Beware of buying new Cisco from sellers on eBay

By Brad Reese on Thu, 08/09/07 - 10:34am.

BradReese.Com sales manager - Reggie Grant, received an interesting phone call earlier this week.

An eBay purchaser called requesting a Cisco SMARTnet quote on a Cisco PIX-515E-UR-BUN.

Figuring there must be a story with the unit, Reggie asked about its history and was informed that it was purchased brand new from a seller on eBay. The unit was purchased for approximately $2,500 and it included a Cisco PIX-4FE card.

Reggie advised the eBay purchaser that the unit was possibly a counterfeit. The caller was shocked to hear that such a problem existed, as he had no idea or clue that this type of activity occurred on eBay.

Then the eBay purchaser mentioned that he was having a couple of problems with his new Cisco PIX firewall.

First, the software image was older than what he wanted to run – it was 6.x.

Second, the Cisco PIX-4FE card was not recognized in the unit.

Reggie suggested this would not be a problem with the image but most likely a hardware problem with either the PIX chassis or the card itself, as these problems were standard when it came to counterfeit Cisco equipment.

Reggie asked the caller if he had the serial number for his unit. He provided it to Reggie, and upon checking it, Reggie found out the "serial number did not exist."

This was a clear indication that this eBay purchaser of new Cisco equipment had been duped into buying a counterfeit Cisco PIX firewall, which he had believed was genuine Cisco until he called Reggie.

Cisco TAC will not support counterfeit Cisco equipment, so Reggie suggested that the eBay purchaser contact The Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement.

How to Save Money?

Before buying potentially counterfeit Cisco equipment on eBay, you may wish to consider Cisco Factory Refurbished.

Advantages of Cisco Authorized Refurbished Equipment:

	Fully tested and refurbished by Cisco.
	Current revision IP-only software and new software license included.
	Full warranty protection (same as new) through the Cisco Technical Assistance Center.
	Automatically eligible to add SMARTnet Maintenance or other service contracts for extra support.
	Both current and end-of-sale Cisco products available.
	Competitive pricing.