QOTW: Do you buy much second-hand tech?

[Frank E]

Perhaps I should but I don't buy computer tech very often, so when I do buy computer gear I'm looking for something that will last.
I do buy a lot of other stuff used clothes and consumer durables from charity shops. Why woud I pay loads for a good shirt when I can get one for a fiver, a few hundred for Barker shoes when they are £20 or a grand for a Canali sports jacket when I can get it for £20 at the Oxer. Hell, yeah I love a bargain but when there's little that will go wrong or it's be repairable which is increasingly difficult at component level with ICT gear, mostly if parts are needed.

I bought a turntable and a moving coil amp S/H about 20 years ago and they are still going strong.
I made the mistake of buying a whole PC from Cash Convertors once. It only lasted about a year and I was screwed by the OS being pre-installed.
I'll be looking for a laptop in the future and with so mana having RAM and eMMCs soldered in, I might need to go to the S/H market to get one that is upgradeable (though I could rework a board if I was certain I could find compatible eMMCs).

Some of my test equipment is second hand. I got great deals on that an Agilent bench PSU for £35, just needed a jumper moved and optionally the PROM upgraded.
I got a Mobo, CPU and RAM from a kind fellow off on Freegle when my last one died after 12 years use and I had no cash.

[Frank E]

That sounds like a great idea. I always fancied something like these

http://www.slipperyskip.com/page23.html

Noice!

[scaryjim]

My current PC is pretty much all second hand except the case (which has now seen me through well over a decade of rebuilds!) and PSU (the original custom PSU from my case went kaput many years ago). The majority of the components were bought from wonderful Hexites through the FS forum here, with the GPU coming refurbed from Novatech.

While most of my old unused tech has been sold (either here or on ebay), one nice way a group of my friends started to move our old stuff on was by having geekcycle parties; one of us would host, everyone would bring any old stuff (not just tech, but games, books, clothes etc.) they didn't use any more, and take home anything they thought would be handy. At least two people took home entire new computers from those parties

[DemonHighwayman]

That sounds like a great idea. I always fancied something like these

http://www.slipperyskip.com/page23.html

I wouldn't have the skills to do most of those, I've followed a few of the build logs on bit-tech and the people are very skilled indeed.

[Phage]

I wouldn't have the skills to do most of those, I've followed a few of the build logs on bit-tech and the people are very skilled indeed.

They certainly are !

I've been halfwqay tempted to get some one to do something like the <a href="http://slipperyskip.com/page28.html">Mission </a> or the <a href="http://slipperyskip.com/page30.html">Mid-Century Madness</a> shouldn't be beyond the with of a local cabinet maker. In each case you are mostly sliding an existing tower into a ventilated enclosure.
All I need is unlimited funds !

[Andi-C]

With today's inflation & wages (what seems decreasing) on a standstill YES lots. I do seem to find that 2nd hand prices are very silly, some people asking £10/£20 less than full retail or pricing what they feel is right rather than looking up what's relevant. The people that do price wisely or just want some coin for their old gear are quickly snapped up !

[mojothejester]

My GTX 970 is from CEX, everything else was either bought new or won as a prize :-)

[Rubarb]

for me it's pretty much 50% of it, new cutting edge I simply can't justify the expense on my wages
That being said either I'm lucky or tech is becoming more builet proof because I've not ebayed anything yet that doesn't work as it should.

[Vlt]

I used to be that kind of guy that would only buy new.
Been (mostly) buying used components for upgrading the PCs on my home for the last 5 years, never had a problem so far.

Don't really need the latest tech available, just good & robust hardware for gaming and some 3D creation, so the used market saves me a lot of money.

[bergamot]

Well, when the latest Rogue One DVD failed to play properly on my PC (apparently a common fault with Disney DVDs), it turns out that I bought a cheap DVD player second hand on ebay. I'd forgotten all about it until I saw the confirmatory email...

And during the same drunken purchasing session I bought a satirical tee shirt- 'breaking bread'- a photoshopped Jesusified image of Walter White doing the aforementioned...

Well, if the DVD player works then at least one out of two isn't bad...

[badass]

Every time I've seen used stuff advertised here, it's priced too high for the risk, lack of rights and hassle.

Look here: http://forums.hexus.net/classifieds/...k-monitor.html (nothing against the poster. Nothing wrong with selling for what people are prepared to pay )

Only £90 cheaper than new from ebuyer. No warranty. Probably a couple of years old. Less than a 30% discount. If it breaks 1 week after buying, no comeback. I'd rather buy new.

I have however bought parts from buy it now sellers on Ebay such as an E5649 CPU for my server and lots of 8GB RAM sticks. The only reason is that the CPU isn't available new and it was prices extremely well (Sub £50) and the RAM was a small fraction of its new Price. That's worth taking the risk for. However I had a 30 day warranty on those parts.

[jimbouk]

Got some good stuff from the Hexus forums, and sold stuff there as well. Generally don't shop further afield, except for my little 2-in-1 for dirt cheap from ebay privately when Argos were piling a load of refurbs on at the same time.

Maybe just my experiences, but computer kit these days doesn't seem to degrade that much. 'If it works for a year it works for 10' sort of thing so happy with something second hand from somewhere you trust it to turn up working.

[The Hand]

I've bought a Wacom Tablet off my brother and a couple of a Nintendo Game and Watch things off EBay, that's about it.