Used 360 purchasing

[synkr0nized]

This isn't really a tech question, nor is it about new technology or anything.

Long story short, my 360 elite froze the other day and, upon rebooting it, red ringed. It no longer boots beyond the red lights, and the secondary error code is the GPU/CPU general hardware one. But I digress -- I do not need additional help diagnosing this.

As I am out of warranty, sending it to MS will cost me about 100 bucks plus shipping [unless I misread and they pay for that] to service the machine. This also seems to take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. As such, I have been looking at getting a replacement console if the price is right. The 300 dollar tag on the new 250 GB system has given me pause and reason to look at used consoles -- I can just pop my HD onto one, as I have done that on other machines and have had others bring theirs to my machine. I am also aware of how to transfer my licenses and my data and files (e.g. if I got a new console and couldn't use my current HD). I have also read about transferring registration/warranty from owner to owner.


Now that I've given some context [maybe too much], on to my current issue:

Yesterday I read an ad on Craig's List for a Xbox 360 Slim for less than half the price of a new one retail. This is either great or means something is wrong.

The seller also listed it as "260 gbs" and repeated this value when I asked for confirmation if it was the new design with the 250 GB drive. No such HD size appears to exist for any 360 model... (though he also mentioned a "13 gbs" second console in his ad, and that's the reported size a lot of the folks who own the 20 GB older 360s have of available space on their drives)

He claims to have bought it within the past two months and barely used it.

I am currently awaiting a picture of the console.


I am hesitant to go through with this.
On the one hand, the price is great and gets me a better-produced console and gets me back to gaming quickly. I have also had success on CL before.

On the other hand, I am always wary of deals that seem too good. The seller does not type well, which could just be laziness/poor English but worries me a little, as well. What if the console has been banned from Live (which I asked in the first email but this was overlooked/ignored in favour of responding to the HD size)?


So I guess I am looking for any kind of response, really. Would you do it in this situation? Do you have advice for how I can be more sure of the deal? Basically I don't want to get a less-than-useful console from some random guy, but I also don't want to pass over a great deal.


Sorry for my rambling. I am in a wordy mood.