Should I give serial number to potential ebay buyer?

[plwebb]

I'm selling my Tungsten C on ebay because I got a Treo 650. I just had a question from a ebay member asking for the serial number because he had "already been burned once buying stolen property". Is giving him the serial number a no-no or is this legit?

[Dick Tracy]

Does this buyer have a rating on ebay?

Could they want to use the serial number for something else and walk away from the sale. Maybe you could provide them with the date of manufacture, decoded from the serial number. Info in FAQ forum here at Brighthand.

[internetpilot]

What is getting your serial number going to do for this buyer? Does he have a list of all stolen T|C's or what? Sounds silly to me. It's probably just a situation where a buyer is trying to make himself sound shrewd, but the information he's asking for is actually quite irrelevant.

I don't see how the serial number is going to help him whether he's legit or shady. I don't see what it's going to get him either way.

[BAB2000]

The serial number on the case can be removed, or can actually were off.

Being stolen is not a ligit reason, to ask for the serial number, it could not be present for several reasons, however if authorities busted a seller, and then traced all sales of goods from that person, that could be another story.

The case can also be replaced on a unit.

The actual unit serial number is written to the ROM of the unit. And can be viewed by selecting the INFO view from the Home / Drop down.

I have visited several Pawn shops, and have found handhelds on display for sale, with original owners info still intact, lately, Pawn owners are HARD reseting units to erase data,.

The time to be suspious is when only the unit is listed, minus the CD, the cradle, cables, power adapter, and other expected items. This would be flag for concern or the sellers actual proper ownership rights, and if missing, good reason to keep on shopping.

[matiasdelalastr]

If you want to earn points on the palm pays back program you need a serial number and a UPC code. Maybe he has a list of UPCs codes and he just needs some serials to earn some cash on palm pays back... Or maybe he is just a newb . Anyway, you can offer him to say almost your complete serial except three characters. Offer him to choose what numbers he wants.