appiah4 wrote on 2022-06-27, 13:04:
Well, in his defense USB wireless keyboard/mouse was probably all he had to test with. And please note, you don't mention the seller saying it was tested to work, just tested. So it is all fair in my book.
Also, if my eyes are not deceiving me there is a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP and an Ensoniq AudioPCI in that system.
I'm not sure if you are joking or not but, IMHO, "tested" without explicitly specifying whether it works or not pretty much implies "tested as working" otherwise there would be no point in testing it or disclosing that it was tested .
As for plugging a USB dongle into the serial port (especially right next to an actual USB port), this implies that either whoever supposedly tested this machine either did not notice the dongle (possible wedged there by previous owner) and tested the unit with a properly connected PS/2 or USB keyboard (or maybe just tested whether video was displayed or even simply whether unit powered ON) or was simply completely clueless or lying about testing .
I wouldn't necessary call it "fair", but I would conclude that, unless this thing was dirt cheap, I would pass on this "opportunity" and be happy that the seller provided enough clues to his cluelessness/lack of diligence/possibly lying etc to allow me to come to that decision . I classify this in the same category as sellers who declare motherboards with missing chips (RTC, BIOS, keyboard controller, etc) as "tested as working" and sellers who post items with self contradicting descriptions and/or descriptions with clearly non-matching pictures (who do not react to queries asking to clarify/correct).
TLDR : Nobody knows everything and we all make mistakes, but if a seller seems to be blatantly clueless, a liar or too lazy/disorganized to correct honest (presumably) mistakes, he can sell to anybody else than me and I will have no regrets whatsoever .
Just my 2 cents worth of an opinion.