[Macworld]

Post your comments for Psystar pay processor alleges it was misled on clone sales here

[Photonerd]

This company's practice is shady at best, even aside from their transaction process which is clearly bush league.
It's likely they had to breach Apple's OS X Usage Agreement in order to hack together some firmware to make their products work with OS X in the first. I hope they get trounced. These guys have no business selling Mac hardware, however they try to spin it. Play by the rules or go home.

[vfx2k4]

Silllyyyyy.

[kresh]

How ever else you guys want to bash PsyStar, one thing is certain. They must have been selling some of those Mac clones all the fanboys are poo-pooing, and evidently quite a few to have the account terminated due to volume!

[JDW]

I don't think we can cast too much judgement based on this payment processor story alone. Payment processors have little integrity in my experience. Indeed, credit card processors such as UFJ Bank here in Japan literally rape companies for 7% of the total charge, unless you charge tens of thousands of dollars per month with them. Seriously. Seven percent! But because there are other "shady" details about Psystar, we tend to give ear to the payment processor's claims mentioned in this article and therefore cast judgment against Psystar in this particular dispute. But again, I myself cannot cast judgement on this point alone.
No, what tells me that this company is a scam (or run by an incompetent owner) is the fact they have changed their company address 4 times over the past few days. The fact that the initial address was a private residence is no more worrying to me than Apple having been a private garage at the beginning. To discriminate on that point for a business is no different than discriminating against a person because they are too old or young. You've got to start somewhere. Indeed, many businesses here in Japan started and are still run out of homes because the cost of living is so high here. But the multiple "cover-up" address changes tells me that this company, regardless of how legitimate their product may be, is not an organization I should be funding with my money.
Why hide the truth? In doing so, you are trying to deceiver buyers into thinking your are a big company by having an address linked to a big warehouse. Silly. You've got to start somewhere, and even if the media doesn't like it, there's no shame in starting out in a home. You then must grow your business from there, just like Apple did. But in the end, the owner of Psystar chose the path of deception, and that is not forgivable. Who can trust them now?
No matter how much you want a product -- whether that be sold on EBAY or through a firm like Psystar -- you should refrain from buying if you find the seller to be lacking in terms of ethics or abiding by the law or hiding important details about the business from the public.
Even so, I still feel that it is very unfortunate most Americans look down on humble beginnings, which is clearly what led the owner of Psystar to do what he did. Americans look back on Apple's humble beginnings as "quaint" only because Apple is a successful company today. But most of those same Americans would refuse to buy from a garage based company now; and no, I don't believe it is because "things are different now." Americans have a certain picture of success in their minds, and if you don't meet that standard, you're not going to capture their interest. Sad but true. Even so, you have to do the right thing. If you are based out of a home, say so and be proud of it. Don't try to cover it up because you suddenly get a lot of media attention. Sure the media will criticize you for it and say "can such a company be trusted?" But you must plow ahead and show the world you are trustworthy. Show the world you have a great product and a great business -- you just don't have all the money of a big corporation yet. You've got to start somewhere. But start out right, and stay right. Never cover up the truth.

[Hurley42]

When Psystar said the cc processor "dropped the ball on us and refused to process any more transactions from our company" they exposed their unprofessionalism and the likelihood that they are young and inexperienced. For a "company" to discuss problems with one of their vendors on their home page is inappropriate. Even if the Mac clone is real, they will not remain in business long due to their lack of experience and professionalism. What cc processor would touch them now regardless of what they want to sell?

[kingarthur]

Well they could always accept Paypal as a payment type. It sounds like those two are made for each other.

[jhorvatic]

Psystar is a scam company. Why did it lie about its transactions? Why did they change there address 3 times in 1 week? Why is there site up and down like a yo,yo? They're gonna take these fools that put up there credit cards and go on vacation and that will be the end of it. Cloning a Mac is illegal, plain and simple. It doesn't mean anything to call anyone fan boys it's just the plain truth. You don't like it, TO BAD!!!
If Apple thinks they are a problem, Apple will take them down, sooner or later.

