yeah, when I was looking for a Newton 2100, I found one on ebay that was being sold as-is, doesn't work. He had mentioned that he had been using a third party power adaptor.
With the intent of buying, I emailed him, and let him know that many don't take kindly to the third party adaptor, and that if he tried it with an apple adaptor, it might work. Well, he did, and it did. And instead of writing me a quick thank you note, he went to ebay (no-one had bid yet), raised the starting bid from 20 to 60 dollars, and set a reserve price.
A little frustrating for sure, but I always check out ebay for misspelled items - if they don't take the time to notice (or care), I don't feel too bad about buying it from them on the cheap.