I guess I should go ahead and accept the fact that I now own this $2800 Mushihimesama kit.
Before you say $2800?? Are you F@*#ing stupid? Yes - Yes I am, but not for the reason you think.
I was commissioned to buy this board for a forum
member who had a case of buyers remorse. Not the first time he's done this. A few years ago he had an "emergency" and needed a refund for another auction I won for him. I later learned that he re-directed this money to someone else for another PCB. I had totally forgotten about that latter part as it has been a few years.. but everyone has an emergency once in a while, right? I figured I could trust him this time. Wrong.
I received an acceptable deposit before bidding, and once I received the kit he PM'd me asking for me to ship it to him the slowest way possible with no tracking. He also expected to only pay me the actual cost of the auction + no more than $40 for shipping. Nevermind that Paypal took >$120 of that money sent to me, and it cost me $20 in fees to get it exchanged to yen. I told him "absolutely not" on both counts. I'm not shipping a $3000 kit with no tracking, and I'm not swallowing the costs of this auction for you.
Anyhow, the kit arrived and I sent him a PM informing him. I'm already suspicious at this point due to our past dealing as well as that last request. He then replies to my PM saying that he felt he got a "little out of hand" and paid too much for the kit. Could I please return it to the seller, and refund his money? Of course not. That's not how Yahoo works. At all. I know at this point that I'm going to be scammed one way or another. I could have risked shipping it to him with tracking / delivery confirmation and keep his money, but I know he could hit me with "item not as described" complaint to Paypal, "return" some Swedish rocks to me with tracking and get a 100% refund + the Mushihimesama kit you see above. I decided not to risk it, refunded his money, and told him never to contact me again.
So, anyhow - this is my new $2800 Mushihimesama kit. Maybe it will be worth $3500 next year.
I'm a fool, but for now I love it and it sure is purty.
Oh, and George Popa of Sweden - you're a terrible person. I hope someone important Googles you and finds this.