[RacerXcar]

It's quite clear to me that Apple's LEGAL dept has been busy this week making threatening phone calls.

I'm not saying Psystar is a great company, who knows, they haven't existed long enough and no one has even used one of these computers yet to my knowledge! And the decline of their credit card biz due to volume or the nature of the product has all the smell of Microsoft monopoly on it, only THIS time it's Apple doing the pushing and shoving!

Big question, WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY AT MACWORLD BUY ONE?

AND WHY DID MACWORLD MISS THIS STORY COMPLETELY UNTIL IT WENT CRAZY ON EVERY OTHER SITE?

Amazing and I'm a Mac fanboy, but Apple is going to get bad press over this and it'll hurt sales to PC switchers for sure.

BAD PR APPLE, BAD APPLE. SORRY THE TRUTH HURTS.

I bet Steve Wozniak is shaking his head somewhere.
I wouldn't be surprised if he even bought one for sport.

[airhead]

{quote} It's quite clear to me that Apple's LEGAL dept has been busy this week making threatening phone calls.

I'm not saying Psystar is a great company, who knows, they haven't existed long enough and no one has even used one of these computers yet to my knowledge! And the decline of their credit card biz due to volume or the nature of the product has all the smell of Microsoft monopoly on it, only THIS time it's Apple doing the pushing and shoving!

Big question, WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY AT MACWORLD BUY ONE?

AND WHY DID MACWORLD MISS THIS STORY COMPLETELY UNTIL IT WENT CRAZY ON EVERY OTHER SITE?

Amazing and I'm a Mac fanboy, but Apple is going to get bad press over this and it'll hurt sales to PC switchers for sure.

BAD PR APPLE, BAD APPLE. SORRY THE TRUTH HURTS.

I bet Steve Wozniak is shaking his head somewhere.
I wouldn't be surprised if he even bought one for sport.{quote}


What exactly makes this clear? I see nothing indicating that Apple is involved in this anywhere. The statement you made is not even deductive speculation. It's irresponsible to make such statements with no hard facts to base them on.

[Mac007]

Maybe Psystar is run by the same folks who send all those get rich schemes via email from Nigeria. ;-)

[diamondgeeza]

"UFJ Bank here in Japan literally rape companies for 7% of the total charge"
er no, not literally

[Steve_S]

RacerXcar said:

It's quite clear to me that Apple's LEGAL dept has been busy this week making threatening phone calls.

Considering Apple's legal department hasn't even been mentioned, I'm not sure how your accusation is "clear". Please elaborate.

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I'm not saying Psystar is a great company, who knows, they haven't existed long enough and no one has even used one of these computers yet to my knowledge! And the decline of their credit card biz due to volume or the nature of the product has all the smell of Microsoft monopoly on it, only THIS time it's Apple doing the pushing and shoving!

Again, says who? Apple doesn't appear to be involved at all. Don't you think Psystar would have complained by now if Apple was involved? Psystar seems to be doing enough damage all by themselves. Clearly, their application for payment processing was deceptive. At this point, Psystar is the business entity that needs to establish a positive reputation - not the credit card processing company and not Apple.

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Big question, WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY AT MACWORLD BUY ONE?

Probably because they can't process a credit card transaction. ;-) Psystar is a joke and stories covering this company are just silly. If Macworld were able to actually get their hands on a machine, that might be interesting.

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AND WHY DID MACWORLD MISS THIS STORY COMPLETELY UNTIL IT WENT CRAZY ON EVERY OTHER SITE?

Because this is a non-event. If you think Psystar has a future selling Mac clones, then I have a few business propositions for you. I can think of a couple bridges you might be interested in buying... [smile]

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BAD PR APPLE, BAD APPLE. SORRY THE TRUTH HURTS.

How so?

[robb1068]

Yeah, this wasn't the second coming of PowerComputing... it's more likely that Apple took one look at these guys and decided to let them implode on their own.