PC Parts from Auctions

[OnionFromOrion]

Anyone else ever try to buy parts from auctions? 

 

Picked up a 24 inch Acer V243HL for around $35 USD 2 years ago, came from a company selling their old IT equipment. It also came with a garbage keyboard and mice, which I threw into the trash. It's now with my parents and used pretty much all day, definitely a good purchase. 

 

More recently I picked up an Intel NVMe 256 GB M.2 SSD less than a year old for around $20 USD, with a few 256 GB 2.5inches Samsung SSDs that were around 2 years old for the $20 each. The Samsungs were probably fair prices second hand compared to the bargain that was the Intel. Given the model numbers and another auction on the same site, I believe they came from Lenovo laptops which were put up in a separate auction. Given the volume I assume it came from a Lenovo distributor, but I don't have clear info on that. Currently waiting on delivery for those.

 

Update: all the drives work fine. Great addition to my new build 

Edited July 12, 2019 by OnionFromOrion

[ELSknutson]

I use to sell from a place that sold bulk items on eBay and recycled computer parts kinda likeFree Geek  and I miss that place sooooo much they went out of business.  I use to be able to buy projectors, laptops, desktops, monitors for basicly scrap price.  I was able to purchase i5, i7 for like 35 ea monitors for 10 ea any size.  I once found a 3960X in a Asus ROG Black x79 mobo in a super nice Lianli case and they let me buy it for less the $200 and at the time i needed money so I flipped it for $500. But ya fun times

[Dedayog]

Do the auction sites guarantee working items or is it a AS-IS thing?

[Worstcaster]

I got a GTX 1070 for $237.  It would have been out of my price range if I didn't buy it second hand.  With the new Ryzen CPUs, Super RTX, and Navi all coming out in the next month it should be a good time to look at the used market.  People will be looking to balance out the cost of their new parts by selling their old ones.  Just make sure you read the descriptions fully.  Ie.  Make sure the card fans work or they are not selling it specifically for part.  Sometimes people will list something under the heading of "Ryzen 5 2600" and then you read an find out they are only selling the stock fan.  If they take returns that is also a good sign.  Be careful of people selling second hand who are only using stock photos instead of the actual part.

[Worstcaster]

6 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Do the auction sites guarantee working items or is it a AS-IS thing?

Usually it is as is, but if they claim the part is working in the description then ebay may hold them to that, or at least offer you some protection.

[Dedayog]

Just now, Worstcaster said:

Usually it is as is, but if they claim the part is working in the description then ebay may hold them to that, you at least offer you some protection.

Oh, I know about Ebay.  I thought you mean auction sites like a big company liquidating things, or other in person auctions like they do with cars, etc.

 

I've used Ebay a lot, most people here do too I bet.

[Worstcaster]

1 minute ago, jstudrawa said:

Oh, I know about Ebay.  I thought you mean auction sites like a big company liquidating things, or other in person auctions like they do with cars, etc.

 

I've used Ebay a lot, most people here do too I bet.

You can run into that too, for example buying off Craig's List.  Although if the person lives nearby, you might be able to arrange to meet in a public place and verify that the part works as part of the deal.

[OnionFromOrion]

8 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Do the auction sites guarantee working items or is it a AS-IS thing?

For the site I used, they claimed that the products were reconditioned, which according to them means tested or repaired to working condition. Although given Australia's law on auctions, they can probably get away with not giving me a refund if the stuff turned out to be duds. They do guarantee refunds if their shipping service damage the parts though.

[Votivee]

I was looking for a laptop for school about 3 years ago and was able to grab a Lenovo Yoga 3 pro from an ebay auction for like $230. Pretty sure it was a company that went out of business because they had a ton of different listings for them. It has a small screen blemish about the size of a dime where it is darker than the rest of the screen but it works great otherwise.

 

 

@Worstcaster Nice location

[Worstcaster]

2 minutes ago, Votivee said:

I was looking for a laptop for school about 3 years ago and was able to grab a Lenovo Yoga 3 pro from an ebay auction for like $230. Pretty sure it was a company that went out of business because they had a ton of different listings for them. It has a small screen blemish about the size of a dime where it is darker than the rest of the screen but it works great otherwise.

 

 

@Worstcaster Nice location

Friendly, but vague seems to be the best way to go on the internet.