth | 7 comments

7 Responses to “Can you get a good deal through DubLi?”

  1. @eaglescout

    I want to thank you for your due diligence. Your effort to bring Dubli to light has undoubtedly saved some heartache in a couple members of my family.

    A million times Thank you

  2. Ryan, it sounds to me like you had something to do with it. I’m very glad we could help.

    Best wishes to you and your family.

  3. [...] DubLi discounts (perhaps an isolated incident). [...]

  4. The simple answer to the question is — if you’re lucky. DubLi is gambling and a bad deal for the consumer.

    Zero auction: Consumers can expect to pay an average of 3.2X retail

    Express: Depending on where the buyout level settles, consumers will average +55 cents over retail to 3.2X retail

    Unique: Average price consumers can expect to pay over time is….get ready for this —> INFINITY! Since it’s possible to not have a winner, the mean price really does trend toward infinity. Sweet!

  5. I would just like to make a comment regarding your generalisation of ‘The Consumer’. As a whole your comment regarding the inflated price is correct but the individual who wins this auction is getting a product that to him alone is discounted. Regardless of the ‘Gambling’ factor i ask you to ask yourself, how many people play black jack online? If people choose to play online at Dubli they do so knowing how much it will cost. Any simplton can do the math. Fact is this is a good idea that makes shopping fun.

  6. Eaglescout, if you ever decided to start a business venture I would join you right away. You are an honest and genuine human being, who dispite all the biased critisim, will only respond factually but most of all, decently. The world needs more people like you my friend.

  7. Another new addition, I really couldn’t have talked about the idea better personally.

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